Sorting out a complicated American League MVP scene

Jose Altuve, Astros. An assessment of Altuve is tough because to say that he is the MVP front-runner only because of Trout’s inactivity is disrespectful to a player who has been every bit as consistent as the reigning MVP over the last few years. Altuve has been the best player on the best team in the league all season. His effort has bridged the club over a plethora of injuries to many of his All-Star cohorts, most noticeably Carlos Correa, who would find himself at the heart of this conversation if not for missing the past six weeks with a torn thumb ligament.

Regardless of how it is sliced, Altuve continues to showcase he is a legitimate driving force in the game. He currently leads MLB with a .354 batting average, which would land him a third AL batting title in the last four years. In addition, he is closing in on leading the league in hits for the fourth straight season, which would make him the first player in American League history to accomplish that feat. As a matter of fact, he has only gone hitless in 26 games total this year.

Has his status as the potential front-runner aided by lack of games Trout has been involved in? Sure. But under no circumstance should there be any reservations about how excellent — and deserving — he has truly been.

Nelson Cruz, Mariners. No one has homered more than Cruz has over the past three seasons, and as he closes in on potentially a fourth straight 40-home run campaign, his performance has never meant more. The Mariners' offense is disproportionately responsible for keeping the team afloat due to an incredibly injury-ravaged pitching staff, one that has necessitated three trades over the last month just to keep a five-man staff intact.

Throughout it all, Cruz has been the hammer that has carried the club. His .371 on-base percentage is a career best, while his 103 RBI lead the AL. The biggest challenge that lies ahead of him is the position he plays. No full-time DH has ever won AL MVP honors, and despite how important of presence he brings, Cruz is not having the eye-popping type of year that will make voters reconsider their stance on that, even if they should.

Aaron Judge, Yankees. The Yankees’ rookie phenomenon spent the first half of the year as the toast of the town, putting on an astonishing power display that saw him best Joe DiMaggio’s rookie full-season home run mark before Judge even finished packing for the All-Star Game. He pulled himself within very real aim of becoming only the third Rookie of the Year/MVP winner in history before a second-half swoon caused him to fall well behind the pace.

But often, MVP is both a cumulative award and a popularity contest, and Judge is doing well in both of those categories, while still making a tangible difference in pulling the Yankees toward the postseason. He still leads the league in home runs with 37 and has played to a 5.4 WAR level — which is the direct difference between the Yankees navigating the Wild Card from the driver’s seat and being stuck amid the crowded underbelly of fighting for a spot. It may take a bit of forgiveness for his lackluster August, as well as another surge in the vein of what he proved capable of in the first half, but Judge should still very much be considered at the heart of the race.

Chris Sale, Red Sox. Face it, there is an undeniable bias against pitchers taking home MVP honors. However, as Justin Verlander and Clayton Kershaw have both proven in recent years, truly exceptionally seasons can force the issue favorably for particularly dominant campaigns. That is exactly what Sale is mounting, as he leads MLB in strikeouts (264), while checking in among the AL top two in wins (15), innings pitched (185.1), WHIP (0.91) and ERA (2.77). Sale has been so dominant at missing bats that he has reached double digits in K’s 17 times, a level that only Randy Johnson and Nolan Ryan have hit more at this point in the season. Sale is on pace for 322 strikeouts on the year, which would be the most since the Big Unit’s 334 in 2002.

Yet what could work against him besides his positional orientation is that he is not necessarily the hands down favorite for Cy Young honors. Corey Kluber is having an exceptionally strong season himself. So does that mean Kluber should be included here as well, or that Sale’s impact has been that much more important? Sale has propped up a Boston rotation that has often been sketchy in performance and rotating around him due to injury. But all the same, the Sox are closing in on the best record in the American League and have won 18 of his 27 starts on the year.

In a year when the honors are more up for grabs than usual, it would not be a long shot to see a pitcher enjoying the type of season Sale is to slide in and grab the grail for himself — deservedly.

Andrelton Simmons, Angels. Between Altuve tearing around the bases and both Judge and Cruz making outfield walls appear much closer than they actually are, there has been another player making just as many meaningful highlight efforts, albeit the type that don’t show up on the most popular statistical leaderboards. Andrelton Simmons has played as incredible an all-around game as anybody in baseball this year, and it has been grossly underestimated.

Simmons boasts an astounding 3.3 dWAR figure this year — a full run better than any other player in the game. He already has 25 defensive runs saved on the year, bringing his career total up to 156, over 100 more than any other shortstop over that time span. And while in years past his so-so offensive production has capped his overall value, that cannot be held against him any longer. The 27-year-old is enjoying or headed toward personal best in every offensive category as well.

The most telling thing about Simmons’s effort is how much he stepped up when Trout was out of action. While Trout was on the DL, Simmons hit .303 with an .844 OPS, helping keep the Angels within contention toward the top of the AL Wild Card picture.

Mike Trout, Angels. Of course, no AL MVP rundown is complete without Trout, who has proved that even time lost from an in-season injury cannot keep him from the award that has orbited him since his arrival to the big leagues. Prior to the thumb injury that caused him to miss all of June and the first half of July, Trout was having the best year of his career, batting .337 with a 1.203 OPS, 16 home runs, 36 RBIs and 10 stolen bases over 47 games.

Since making his return on July 14 to open the second half of the season, the reigning MVP has made up for lost time and then some. He has thrust himself back into the MVP picture by keeping his OPS in elite territory at 1.126 and carrying a .459 on-base percentage. Despite the 39 games he missed, Trout is still within the AL’s top four in WAR, while narrowing in on 30 home runs yet again. His .327 average would be good for second in the AL if he had enough at-bats to qualify for the league lead. If he stays active at the current pace, he will requalify again by season’s end.

Trout is amassing one of the greatest in-season comeback efforts of all time, further pulling into question exactly what must be done to slow him down, let alone stop his march through history altogether.