Miguel Cabrera led the American League in batting average, on-base percentage, and slugging percentage. His season was unbelievable and I believe that he is the Most Valuable Player in the American League. Cabrera was important to the Tigers, even battling many injuries sidelining him for short amounts of time. Even hampered with injuries, Cabrera put on a clinic every time he was on the field. Mike Trout and Chris Davis played well, but neither could match the mastery that Cabrera showed every time he was on the ball field.
Looking at the overall stats, Cabrera was an amazing hitter this season. He homered 44 times, drove in 137, and hit .348/.442/.636 with an OPS of 1.078. His season was comparable to his 2012 Triple Crown campaign, where he also hit 44 HR, drove in 139, and hit .330/.393/.606 with an OPS of .999. He actually improved this season, posting better numbers in all the offensive categories I just mentioned, except RBI. To me, that is just amazing. Cabrera was unexplainable at the plate this season; he posted video game type numbers. Cabrera has a lot of reasons to be MVP, but true statistics are one that I believe really show his "value". And, winning the Most "Valuable" Player award is about value, right? His value was impressive this season. Let's break down Cabrera's 2013 season even further. Cabrera hit .356 in August (36-for-101) with 11 HR and 31 RBI in just 27 games. You think that is good? Check out his month of May, where he posted a .379 batting average (44-for-116) with 12 HR and 33 RBI. And, that was only in 28 games. He posted a .361/.458/.671 line against teams ABOVE .500! He was actually better against better teams, proving even more valuable to the Tigers. If you compare those numbers to Chris Davis', you see that Davis was better against poorer teams, posting a 1.024 OPS against teams below .500 and "only" a .991 OPS against .500+ WP teams. Again, this proves that Cabrera is again valuable, and that he can perform when the Tigers really need it, not just against worse teams. Cabrera over the past two years (309 games) has hit .338/.417/.620 with 88 HR and 276 RBI. He has been awesome to watch, not only in 2013. Miguel Cabera's value is why he is my MVP for the American League for 2013. Although he played through injury a lot, he still was a premiere hitter in the American League. It's hard to argue against that. I thought he was the best, and that's why he will take the MVP for the American League from Cover The Bases.
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