Josh Donaldson wins 2015 American League MVP

He took 23 of 30 first-place votes for the award, with perennial MVP candidate Mike Trout taking the remaining seven.

Harper beat out Arizona’s Paul Goldschmidt (2nd) and Cincinnati’s Joey Votto (3rd) in the ballot.

Mike Trout of the Los Angeles Angels, who won the award a year ago, was the runner-up to Donaldson, as he was to Detroit’s Miguel Cabrera in 2012 and 2013.

Acquired in an offseason trade with the Oakland Athletics, Donaldson was a spark plug for Toronto’s potent offensive attack and helped propel the team back into the playoffs for the first time since 1993.

It appears as if Major League Baseball has saved the best for last as Thursday’s announcement of both the American League and National League Most Valuable Player Award winners rounded out the last of the league’s major honors for the 2015 season. Lorenzo Cain of the Kansas City Royals finished third. He was second in WAR (8.8) and tied for third in home runs with 41.

Josh Donaldson heard the MVP chants rain down on him from the Rogers Centre crowd for much of the 2015 season. This time, the culprit was Josh Donaldson, whose spectacular season rightfully put him ahead of Trout in the voting.

No knock on Harper but his huge year couldn’t help an underachieving Nats team; where in Toronto Donaldson was the straw that stirred the drink and gave Canadian fans post-season baseball for the first time 22 years. Barry Bonds, Yogi Berra, and Stan Musial are the only other players with four straight top-two MVP finishes at any point in their careers, per ESPN’s Jayson Stark.

I would be very, very shocked if Harper doesn’t win at least one more MVP.

Here are five noteworthy stats from the first MVP seasons from these two outstanding players. The outfielder hit. 330 with 42 home runs and 99 RBI. Donaldson batted. 297 with a. 371 on-base percentage and.

In one of the season’s more celebrated plays, Donaldson launched himself into the stands down the third base line at Tropicana Field to make an incredible catch of a foul ball during a game against the Tampa Bay Rays. Harper is the youngest NL MVP since Johnny Bench won the award in 1970. The Nationals outfielder, who turned 23 on October 16, after the postseason had already started, got all 30 first-place votes.

Donaldson also launched 41 homers while batting.