LA Angels Top Moments of the Decade #10: Mike Trout Wins His Third MVP

As we enter the final month of the decade, we’ll be counting down the ten most significant LA Angels moments here at Halo Hangout. The first memory comes is not-so-distant, and focuses on when Mike Trout went from the game’s best player to a surefire Hall of Famer.

When the LA Angels star won his third Most Valuable Player Award, it took him into the upper echelon of MLB players. 31 players have won the award at least twice in their career. That’s 0.015% of all players ever; surely an elite group. However, Trout’s third award put him in even greater company, becoming just the 11th player in the history of the league to accomplish such a feat.

His third MVP award might not have been his most memorable (there’ll be another Mike Trout MVP moment later on in this countdown), but it came at a time when Halo fans needed something to celebrate. After a 72-90 season, multiple injuries (including one that ended Trout’s season short!!), and the tragic loss of Tyler Skaggs, this MVP award was a chance for Halo fans to smile.

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Speaking of that Trout injury, this was probably the hottest debate in a Trout MVP win. The MVP losses to Miguel Cabrera to start his career were debates and remained untouched in terms of how divisive they were. Trout was obviously the best player in baseball this year, but he missed substantial time while Alex Bregman continued to pile onto his stats on the best team in baseball.

When Cody Bellinger was announced as the NL MVP, it seemed like Trout would lose the AL competition. Bellinger was the inferior player to Christian Yelich, but won due to Yelich missing the conclusion of the season due to injury. It was eerily similar to Trout and Bregman’s scenario.

But Trout was simply just too dominant. The fact he was able to fend off Bregman, who even I wrote should win the award, is one of the most impressive feats in his career. And it could start a stretch of seasons where Trout just goes on to win three or four straight MVP awards and threatens Barry Bonds’ all time record of seven MVP campaigns.

And as stated earlier, this solidifies Trout’s case as one of the best players in the history of baseball. He won his third MVP in his age 27 season. That is something only Mike Trout, Barry Bonds, and Stan Musial have done.

His Hall of Fame case is set. Whenever he retires, he’ll be a first ballot inductee, and has more than a decade to make sure his induction is unanimous.