DUGOUT: Ending the AL MVP debate

Perhaps the most prestigious individual award in baseball, the title of Most Valuable Player is heavily debated and discussed.

This year, the two main contenders are the Minnesota Twins’ Joe Mauer and the New York Yankees’ Mark Teixeira.

Those who claim that Teixeira is more worthy of the award than Mauer, though, are either out of their mind or they haven’t checked the stats lately.

First off, I’m a Twins fan. I have followed the Twins my entire life and I will be the first to admit this bias.

Will it influence my decision? Probably. Does Mauer still deserve the MVP? Absolutely, and I can easily back it up.

Most of Teixeira’s supporters claim that an MVP should come from a playoff team. The Yankees are most likely bound for postseason play, while the Twins remain mired in mediocrity as they sit in third place in their division.

Forty-seven out of the 77 total MVPs in history, though, have come from non-playoff teams. In fact, the actual instructions that are mailed to the MVP voters each year specifically state: “The MVP need not come from a division winner or other playoff qualifier.”

Well, there goes that argument.

Another main bickering point between these two seems to be Teixeira’s high RBI total, 93, compared to Mauer’s 78.

Normally I would take all counting stats with a grain of salt because Mauer missed the first month of the season, but even I can’t disadvantage Teixeira because Mauer was hurt for a month.

I would be willing to grant this argument some merit, but two things need to be considered.

No. 1: Teixeira ranks third in RBI opportunities while Mauer ranks 115th.

No. 2: Mauer has driven in 21.03 percent of all runners on base when he comes to bat, while Teixeira only knocks in 15.9 percent.

The third main beef Teixeira supporters usually have against Mauer is that he isn’t as “clutch” as Teixeira. While I could convincingly argue that “clutchiness” doesn’t exist, that still has to be one of the most ridiculous statements I’ve ever heard.

With a runner in scoring position and two outs, Teixeira’s hitting .340/.492/.532. Mauer is hitting .444/.608/.778 in that scenario. With runners in scoring position, regardless of how many outs have been recorded, Teixeira is hitting .273/.427/.455 compared to Mauer’s .384/.487/.674.

And don’t get me started on the hitter-friendly New Yankee Stadium. When a ballpark is built so that a 12-year-old could land a ball over the fence, one would hope a 29-year-old Teixeira could do the same. And he does.

A league-leading 31 long-balls is nothing to dismiss, but outside of the friendly confines of the New Yankee Stadium, Teixeira is hitting just .269/.374/.486 with 12 home runs.

The Metrodome is known as a pitcher’s-friendly ballpark, and Mauer hits better there than on the road. But when he is away from the dome, Mauer hits .392/.468/.673.

Through Wednesday, Mauer had a batting average of .374 — far and away the best in baseball. While I’m not going to try to tell you whether or not he will finish the season with the first .400 batting average since Ted Williams, I can tell you that no one has had a better offensive season as a catcher than Mauer.

It’s easier to find a first baseman that can hit than it is a catcher. If both Mauer and Teixeira were at the same level offensively, Mauer would be given a slight advantage in terms of how valuable he was. But they’re not at the same level offensively.

Truth is, Mauer is leaps and bounds ahead of the entire league offensively. He leads the league in batting average by 15 points, in on-base percentage by 23 points, and in slugging by 56 points.

Clearly, Mauer deserves the MVP Award. And it’s not close.

This is a special season for Mauer. When a player puts up offensive numbers like Mauer is doing as consistently as Mauer is doing, you don’t forget easily.

This is the kind of season that you tell your grandkids about.

The fact that Mauer is doing this while playing the most demanding defensive position in the game only adds to his value.

If Joe Mauer doesn’t end up winning this year, the Most Valuable Player award will have lost all credibility.

Mauer leads the AL MVP race by a huge margin, but the increasingly competitive NL West race is providing both the Colorado Rockies and San Francisco Giants a chance to advance to postseason play.

The Los Angeles Dodgers’ status as the favorites in the National League is slipping faster than their slim advantage over the rest of their division. As late as July 25, the Dodgers had a nine-game lead over the Rockies, but through Monday’s games that lead was down to three.

Pitching is the primary reason both the Rockies and Giants are threatening to knock off the Dodgers.

Ubaldo Jimenez of the Rockies has won his last six decisions and has an ERA of 2.45 during his last eight starts. The Giants have the formidable duo of Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain providing dozens of excellent innings with no runs allowed.

The Giants are more in need of this fabulous pitching, as their offense is virtually non-existent. They traded for second-baseman Freddy Sanchez before the trade deadline, but he could be heading to the shelf due to injury.

The Rockies have just signed former-All-Star Jason Giambi to a minor-league deal in the hopes that he can provide some offensive power in the historically hitter-friendly ballpark of Coors Field.

Our Arizona Diamondbacks, although not statistically eliminated yet, have very few hopes of being awarded even a Wild Card spot. But that doesn’t mean we can’t sit back and watch what could be the most exciting, albeit least publicized, divisional race this year.

Andrew Kneeland is a junior at the Arizona Virtual Academy. He is an intern at the Green Valley News.