When is the MVP Winner the League's Best Player and Not the Most Valuable?

At the completion of the 2011 regular season, there were arguments questioning whether Jose Bautista was the American League's MVP. He was clearly the best position player, but the Toronto Blue Jays were never a threat to win the World Series.

Bautista finished second to Justin Verlander in the MVP voting. Each had a WAR of 8.5, but Verlander's Detroit Tigers won the Central Division crown. There is no doubt that would not have happened without Verlander's contributions.

The league's MVP is the player who was most valuable to his team. That does not mean he must be on a division winner or even on the wild card.

Ernie Banks won the MVP award playing on the fifth place Chicago Cubs in both 1958 and 1959.

There are times when the best player in the league should be the MVP.

In 1947, there was tremendous controversy when Joe DiMaggio of the pennant winning New York Yankees won the MVP award. The Yankees finished 12 games ahead of the second place Detroit Tigers and a whopping 16 games ahead of Ted Williams' Boston Red Sox.

The numbers in favor of Williams over DiMaggio are staggering.

Williams hit .343/.499/.634 to DiMaggio's .315/.391/.522. Williams had 32 home runs and 114 RBIs compared to DiMaggio's 20 home runs and 97 RBIs.

The key is that the Yankees would have won the pennant without DiMaggio (5.6 WAR). Williams had 10.3 WAR.

It is important to note that when each league consisted of eight teams, the top four finishers shared World Series money.

In 1955, 20-year-old Al Kaline was clearly the American League's best player, Yogi Berra was clearly the league's most valuable player.

The Detroit Tigers finished fifth, 17 games behind the first place Yankees.

Kaline batted .340/.421/.546 with 27 home runs and 102 RBIs. Berra batted .272/.349/.470 with 27 home runs and 108 RBIs.

The Yankees edged out the Cleveland Indians by three games to win the pennant. Without Berra, Cleveland would have won their second consecutive pennant.

The case of Derek Jeter with respect to the MVP award is almost an anomaly. Jeter has been praised for his leadership qualities as well as for his intangibles. The closest he has come to winning the award was finishing second to Justin Morneau in 2006.

The Yankees won the 2006 Eastern Division title. The Minnesota Twins won the Central Division title. Jeter had a WAR of 6.3 while Morneau's was 3.8. The difference was that the Twins won the division by one game. The Yankees won their division by 10 games.

Despite the criticism, the majority of MVP winners were the correct selection.