Contrary to the popular belief in some quarters, the Most Valuable Player award is not directly tied to the postseason.
Should a player's value to his team's playoff run factor heavily into the final voting?
By all means.
But should the award simply boil down to choosing a player from one of the four playoff teams in each league?
Not even close.
Albert Pujols' claim to the National League award Monday was right on the money. In a perfect world, the MVP award should be one part player-of-the-year and one part importance-to-team. Pujols was the MVP in the NL because, in addition to superior numbers, he was the most consistently best player -- hands down -- from early April through late September.
No, two of his numbers were not superior -- Philadelphia's Ryan Howard out-homered Pujols 48-37 and out-RBI'd him 146-116.
That's a whopping margin, particularly in the RBI department. Because of that and the fact Howard helped push his team into the playoffs, no doubt there will be Phillies fans ranting and raving up and down Broad Street this week screaming that Howard was jobbed.
He wasn't. Pujols' NL-leading .653 slugging percentage and .462 on-base percentage (second in the NL) tell only part of the story. An essential part of the story, yes. But there's so much more.
That .653 slugging percentage was more than 60 points higher than any player in the majors. And Pujols fanned just 54 times in 641 plate appearances.
"It's a lot of hard work," Pujols said. "You go back to 2001 and I struck out 96 times. I was pretty disappointed because I never struck out, not even in high school or in college, that many times.
"I prefer to put the ball in play. It gives my team a better opportunity to win. I try and make sure I walk more than I strike out. I work hard at it. I trust my hands. I try to be patient at the plate and take what the pitcher gives me."
Which, in 2008, was less and less.
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| Albert Pujols kept the Cardinals in the playoff race into September. (AP) |
Do you know where Howard ranked in walks? Fourteenth, with 81. He was neither as selective as Pujols nor as feared by opposing pitchers (Pujols drew exactly twice as many intentional walks as Howard, 34-17).
Yes, many of Pujols' intentional walks were because he didn't have Chase Utley, Jimmy Rollins and Pat Burrell in the lineup -- he was much easier to pitch around. That's why this isn't a cornerstone of Pujols' case for MVP. But it is part of it.
Yes, Howard's scorching hot August and September helped push the Phillies past the New York Mets and into the playoffs. But his 199 strikeouts (second in the NL) also were part of the reason the Phillies took so long to get going this season -- and his pre-All-Star Game numbers, .234 batting average and 129 strikeouts -- hurt, not helped, the Phillies.
Entertaining thing is, after Pujols won his first MVP award in 2005, he was outspoken when Howard won in '06, feeling he was robbed.
Then, one of Pujols' chief arguments was that the Cardinals played in the playoffs in '06, while Howard's Phillies didn't.
Now?
"What I said was that players who take their teams to the playoffs should have consideration for MVP," Pujols said during a conference call with members of the Baseball Writers' Assn. of America on Monday. "Obviously, that year, Howard got it. His team was in the playoff race.
"I think the writers made the right choice (then). He had 58 home runs, 149 RBIs ... he had a great year, just like I had (this year). That's how it is."
Look, Howard still had a fantastic season. Micro-analyzing these numbers to a degree sounds like nitpicking, because to a degree, it is.
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But you have to break down the numbers and, almost every way you break them down -- save for the RBI and homer totals -- they fall strongly toward Pujols. His 1.114 OPS (on-base percentage plus slugging percentage) led the NL. Howard's .881 was nowhere close.
"We were in contention to get a playoff spot until the last two weeks of the season," Pujols said when asked if he was surprised to win. "We were in first place for while.
"I wasn't surprised at all. I thought my numbers were good. Howard's numbers were good, Manny's numbers were good and what CC Sabathia did for the Brewers was unbelievable."
As for Manny Ramirez, yes, he was outstanding for the two months he was in the league. He batted .396 with 17 homers, 53 RBI and a stunning 1.232 OPS during his 53 games with the Dodgers. In a city that loves its Showtime, Manny became must-see.
But he wasn't in the NL in April, May, June and July. Two months' worth of fantastic numbers don't trump what Pujols -- and, yes, Howard and Milwaukee's Ryan Braun, who finished third -- did in the NL for six months.
And while the argument that the Dodgers don't make the playoffs without Manny is valid, so, too, is this: They were 30-24 with him.
That's simply not enough to warrant more than he got -- a fourth-place finish. And there's certainly no shame in that.
