Settling the Josh Donaldson vs. Mike Trout AL MVP Debate, Once and for All

There actually is a fish called a Donaldson Trout. According to a post on the website Trout Fishing Help, it's sometimes called "Super Trout."

So there you have it. A (Josh) Donaldson is a super (Mike) Trout!

I'm guessing that won't end the argument over who the American League's Most Valuable Player should be. I'm guessing this column won't end it.

The arguments will go on, and that's too bad, not because debates are bad (they're actually one of the best things about following sports) but because these MVP debates tend to get out of hand. It's too bad because here I am again arguing against maybe the best player in baseball.

Mike Trout is a great player. Mike Trout would be a deserving MVP. But just as Trout finished second to Miguel Cabrera in his first two full big league seasons, Trout should finish second to Josh Donaldson when the 2015 AL MVP is announced Thursday evening.

Donaldson should win because he was the dominant player in the American League this year. He should win because when you tell the story of 2015 in the AL, you start with him. He should win because the MVP isn't about choosing the most talented player or the player who led in any one statistical category.

It's subjective, not objective. Context matters. Storylines matter.

LM Otero/Associated Press

The stats matter, too, but in this case the stats don't give you a clear winner.

This isn't Trout-Cabrera, although once again Trout holds the lead in the various versions of WAR, while Donaldson does better with traditional numbers like RBI. This time, though, the WAR differences aren't overwhelming, and the RBI difference is largely and obviously a result of opportunity (because Trout matched or bettered Donaldson's numbers with runners in scoring position).

Reed Saxon/Associated Press

The RBI difference still shouldn't be overlooked, because the MVP is about what happened rather than what could have or should have happened. Trout could have driven in all those runs given the chance, but the fact is he didn't.

Trout might have matched Donaldson if he had the supporting cast with the Los Angeles Angels that Donaldson had with the Toronto Blue Jays. But he didn't.

Instead, what happened was Donaldson led the Blue Jays through a dream season that ended with a first-place finish and the second-best record in the league. Trout lifted the Angels into contention but wasn't able to pull them into the postseason.

They faded in August (10-19), and their September recovery left them just short of the postseason. Trout faded in August (.218, one home run), and his September recovery left him just short of the MVP.

Tom Szczerbowski/Getty Images

You could argue that pattern shows just how valuable Trout was to the Angels because when he slumped, they slumped. But the story of the season was that they fell short, and so did he.

The story of the season has plenty of room for Donaldson's biggest hits, for the three walk-off home runs that always seemed to come at big points in the season. The story of the season has room for Donaldson and Russell Martin coming to Toronto and helping change a clubhouse culture. And while the story of 2015 will also include a postseason in which Donaldson didn't dominate and the Blue Jays didn't win, the MVP deals only with the regular season.

The MVP isn't about which player you'd rather have if you were starting a team (everyone's taking the 24-year-old Trout over the 29-year-old Donaldson). It isn't about who's going to be better next year (at this point, Trout is always the safest bet).

It's simply about 2015 and who dominated the American League.

If you want to say it was Trout, that's fine. He's not a bad choice. He's just not the best choice.

The MVP is Josh Donaldson, and the final vote shouldn't even be that close.

Case closed?

Danny Knobler covers Major League Baseball as a national columnist for Bleacher Report.

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