MLB MVP Candidates: All the Good Players

August 11, 2012; Anaheim, CA, USA; Los Angeles Angels center fielder Mike Trout (27) signs autographs before the game against the Seattle Mariners at Angel Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-US PRESSWIRE

The baseball season is starting to heat up! This is true both literally and figuratively. On one hand, there are less and less games left to be played, and many teams are battling for postseason contention and this causes pressure to rise and passion to run rampant. Both pressure and passion cause heat, are hot. On the other hand, it’s the middle of the summer and the air is like, burning everywhere. It’s like 100 degrees in some places. The baseball season is starting to heat up! Not only is the season heating up, but so to are the players, and in the same two ways I’ve described above. Passion and temperature. There are postseason awards to be had, mind you, the American and National League Most Valuable Player Awards chief among them. These two awards are serious and they need to be discussed. Statistics need to be poured over, lists need to be compiled, slideshows need to be constructed even though they’re unquestionably the worst and nobody anywhere of any certain disposition or life experience likes them.

Now, in the sweltering atmosphere of August, it seems like a popular and appropriate time to start that discussion. So who are the favorites? Who’s been most valuable to his team? What does “valuable” even mean? How annoying is it trying to parse the word valuable and in what ways will most national baseball writers screw it up? I just asked a lot of questions, and I’m only going to answer the first one. This, admittedly, makes me look bad. I should have asked less questions. Let this be a lesson to all the children out there, questions only cause trouble. Never seek supplemental knowledge or try to learn anything ever.

The current frontrunners for the two MVP awards are: All the good players. All the good players are popular, and the more good players on lists in posts like this, the more one is able to excite or upset or anger people who think their favorite or preferred good player is more deserving than the other good players. This is Internet 101 and I’m about to totally nail it here pretty soon. There’s the young superstar who’s mashing the baseball and playing a superior defensive position with elite skill. There’s the other young superstar who’s doing the same thing. There’s that third baseman who’s really good, and the catcher who’s recently caught fire at the plate despite his position being perhaps the most difficult and physically demanding on the diamond. There are also all those first baseman who always hit a ton of home runs. And there are even pitchers who are good and who cause a lot of arguments! Baseball is crazy with good players and all of them have a chance to win the MVP. Doesn’t that make you happy or mad and make you want to discuss and comment and link others to this post? To really drive the point home, here are some easy-to-read lists of the current favorites. Please share and discuss.

American League Most Valuable Player Frontrunners

Mike Trout
Robinson Cano
Justin Verlander
Miguel Cabrera
Austin Jackson
Felix Hernandez
Josh Reddick
Josh Hamilton
Chris Sale
Josh Willingham
Ben Zobrist
Adam Jones

National League Most Valuable Player Frontrunners

Andrew McCutchen
David Wright
Michael Bourn
Ryan Braun
Buster Posey
R.A. Dickey
Chase Headley
Joey Votto
Johnny Cueto
Jason Heyward
Matt Holliday
Gio Gonzales

Kyle writes baseball nonsense at The Trance of Waiting. You can follow him on Twitter @AgainstKyle.