3 Reasons Detroit Tigers Slugger Miguel Cabrera Should Be AL MVP

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As the MLB season winds down, the MVP races are tightening up. In the American League, Miguel Cabrera, Mike Trout and Justin Verlander seem to be leading the charge. 

The Detroit Tigers' slugger, Cabrera, seems to be the logical choice for the award, being that a Triple Crown is in his sight. 

If it wasn’t for Trout missing a few games with the Los Angles Angels to play in the minor league, his possibility of winning MVP would be much greater. 

As for Verlander, who won the MVP last season, his numbers aren’t nearly as good as they were a year ago. This is not to say that Verlander isn’t pitching well—because he is—but last season he had 24 wins and a 2.40 ERA. This year he only has 17 wins with a 2.64 ERA. 

The Detroit Tigers wouldn’t mind seeing Verlander win the MVP again. But this season, their third baseman, Miguel Cabrera, is a better candidate.

Playoffs

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Unlike a few other players who are in the MVP race, Miguel Cabrera will be playing postseason baseball. 

Sometimes fans forget what MVP stands for–-Most Valuable Player. 

How valuable can a player be to his team if they do not make the playoffs? 

Cabrera has led his team and has come up clutch in certain situations, which is why the Tigers are the AL Central Champions. 

Every player, including Cabrera, will tell you that they would rather win the World Series than the MVP. 

Cabrera is a team player, and although he has a shot at MVP, his focus is on playing well when the postseason comes around.

Triple Crown

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As of right now, Cabrera is leading the league in RBI, home runs and batting average. 

He leads in RBI by 10 and in batting average by four points. As for home runs, he only leads Josh Hamilton by one. 

If the season ends with Cabrera on top of all these lists, he will be the first batter to win the Triple Crown since Carl Yastrzemski did it back in 1967. 

Only 15 batters in the history of baseball have won the Triple Crown—if that’s not an argument for Cabrera to win MVP, then nothing is. 

Surprisingly, of the nine batters that have won the Triple Crown since the MVP became an award back in 1931, four of them have not won the MVP. 

This will not be the case with Cabrera, though. If he does win the Triple Crown, it will be by a healthy margin in two of the three categories, thus making him the best candidate for the AL MVP.

Consistency and Statistics

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Cabrera has consistently been putting up great numbers all season long. 

Since May 14, he has had a batting average of over .300. He also has hit at least seven home runs in each month, aside from May. 

Yes, Cabrera leads in all Triple Crown Statistics, but what really makes him impressive are his all-around numbers. 

He leads the AL by large numbers in slugging percentage and on-base plus slugging. He is also second to Derek Jeter in hits and second to Mike Trout in runs scored. 

Also, he ranks fourth in the AL in on-base percentage and is not as bad as people think in the field. 

Cabrera actually is second to Mike Moustakas in amount of double plays turned by third basemen. He also ranks seventh in errors by third basemen, with just 13. 

He is ranked sixth in fielding percentage by third basemen, too. 

Statistically, Cabrera is towards the top of the list of almost every category in the AL.

 

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