Last year the unthinkable happened in the AL MVP race, and for just the 12th time in the 81 year history of the award it was granted to a pitcher. <\/p>\n
This time Justin Verlander.<\/p>\n
Oddly enough, the inaugural award also went to a pitcher, Lefty Grove. It was also the first time a pitcher claimed this award since 1992 when Dennis Eckersley was decorated the AL regular season MVP. So it just goes to show you just how good of a season the Detroit Tigers\u2019 pitcher had.<\/p>\n
No doubt this prestigious honor will be hotly contested yet again, and this time around some new faces will be added to the mix.<\/p>\n
Miguel Cabrera <\/strong><\/p>\n The man that finished 5th in the voting a season ago will definitely be right back in the thick of things this season. Cabrera flirted with a triple crown at times last year, finishing with a .344\/30\/105\/.448 slashline.<\/p>\n While he will be getting acclimated with a new position this season , it surely will not hurt his offensive performance. Especially since the reason he is learning a new position is due to the fact that his team acquired the services of Price Fielder to claim his old first base slot.<\/p>\n So on top of the outstanding average and on base percentages, expect Cabrera’s RBI totals or runs scored to rise, depending on where the Tigers place him in the lineup.<\/p>\n Albert Pujols<\/strong><\/p>\n The new Angels’ first baseman will without a doubt be in contention in his new league. Just picture this.<\/p>\n Last year was considered a down year for the former Cardinal slugger. He finished with a line of .299\/37\/99\/.366. He also led the Cardinals to a World Series title, so if that is a down year, you can imagine what he might be capable of in 2012. [dfads params=’groups=10&limit=1&return_javascript=0′]<\/p>\n Jose Bautista<\/strong><\/p>\n Bautista came out of nowhere a couple of years ago. He has now led the AL in home runs for two years running, and has shown zero signs of slowing down anytime soon. He also backed up his power with a .302 average to boot. With his OBP just fractions below Cabrera\u2019s at .447, he actually finished 3rd in the AL voting a season ago.<\/p>\n There are no signs leading to his demise this season, so Bautista could be a very good bet.<\/p>\n Robinson Cano<\/strong><\/p>\n Cano finished second on his team in voting a year ago, and even though Curtis Granderson’s production is not likely to fall off in 2012, you have to like what Cano can do going forward in a more RBI, run scoring position in the order.<\/p>\n He will just simply have more opportunities to get the stats needed to secure the award.<\/p>\n Jacoby Ellsbury<\/strong><\/p>\n Ellsbury, the runner-up a season ago, will of course be in contention in 2012 given he remains healthy. The youthful center fielder took that next step a season ago. He has the power (32 home runs), he has the average(.321), and he was able to drive in the runs (105). He also does something that no one else on this list is capable of –he is a speed demon on the base paths.<\/p>\n If his home run totals drop as expected, look for that 39 number he had last year to rise a bit.<\/p>\n Albert Pujols 11\/2 MLB Betting \u2013 American League MVP Futures Last year the unthinkable happened in the AL MVP race, and for just the 12th time in the 81 year history of the award it was granted to a pitcher.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":68,"featured_media":24257,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[670],"tags":[54239,54197,54198,54199,54191,54192,54193,14240,27184,4651,27396,27397,112,27398,66497,27399,678,682,26671,3949,54238],"class_list":["post-49582","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb-baseball","tag-2012-al-mvp-futures","tag-2012-al-mvp-odds","tag-2012-al-mvp-predictions","tag-2012-al-mvp-preview","tag-2012-mlb","tag-2012-mlb-future-predictions","tag-2012-mlb-season-picks","tag-american-league","tag-american-league-picks","tag-baseball-futures","tag-baseball-mvp-gambling","tag-baseball-mvp-lines","tag-baseball-predictions","tag-future-baseball-odds","tag-mlb","tag-mlb-baseball-futures-predictions","tag-mlb-betting","tag-mlb-handicappers","tag-mlb-season-preview","tag-mvp-futures","tag-odds-to-win-the-2012-al-mvp"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49582","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/68"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49582"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49582\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":107916,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49582\/revisions\/107916"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24257"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49582"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49582"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49582"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Odds to win the 2012 AL MVP<\/h3>\n
\nAdrian Gonzalez 15\/2
\nMiguel Cabrera 15\/2
\nPrince Fielder 12\/1
\nRobinson Cano 12\/1
\nJose Bautista 12\/1
\nEvan Longoria 15\/1
\nJacoby Ellsbury 18\/1
\nMark Teixeira 18\/1
\nJoe Mauer 20\/1
\nJosh Hamilton 20\/1
\nDustin Pedroia 22\/1
\nAdrian Beltre 25\/1
\nIan Kinsler 25\/1
\nJustin Verlander 25\/1
\nAlex Rodriguez 25\/1
\nJustin Morneau 30\/1
\nCarl Crawford 30\/1
\nJered Weaver 35\/1
\nFelix Hernandez 35\/1
\nDavid Price 40\/1
\nC.C Sabathia 40\/1
\nMichael Young 40\/1
\nMark Reynolds 50\/1
\nC.J. Wilson 50\/1
\nDerek Jeter 50\/1
\nCurtis Granderson 50\/1
\nYoenis Cespedes 50\/1
\nIchiro Suzuki 50\/1
\nAdam Lind 50\/1
\nMatt Wieters 50\/1
\nEric Hosmer 50\/1
\nJon Lester 75\/1
\nPaul Konerko 75\/1<\/p>\nView The MLB Cappers Leaderboard For 2011 \u00a0– Picks Packages for 2012 On Sale! \u2014\u2013><\/strong><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"