Mike Trout Will Finish Outside the Top Two in MVP Voting for the First Time Ever

Mike Trout’s injury-plagued season broke an impressive streak.

We all knew it was coming but now it’s official: After a thumb injury cost him six weeks in the middle of the season, Mike Trout is not one of the three finalists for American League MVP. That means that, for the first time in his MLB career, Trout will not finish in the top two of MVP voting. 

The three finalists for the award are Jose Altuve, Aaron Judge and Jose Ramirez, who all played at least 152 games this season. Trout played just 114 games but was as productive as ever when healthy. He led the AL in on-base percentage and slugging and was the major-league leader in OPS. Even though he missed a month and a half of action, he still compiled the fifth-most WAR of any MLB hitter by Fangraphs’ measure and the eighth-most by Baseball Reference’s calculations. 

Trout, still just 26, has won two MVP awards (2014 and 2016) and finished second in the voting in 2012, 2013 and 2015.

The winners of this year’s MVP awards—in the AL and NL—will be announced on Nov. 16. None of the AL finalists have won the award before.