Being the best player in the NL earned Albert Pujols his second MVP award. He is the 11th player to win the award twice.
After a 2008 campaign where he hit .357, two points shy of his career high, and set new personal bests with a .462 on-base percentage, a 1.115 OPS and 104 walks. He slugged .653, nearly 30 points better than his career average, cranking 37 homers and 44 doubles. Pujols drove in 116 runs, scored 100 and struck out just 54 times.
These numbers alone are amazing.
Pujols earned 18 first place votes to get a total of 369 points. Second was Ryan Howard of the World Champion Phillies with 308 points. Ryan Braun of the Milwaukee Brewers came in third with 139 points.
Congrats to Pujols on an award well-deserved.
Tomorrow MLB will announce the AL MVP. My money is on Joe Mauer of the Twins.
