Trout, Bryant win MVP awards

If the question, “who led the league in a certain category?” were to be asked, I bet that Mike Trout was the answer. When you’re the MVP of the Cubs-the team that just won the World Series and broke a 108-year drought?

Those might not be established traditions like Thanksgiving dinner, but they’re certainly a couple of drumsticks worth chewing on. While nearly any Angels fan would agree that he should have won his fifth MVP this year, his second MVP will suffice for now.

Obviously, I watched Betts far more than I did Trout, Jose Altuve, Josh Donaldson and others, and thus, had more of a feel for exactly how valuable he was. He is now the sixth player from a losing team to win the AL MVP award; the last player to do that was Alex Rodriguez. Betts, who finished second, had a phenomenal season with his stats being equal or better than Trout’s in most cases.

Meanwhile, it’s another victory for the Cubs as Bryant got the votes for the NL MVP.

Bryant received 29 of 30 first-place votes. Washington Nationals second baseman Daniel Murphy received the other first place vote, coming in second place. He finished his third season in NY after signing an $85 million, five-year deal as a free agent.

Bryant is the first NL MVP from the Cubs since Sammy Sosa in 1998. Seager’s third-place finish matches pitcher Joe Black’s finish in the 1952 voting as the highest ever for a Dodgers rookie.

After a unanimous victory in last year’s Rookie of the Year vote, Bryant almost duplicated the feat.

Trout had a.315 batting average with 29 homers, 100 RBIs and 30 stolen bases.

Trout led the American League in runs (123), on-base-percentage (.441), and walks (116). He was also named a Louisville Slugger First Team All-American and the College Baseball News National Player of the Year after leading the nation with 31 home runs. “I mean he texted me and I said the same thing to him, I said if it wasn’t for you I wouldn’t have been able to do this”. Just to be in the conversation, it’s surreal. “It was a good moment”. Bryant ranks third in home runs in a player’s first two full seasons (I searched using a minimum of 1,349 plate appearances, the number Bryant has through 2016) with 65.

Betts, who turned 24 in October, wasn’t even the most prolific hitter in a potent Red Sox lineup that scored the most runs in the majors.

Betts hit.318 with a.363 on-base percentage and a.534 slugging percentage.

Two seasons into his major-league career, Kris Bryant has two All-Star selections, a Rookie of the Year award and a World Series championship to his name. Trout also hit 57 home runs in 2012-13 combined and posted an OPS+ of 174. Regardless, his regular season stats and postseason appearance deemed Bryant worthy of the 2015 Rookie of the Year award. Philadelphia’s Ryan Howard won the awards in 2005 and 2006 and Boston’s Dustin Pedroia in 2007 and 2008.

Murphy hit.347 (184-for-531) with 25 homers and 104 RBI.

Both players were strong on the basepaths: Trout was 30-for-37 in stolen base attempts, while Betts was 26-for-30. So he led the league in two stats that are pretty important regarding offensive numbers and his team won 10 more games than the angels past year.