MLB: No surprises at MVP Awards

Mookie Betts of the Boston Red Sox and Christian Yelich in the service of the Milwaukee Brewers were elected as expected to the MVPs of the American and National League 2018. While Yelich only scored one ballot past unanimity, Betts scored two ballot papers.

Betts won the election with 410 votes ahead of Mike Trout of the Los Angeles Angels (265) and became the eleventh MVP of the Boston Red Sox in the AL. Previously this honor was bestowed on Ted Williams (1946, 1949), Jimmie Foxx (1938), Jackie Jensen (1958), Carl Yastrzemski (1967), Fred Lynn (1975), Jim Rice (1978), Roger Clemens (1986), Mo Vaughn (1995) and Dustin Pedroia (2008).

Trout, on the other hand, took second place in the MVP election for the fourth time. He set the record for Stan Musial, Williams and Albert Pujols. Trout won the 2014 and 2016 awards, and since his rookie season in 2012, only 2017, he has not been among the top 2 of the election.

Betts, Trout, Jose Ramirez, J.D. Martinez, Alex Bregman, Francisco Lindor and Matt Chapman were represented on all ballots.

Yelich, on the other hand, only lacked a first-place vote for the unanimous MVP election. He is the ninth MVP overall to win the award in the first year in a new team and the second in the National League.

For the Brewers it is the fifth MVP Award and the second in the NL. In the American League, the Hall-of-Famer Rollie Fingers (1981) and Robin Yount (1982, 1989) were honored in the meantime. The Brewers moved from AL to NL in 1998.

Like Betts, Yelich is the batting champion of his league. In the American League the Batting Champ was elected MVP for the 14th time, in the NL even for the 19th time.

The ballots of the 30 journalists of the Baseball Writer’s Association of America (BBWAA) were cast at the end of the Regular Season. Two selected journalists from each of the 15 cities of the AL and NL were entitled to vote. Each ballot includes votes for places 1 to 10, place 1 counts for 14 points, place 2 9, place 3 8 and then one less each up to one point for 10th place.

This article was published without prior review by Major League Baseball.