2012 AL Postseason Awards

2012 AL MVP: Robinson Cano, Yankees (.316/34/101)

Clearly the voters took the concept of a player's value to his franchise and the team's relative success into account when picking this year's MVP, because Cano finished behind Miguel Cabrera of the Tigers in all three Triple Crown categories, yet takes the award. Cano was 6th in BA, 11th in HR, and tied for 6th in RBI. Cano was tied for 4th in runs and had one more than Cabrera, and finished one point higher in OBP. 2nd place goes to Josh Hamilton of the Rangers (.309/40/120), who was 7th in BA, 3rd in HR, and 1st in RBI. 3rd place is Cano's teammate Curtis Granderson (.241/43/100), who hit just .241 but was 2nd in HR and 8th in RBI. Granderson also led the league in runs scored with 113 - 2nd was Hamilton with 110. 4th is Hamilton's teammate Adrian Beltre (.308/31/111), who was 10th in BA and 3rd in RBI. Finally rounding out the top 5 is Cabrera (.320/39/116), who won the Triple Crown and the MVP in real life, but was 4th,. 4th and 2nd in the three categories in my replay.

2012 AL Cy Young: Yu Darvish, Rangers (18-3, 2.68, 249 K)

Darvish tied with Jered Weaver of the Angels for the league lead in wins with 18 and was 2nd to Weaver in ERA. So what set Darvish apart? The Rangers won the division, plus those 249 strikeouts, which led the league. The SOM Cy Young Award algorithm always likes closers, and this year is no different as Joe Nathan of the Rangers finishes 2nd (2-2, 2.79, 52 SV). The long-time Twin set a career high in saves in his first year in Texas. 3rd place is Ryan Cook of the A's (9-3, 1.71, 24 sv) who claimed the closer job mid-season and is hoping to lead the A's deep into the playoffs. 4th is All-Star Game starter Weaver (18-5, 2.63, 171 K), who finished 2nd in 2011. 5th is Casey Janssen of the Blue Jays (4-3, 2.48, 36 sv), who finished 4th in saves but 2nd in the AL Rolaids Fireman of the Year standings to Joe Nathan.

Manager of the year typically goes to the manager of the team with the best record. This year it's Joe Girardi of the Yankees in the AL, and Davey Johnson of the Nationals in the NL.