Donaldson is only the second Toronto player honored. The other was George Bell in 1987.
The election marked the eighth time the AL winner was a third baseman. The others were Miguel Cabrera and Alex Rodriguez twice each and George Brett, Brooks Robinson and Al Rosen once apiece (Rodriguez also won once as a shortstop). A third baseman has won in the National League nine times, most recently Chipper Jones in 1999.
Trout, the 2014 winner, finished second for the third time. He was also the runner-up to Cabrera in both 2012 and ’13. The record for runner-up finishes in MVP voting is four, by Stan Musial, who was the NL MVP in 1943, ’46 and ’48 and ran second in 1949, ’50, ’51 and ’57; Ted Williams, who won the AL award in 1946 and ’49 and was second in 1941, ’42, ’47 and ’57, and Albert Pujols, the NL winner in 2005, ’08 and ’09 and the NL runner-up in 2002, ’03, ’06 and ‘10. Trout joins Mickey Mantle (1960, ’61 and ’64) as a three-time runner-up. Mantle also won the AL award three times (1956, ’57 and ’62).
Donaldson, Trout and Cain were the only players on every ballot.
Ballots from two writers in each league city prior to postseason play are tabulated on a system that rewards 14 points for first place, nine for second, eight for third on down to one for 10th.
2015 AL MVP
| Player, Team | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th | 8th | 9th | 10th | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Josh Donaldson, Blue Jays | 23 | 7 | 385 | ||||||||
| Mike Trout, Angels | 7 | 22 | 1 | 304 | |||||||
| Lorenzo Cain, Royals | 20 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 225 | ||||||
| Manny Machado, Orioles | 4 | 11 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 158 | ||
| Dallas Keuchel, Astros | 3 | 8 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 107 | |||||
| Nelson Cruz, Mariners | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 2 | 94 | |
| Adrian Beltre, Rangers | 4 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 83 | |||
| Jose Bautista, Blue Jays | 2 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 82 | ||||
| David Price, Tigers/Blue Jays | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 62 | ||
| Jose Altuve, Astros | 6 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 44 | ||||||
| Miguel Cabrera, Tigers | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 40 | |||
| Edwin Encarnacion, Blue Jays | 1 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 38 | ||||||
| Prince Fielder, Rangers | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 33 | ||||||
| Chris Davis, Orioles | 5 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 32 | ||||||
| J.D. Martinez, Tigers | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 18 | ||||||
| Jason Kipnis, Indians | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 17 | ||||||
| Kevin Kiermaier, Rays | 1 | 2 | 1 | 10 | |||||||
| Kendrys Morales, Royals | 1 | 7 | |||||||||
| Chris Sale, White Sox | 1 | 4 | |||||||||
| Mookie Betts, Red Sox | 1 | 1 | 4 | ||||||||
| Jose Abreu, White Sox | 1 | 3 | |||||||||
| Ian Kinsler, Tigers | 1 | 3 | |||||||||
| Mike Moustakas, Royals | 1 | 3 | |||||||||
| Carlos Correa, Astros | 1 | 2 | |||||||||
| Brian McCann, Yankees | 1 | 2 | |||||||||
| Eric Hosmer, Royals | 2 | 2 | |||||||||
| Russell Martin, Blue Jays | 2 | 2 | |||||||||
| Michael Brantley, Indians | 1 | 1 | |||||||||
| Wade Davis, Royals | 1 | 1 | |||||||||
| Brian Dozier, Twins | 1 | 1 | |||||||||
| David Ortiz, Red Sox | 1 | 1 | |||||||||
| Alex Rodriguez, Yankees | 1 | 1 | |||||||||
| Mark Teixeira, Yankees | 1 | 1 |