Why Mike Trout should win his 3rd MVP Award in 2018.

The LA Angels 2018 season has been a disappointment to most people.  Mike Trout would most likely agree with this statement since the team will again miss the playoffs for the 6th time in Trout’s seven seasons.

However for Mike Trout he keeps on playing his butt off and is quietly having probably his best season of his career in most every category despite missing three weeks with an injury and bereavement of his brother-in-law.  Mike Trout is being talked about as one of the leading candidates in the race for the AL MVP, but most people are saying the fact that Trout has been playing for a team that will not be in the playoffs.

This is always an argument that is made during the debate as to who is the MVP.  But should it be?  My thought is no.  Here’s why.  In every other award where the player’s team finishes is not considered nearly as much. Jacob DeGrom will most likely win the NL Cy Young award despite his record being subpar due to his team’s inability to score runs.  Rookie of the Year is also based on a player’s performance whether or not his team is in the top of the standings.

Mike Trout has a WAR of 10.0 second only to Mookie Betts of the Red Sox. Trout is 3rd in batting average with a .314 average. Trout is first overall in On Base Percentage at .462 and this is by a considerable amount. Trout is second in Slugging percentage at .629 and he leads all AlL Players with a 1.090 OPS which is On-Base-Percentage-Plus-Slugging.  Trout has scored 100 runs despite missing 22 games this season.

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Trout also has 38 homers which is tied for fourth place with 77 RBI’s.  The RBIs being lower is due in large part to the Angels lack of players getting on base ahead of him and missing the time due to injury/bereavement. He also has had the bat taken out of his hands numerous times due to 24 intentional walks and 121 total walks compared to Betts with 79 walks and 60 more at-bats. Trout is also in the top 10 in Total Bases and Stolen Bases as well.  This is not to mention that Mike Trout has played Gold Glove caliber defense and will likely garner his first Gold Glove Award of his career.

Mookie Betts and J.D. Martinez of the Boston Red Sox are the popular choice since they both play for the best team in baseball.  However, if one of the players was gone from the line-up would be able to pick up the slack.  However, if Mike Trout was not in the Angels line-up the team would be severely hampered.  The Angels would probably struggle to stay out of the AL West cellar without him.  The playoff MVP will reward those players on the top teams so they will get recognized.

However for Mike Trout he deserves to get recognized as well by winning his third AL MVP Award in 2018.  I implore all the voters to look at what Trout has done for his team and what the team would be without him.