Best non-MVP seasons in MLB history

What better place to start than with the last man to bat over .400 in a single season and the only person to do so since 1930? You’d think with such a remarkable feat, Williams would’ve been a no-brainer for the MVP award. After all, the first MVP award was handed out in 1931 — one year after Bill Terry hit .401 for the New York Giants. Voters hadn’t seen a hitter reach the four-hundo mark in over a decade, and when it finally happened... they gave the MVP to Joe DiMaggio.

DiMaggio was no slouch in 1941. As a matter of fact, this was the year of DiMaggio’s 56-game hit streak. It’s hard for voters to overlook an accomplishment of that sort. That said, despite that incredible feat that will likely never be replicated, Williams still led the American League in home runs, walks, batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, OPS, WAR, and runs scored. The only category that DiMaggio had the edge over Williams in was runs batted in. He had five more than Williams.

Aside from the hit streak, voters likely gave the edge to DiMaggio because of the success the Yankees saw that season. Williams’ Red Sox went 84-70. The Yankees went 101-53 and won the World Series. Aside from that though, Williams deserved it. He had two hits, a home run, and four RBI in the All-Star Game, meaning outside of the playoffs, when baseball offered its biggest stage in 1941, Williams shined as the best player on the field. The All-Star Game MVP didn’t become an actuality until 1962, but you can bet your bottom dollar that if it existed two decades earlier, Williams would’ve been the first recipient. Maybe that would have been enough to sway the voters in his favor.

Much like Williams in 1941, Trout’s rookie season saw him fall victim to something that hadn’t been done since 1967. Detroit’s Miguel Cabrera won the Triple Crown that season, leading the American League in batting average (.330), home runs (44), and RBI (139). Cabrera’s Tigers were also the AL Central champs and reached the World Series. The same can’t be said for Trout’s Angels, who finished seventh in the American League with a record of 89-73.

Still, Trout led the league in runs scored and stolen bases. Also, despite Cabrera leading in every major hitting category, Trout still posted a better OPS-plus than Cabrera, meaning that had the two titans played on the same team, it’s likely that Trout would’ve been more impactful. Trout also led the Majors in WAR. Aside from hitting, Trout was one of the best defenders in the league as well. In center field, Trout posted 21 Defensive Runs Saved during his rookie season, according to Baseball-Reference. Meanwhile, Miguel Cabrera recorded -4 DRS, which is actually one of the better seasons of his career.

Greg Maddux captivated audiences the entirety of his career, but he was especially special in 1995, recording 19 wins and only two losses, Maddux also led the National League in ERA (1.63), WHIP (.811), innings pitched (209.2), and WAR (9.6). Let’s focus on that last one, shall we?

Maddux posted a 9.6 WAR in 1995, the highest mark of any pitcher in the Majors that decade not named Roger Clemens. That’s not enough to win an MVP on its own though. What do you think the MVP winner’s WAR was that season, hm? Probably pretty close, right? After all, 8.0 is considered an MVP-caliber season. So, what, 8.5? 9.0? Maybe it was on the low-end, around 7.5? No. All wrong, all way off. Try 5.9.

The winner, Cincinnati’s Barry Larkin, had a great season, but nowhere near the caliber of Maddux’s campaign. Larkin didn’t lead the National League in a single category. Hell, he didn’t even record an OPS of .900 that year. He did steal 51 bases though. Despite having strong seasons, Craig Biggio, Barry Bonds, Reggie Sanders, and especially Greg Maddux were overlooked. Also, Maddux was a pitcher, and they tend not to do very well in MVP voting.

Nobody in the National League in the 1980s had a better OPS than Jack Clark did in 1987. Clark’s mark of 1.055 was at least 50 points higher than anyone else in the National League that year. He led the league in walks (21 more than the next closest) and thus on-base percentage as well as slugging percentage. He finished third in MVP voting.

Sure, Andre Dawson hit 49 home runs to go along with 137 RBI, both of which led all of MLB, but that’s not why Clark missed out on the MVP Award. It’s because Clark played in only 131 games that year. In 131 games, Clark accrued 136 walks, meaning he almost accrued as many walks as Dawson did RBI, and Clark did that in 22 fewer games. Clark walked so much that if you look at Dawson’s at-bat total for 1987 (621) and compared it to Clark’s (419), you’d think Clark missed a third of the season, but in reality, he was just the most patient man in the National League.

Anybody who knows me knows what a sucker I am for plate discipline. So, maybe Clark’s 1987 campaign wasn’t good enough for you to consider it MVP-worthy, but this is my list. I’ll put whoever I want on here, and by George, Jack Clark is going on here.

Here’s a solid example of how team success could sway the voters’ opinions of players during the course of a season. The 1996 AL MVP winner was Texas’s Juan González. It was a very close race between him and the second-place finisher, Seattle’s Álex Rodríguez, with González earning 11 first-place votes to Rodríguez’s 10. If you look at the pair’s offensive numbers that season, however, you’d probably be confused as to why voters would’ve ranked González over Rodríguez. Aside from homers and RBI, Rodríguez was superior to González in practically every notable category, leading the American League in runs scored (141) while leading all of MLB in batting average (.358) and doubles (54).

