Today is the final act of the epic stories of Mike Trout of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and Miguel Cabrera of the Detroit Tigers. The season for both Detroit and Anaheim have been disappointing in a lot of ways, but at least Detroit is going to the playoffs. The Angels invested a cruiseship of money on their team this season. They gave Albert Pujols the second richest contract in professional sports. He has been very good this season. a slow start in April curtailed his numbers, and he has most people out here chomping at the bit for next season. The person from the Angels that emerged as the "man" on that team this year has been a 20 year old Rookie named Mike Trout. Trout has become the first rookie in baseball history to hit 30 homeruns and steal 40 plus bases. He is second in the league in batting average, has scored over 120 runs and has played the best defensive centerfield that most has seen since Jim Edmonds roamed the outfield for the Angels. Trout did not even make the club in April which makes his number even more extraordinary. He easily could have been a 40-50 guy which is ironic because before the season started Matt Kemp of the Dodgers pledged that he could go 50-50. Injuries of course derailed his quest after an epic start. Trout is drawing comparisons to Micky Mantle because of his look, epic power, speed, and the way he simply plays baseball. He is a gifted young player and the sky is the limit. He is geeting a lot of consideration because of this new stat in baseball called WAR, which is an anacrynom for Wins Above Replacement. Since he has been on the Angel roster the team has a great winning percentage and the turn around of the Angel season literally started when he was implemented into the everyday lineup. Next year the Angels if they stay healthy will be the team to beat undoubtedly.
Miguel Cabrera has been in hell and has found a way to turn it around and become the positive story of the season. He has battled alcoholism and had arrest issues in the last few off seasons. He has been criticized for his weight gain and lack of fitness. The one thing that no could or can take away from him is that the man can flat out hit a baseball. Ever since he was a 20 year old helping Florida win the world series in 2003, he has been a beast. He will probably get 3000 hits and hit 500 plus homeruns, whch would be extraordinary since he plays in a pitcher friendly park. This season he is on the verge of making baseball history by winning the triple crown. No one has won the triple crown in baseball since Carl Yastremski did it in 1967. Only 10 players have ever won the triple crown in baseball history. In the National League no one has done it since 1937. Joe Medwick was the last one to achieve that feat. Cabrera is leading in all of the major categories in baseball. He has the most homeruns, r.b.i's, and has the best batting average. He has over 200 hits and has not been the liability on the defensive side like most people presumed he would be. The kicker is that his team is oing to the post season and to me that carries the most weight.
So in my opinion the M.V.P. will be Cabrera because of the fact that he is about to do something that no one thought could be done again because of the steroid era. Most people feel that since homerun numbers were going up that that stat would hurt anyone's chance of winning the triple crown. Players today don't care about how many times they strike out. Curtis Granderson and Adam Dunn strike out a lot but both this season have hit over 40 home runs and driven in 100 runs but have crappy batting averages. Edwin Encarnacion has 42 homeruns and has carried the Blue Jays this year but he has a lot of solo homers. The point is that you have to be a player who can hit for average and most homerun hitters don do that. Barry Bond had a high batting average because he was walked 200 times a year. He would not be allowed to hit in r.b.i. situations. So what Cabrera is doing is extremely special. He is lucky to have a guy like Prince Fielder hitting behind him so teams have to pick their poison. Unfortuneately they have chosen wrong this season and Miguel Cabrera will be your American League M.V.P..
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