Yankees and Red Sox shut out of MVP votes for first time ever
By Mike Oz November 14, 2014 1:42 AM Big League Stew
A number of interesting historical tidbits came from Thursday's MVP announcement. Clayton Kershaw won in the National League, becoming the first NL pitcher since Bob Gibson in 1968 to be named MVP.
American League winner Mike Trout, meanwhile, became the fifth-youngest MVP winner, getting the award at age 23.
Two nice honors for the stars of L.A. Meanwhile, on the East Coast, the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees, made a very different type of history.
They were shut out completely. Not that they didn't win — no player on either team got a single vote on any ballot. That had never happened before to both teams in the same season. Like ever.
Peter Botte of the New York Daily News did the research on this one, and ESPN Stats & Info later backed it up.
Each MVP ballot includes 10 players. Multiply that by 30 ballots and you see there was potential for at least someone to cast a seventh-place homer vote for Dustin Pedroia or give Derek Jeter a sweet send-off with a harmless tenth-place vote. It didn't happen. Bless you, Baseball Writers Association of America.
These players did get MVP votes, though — Lucas Duda of the New York Mets (eighth place), Devin Mesoraco of the Cincinnati Reds (eighth place and ninth place), Dee Gordon of Dodgers (tenth place), Albert Pujols (seventh place and tenth place) and Kyle Seager (tenth place).
Of course, the Yankees and Red Sox are used to being left out of 2014 parties by now. The 2014 season was the first time since 1993 that both team missed the playoffs in the same season.
Poster Comment:
Que sera, sera. ;)