Detroit Tigers star Miguel Cabrera won the MVP award in the American League last season on the strength of his Triple Crown performance and now after having almost a better year than that, the third baseman should and likely will be named the AL MVP for the second straight time when the award winner is announced on Thursday night.
Cabrera is facing off against some deserving talent in Mike Trout and Chris Davis, but the answer for MVP is clear in the AL and it should be Cabrera. Even with the third baseman missing time later in the season, he hit .348 with 44 homers and 137 RBIs and he clearly has the numbers to win MVP. While making the playoffs does not make an MVP and it shouldn't make a player "not" an MVP, it should factor into the equation when the two other finalists don't make it and Cabrera puts up numbers like he did.
This season the Tigers won another division title with Cabrera leading the way and he even put up an OBP that was 50 points better than last season and with him winning a close battle last season, he had an even better one in 2013 even without winning the triple crown. Cabrera put up better numbers than both Trout and Davis with less plate appearances, out hitting Trout by 20 points on his average and David by even more and while David had 53 home runs and Cabrera just 44, he only finished with one less RBI, meaning he hit very well with runners in scoring position and on top of that, Trout had just 97 RBIs, still a solid number, but nothing like Cabrera or even Davis.
Many felt that Trout should have won last season and may make up for it this year since he is not a rookie, but the numbers are what they are. Trout had 27 home runs and 97 RBIs while Cabrera had way more in both. Yes, he has over 30 stolen bases and scored over 100 runs, but Cabrera and David each had 103 runs scored. Cabrera finished the season with the best batting average and slugging percentage in the league and now he has the chance to win his second straight MVP award and if all goes right, he should get it.
Prediction: Cabrera wins over Trout in a close race.