Washington Nationals’ Bryce Harper, Toronto Blue Jays’ Josh Donaldson win MVP

Harper became the youngest unanimous MVP victor in baseball history, capturing the NL award despite his Washington Nationals missing the playoffs.

What was characterized as a close race leading up to Thursday’s announcement turned out to be an easy win for Donaldson, who took 23 first-place votes and seven second-place votes.

Harper became the first player from the Nationals-Montreal Expos franchise to win the MVP award, garnering the maximum 420 points.

The Baseball Writers Association of America gave 23 first-place votes to Donaldson and just seven to the runner-up, Los Angeles Angels outfielder Mike Trout.

Donaldson, traded to Toronto by the Oakland Athletics before the season, thrived with the Blue Jays, helping them end a 22-year absence in the postseason by claiming the American League East crown. Kansas City outfielder Lorenzo Cain finished third with 225 points.

Harper’s traditional statistics -.330, 42 homers, 99 RBIs, with an NL-best 118 runs scored – were impressive enough. The champion Royals will host the Mets in a World Series rematch when the 2016 season starts April 3 with three Sunday openers (also Cardinals-Pirates and Blue Jays-Rays). 297 while totaling a. 568 slugging percentage, which was the best mark of his career by almost 70 points.

Josh Donaldson and Bryce Harper were named Most Valuable Player of their respective leagues on Thursday. Of his 41 home runs, 30 came in games that were either tied or had a one-run difference, and over 30% of his RBIs (38 of 123) broke up a tie game. The Nationals right fielder got all 30 votes he’s the seventh National League unanimous MVP and the youngest from either league to win the award since Cal Ripken in 1983. This is the third season in a row that Trout has been a finalist for the award, and he’s only 24 years old.

Though the Washington Nationals’ season fell short of expectations, Harper did not, as he led the majors in on-base percentage (.460), slugging (.649) and WAR (9.9). According to ESPN Stats & Info, he’s the first player to win the award in his first season with a new team since Vladimir Guerrero did it with the Angels in 2004.

Harper also etched in name in the history books en route to bringing home the gold. His numbers were especially impressive with runners in scoring position: he hit.353/.440/.618 with 7 home runs and 79 RBI.