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| In this July 13, 2013, photo, Detroit Tigers third baseman Miguel Cabrera smiles in the dugout before a baseball game against the Texas Rangers in Detroit. Cabrera has won the American League Most Valuable Player award for the second straight year. Cabrera won by a comfortable margin Thursday, Nov. 14, getting 23 of 30 first-place votes from members of the Baseball Writers' Association of America |
NEW YORK (AP)
-- All those who marvel at Miguel Cabrera can only wonder what he
might've done this year if completely healthy.
Even so, Cabrera was a huge hit in Motown.
Despite
being hobbled by all sorts of ailments, the Detroit Tigers slugger won
his second straight American League Most Valuable Player award Thursday,
once again beating Angels outfielder Mike Trout by a comfortable
margin.
A season after winning baseball's
first Triple Crown in 45 years, Cabrera came back to lead the majors in
hitting at .348 and finish second with 44 home runs and 137 RBIs.
"I think this year was tougher because of the injuries," he said on a conference call from the Miami area.
"It was the last two months. It was tough to play through it," he said.
The
eight-time All-Star missed several games after the break because of a
bad back, a sore left hip flexor, a strained lower abdomen, shin trouble
and a groin tear. He recently had surgery to fix the tear and said
he'll be ready for spring training.
Still,
Cabrera got 23 of 30 first-place votes from members of the Baseball
Writers' Association of America. He became the first player to win
consecutive AL MVPs since Frank Thomas for the Chicago White Sox in 1993
and 1994.
Pirates center fielder Andrew
McCutchen took the NL MVP by a surprisingly wide margin after leading a
baseball revival in Pittsburgh.
McCutchen drew
28 of the 30 first-place votes to finish far ahead of Arizona first
baseman Paul Goldschmidt and St. Louis catcher Yadier Molina.
"I'm
floating right now," McCutchen said in Pittsburgh. "But I definitely
didn't expect it to be a landslide with those other guys - Goldschmidt
and Molina. They were great candidates and I didn't know what to
expect."
McCutchen ranked among the NL leaders
by hitting .317 with 21 home runs and 84 RBIs. He also scored 97 runs,
stole 27 bases and had a .404 on-base percentage.
The
27-year-old with the long, flowing dreadlocks helped the Pirates stop a
record streak of 20 losing seasons and make the playoffs for the first
time since 1992.
Cabrera finished with 385
points, while Trout got five first-place votes and 282 points. The
difference was 81 points last season, when Trout was AL Rookie of the
Year.
Baltimore first baseman Chris Davis, who led the majors with 53 homers and 138 RBIs, was third.
"I think all three guys deserve this trophy," Cabrera said.
Davis and Oakland third baseman Josh Donaldson each received a first-place vote.
Cabrera
took his third AL batting title in a row. He also drew a $1 million
bonus for winning a second MVP during his current contract with the
Tigers.
No AL player has won three straight
MVPs. Albert Pujols was the last repeat NL MVP winner in 2008 and 2009;
Barry Bonds took four straight from 2001-04.
The
Tigers have virtually owned the major postseason awards during a
three-year run of success. Justin Verlander was the MVP and Cy Young
winner in 2011, Cabrera took the MVP last season and Detroit ace Max
Scherzer won this year's Cy Young Award on Wednesday.
"I'm on the right team," Cabrera said.
The
30-year-old third baseman from Venezuela also captured the AL MVP last
year when he hit .330 with 44 homers and 139 RBIs. Cabrera topped Trout
22-6 in first-place votes in that balloting.
Trout hit .323 with 27 homers and 97 RBIs this year, stole 33 bases and led the AL in runs and walks.
Cabrera
clearly was baseball's most dominant hitter for most of the season as
the Tigers won their third straight AL Central crown.
Voting
for the BBWAA awards was done before the playoffs. Cabrera hit .262
with two homers and seven RBIs in 11 postseason games, and made a couple
of key outs in Detroit's six-game loss to Boston in the AL championship
series.
Cabrera was in contention for a
second straight Triple Crown for much of the year, and was hitting .359
with 43 homers and 130 RBIs through Aug. 26. But he managed only two
extra-base hits in his next 25 games through the end of the regular
season.
Cabrera said he didn't think rest would have helped heal his injuries near the end.
Instead, he took a different approach: "OK, let's play through it and see what happens," he said.
Cabrera
still became the first right-handed hitter to win three straight
batting titles in either league since Rogers Hornsby in 1920-25.
Cabrera also kept amazing his teammates with his prowess at the plate.
In
mid-August, he homered in all three games of a series at Yankee
Stadium, twice connecting off career saves leader Mariano Rivera.
His
shot in the opener was the most impressive, even though Detroit
eventually lost. After fouling two balls off his left shin, Cabrera was
having trouble standing in the batter's box when he tagged Rivera for a
tying, two-run drive with two outs in the ninth inning.
Cabrera had bedeviled the Yankees before. As a 20-year-old rookie, he helped the Marlins beat New York in the 2003 World Series.
McCutchen,
third in MVP balloting last season, got 409 points. Goldschmidt
finished second with 242, while Molina received the other two
first-place votes and came in third.
McCutchen's
win came two days after Pirates manager Clint Hurdle was picked as the
NL Manager of the Year. McCutchen was the first Pittsburgh player to win
the MVP since Bonds in 1992.
The Pirates went
94-68 this year, a season after going 79-83. Along the way, McCutchen
became the face of the franchise and heard loud "MVP!" chants when he
would step to the plate at PNC Park this summer.
"I'd lie to you if I said it didn't enter my mind ever," he said. "It's awesome to hear something like that."
Pittsburgh beat Cincinnati in the NL wild-card game, then lost to St. Louis in a division series that went the full five games.
Boston wound up beating St. Louis in the World Series. No one on the Red Sox or Cardinals won any of the major BBWAA awards.