That’s pretty good on its own, but if offensive figures were all we were looking at, Mark McGwire should’ve walked away with the MVP. However, Rodríguez combined his impeccable hitting in his first full season with solid defense at shortstop. While González and McGwire were busy racking up -11 and -3 Defensive Runs Saved at corner outfield and first base respectively, Rodríguez was playing high-level shortstop for a contending Mariners team. “Contending” being the key word. See, Rodríguez’s Mariners couldn’t win their division. While they were closer to winning their division than any other team in the American League, that didn’t matter in the eyes of the awards voters. All that mattered was that when it came time for the postseason, voters got to see González play. That wasn’t the case for Rodríguez.

Blame Coors all you want, but Todd Helton mashed at the turn of the century, leading the National League in so many categories — WAR (8.9), hits (216), RBI (147), total bases (405), batting average (.372), on-base percentage (.463), slugging percentage (.698), and OPS (1.162) — that his Baseball-Reference page is almost filled with bold numbers. Some of these figures were leagues and bounds above the rest of the National League. Helton had 20 more hits than the next closest player that season, Jeff Kent (196). Helton’s average was 17 points higher than his biggest competitor, Moises Alou (.355). He had 15 more RBI than Jeff Bagwell, 0.7 more WAR than Andruw Jones (and 1.7 more WAR than the MVP winner, Kent), and 23 on-base percentage points on Barry Bonds. He beat 2000's Bonds in on-base percentage. You’d think that impossible, but Helton did it.

However, despite all these accolades and incredible figures, Helton didn’t come anywhere close to Kent for the NL MVP, earning just one first-place vote compared to Kent’s 22. But, as is the running theme with most of these, the Rockies finished fourth in their division, while the Giants won it with 11 games in hand.

Should relief pitchers be allowed to win the MVP Award? That’s for you to decide. However, from the late 1980s to the early 2000s, the answer to that question was a definitive “YES!” as evidenced by Eckersley’s win in 1992. However, that wasn’t Eckersley’s best season. His best season came in 1990, when Eck was as unhittable as a piñata hoisted 40 stories above the blindfolded batsmen.

Eckersley posted a 0.61 ERA in 1990. That’s lower than his WHIP was that season (0.614). Have you ever heard of a situation where a pitcher had a lower ERA than WHIP? Yeah, I didn’t think so, because it sounds unrealistic. It sounds impossible, but it legitimately happened. That 0.61 ERA is the third-lowest mark for anyone to ever record 40 or more saves in a single season behind only 2012 Fernando Rodney (0.60) and 2016 Zack Britton (0.54). However, Rodney and Britton’s FIPs (2.13 and 1.94, respectively) don’t hold a candle to Eckersley’s 1.34 in 1990. Eckersley also posted an ungodly 18.25 K/BB ratio. Everywhere you look, Eckersley was posting insane figures all around.

Still, despite these gaudy video game numbers, Eckersley didn’t receive the most votes of any pitcher that season. Hell, he didn’t even receive the most MVP votes of all relief pitchers that year. That distinction belongs to Chicago’s Bobby Thigpen, who didn’t have an edge over Eckersley in any statistic, except saves. Thigpen saved 57 that year, compared to Eckersley’s 48, and that one statistic was all it took for voters to give the edge to Thigpen. Shame. That’s a crying shame.

It’s tough going up against Barry Bonds, as Vladimir Guerrero found out in 2002. I can’t help but think that with one more home run that season, Vlad could’ve walked away with the hardware. However, instead of joining the 40-40 club as only three people had done in the history of baseball, Guerrero wound up one dinger short. It would’ve been tough for awards voters to overlook Guerrero’s raw stats had he accrued that crucial 40th home run. Guerrero would’ve had the highest average of anyone to join the 40-40 club, and the second-highest OPS (1.010). Alas, Guerrero had to settle for silver....no, wait. He finished fourth?!

I understand losing out to Barry Bonds. That’s Barry MF’in Bonds. However, the other guys ahead of Guerrero didn’t hold a candle to him. Albert Pujols? He had more RBI and runs scored than Guerrero. That’s it. Lance Berkman? He had more RBI, walks, and home runs (only by three) than Guerrero. That’s it. Clearly, the voters hated Canada in 2002. How else can you explain the NL’s runner-up in batting average and WAR (for position players) falling so far down the voting boards? Thankfully, as soon as Guerrero moved to the American League in 2004 and no longer had to compete with Bonds, he won the MVP Award that was rightfully his.

You want to talk about a Yankee losing the MVP to a multi-faceted player? Look no further than 1934 Lou Gehrig, who posted far better numbers than the MVP winner that year, Mickey Cochrane. However, Cochrane was a player-manager, and his Detroit Tigers led the league with 101 wins that season. That’s tough to see if you’re a Yankees fan.

Gehrig led all of MLB in home runs (49), WAR (10.1), batting average (.363), on-base percentage (.465), slugging percentage (.706), and RBI (166). Yeah, Gehrig won the Triple Crown and didn’t finish first in MVP voting. He also didn’t finish second, third, or fourth. He finished fifth. Hell, he didn’t even finish with the most votes on his own team. That distinction belonged to pitcher Lefty Gomez, who finished third in the voting. I guess it wasn’t too strange for the Triple Crown winner to not win the MVP back then. After all, Chuck Klein accomplished the same feat for the Philadelphia Phillies just one year prior and lost out to Carl Hubbell. Still, it hurts to see.