2006 American League

Detroit got off to a surprisingly fast start, chased by the defending champ White Sox and the surging Twins.  Minnesota caught them at the end and won the Central with 96 victories to the Tigers' 95, good for a Wild Card.  The Chisox were shut out.  The Yankees persevered in the East with 97 wins, while Toronto won 87 and Boston 86.  Oakland had its usual superb second half to take the West with 93 victories to the Angels' 89.  On the other side of the coin, Tampa Bay lost 101 and Kansas City 100.  Detroit and Oakland won the Division Series matchups, with the Tigers taking to ALCS to move on to the World Series, which they lost in five games. The Yankees were the top offensive club, followed by Cleveland and Chicago.  Detroit and Minnesota were best at keeping opposition runs off the board.  

Joe Mauer emerged to win the batting title by four points over Derek Jeter, .347 to .343, with Robinson Cano third at .342.  David Ortiz won the home run crown with 54, trailed by Jermaine Dye at 44 and Travis Hafner and Jim Thome at 42.  Ortiz also led with 137 RBI.  Justin Morneau was second at 130, Raul Ibanez third with 123.  Grady Sizemore led in runs (134) and doubles (53).  Ichiro Suzuki led in hits with 224, Carl Crawford in steals (58) and triples (19), Travis Hafner in OPS and OPS+.  

Johan Santana won the pitching Triple Crown, tying with Chien-Ming Wang with 19 wins while leading in ERA and strikeouts.  Jon Garland won 18.  Santana had a 2.77 ERA, Roy Halladay 3.19, C.C. Sabathia 3.22.  Santana had 245 strikeouts, Jeremy Bonderman 202.  Francisco Rodriguez led with 47 saves.

Win Shares leaders, players:  Derek Jeter (New York) 33, Joe Mauer (Minnesota) 31, David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez (Boston) 29, Justin Morneau (Minnesota) and Raul Ibanez (Seattle) 27, Jermaine Dye and Jim Thome (Chicago), Carlos Guillen (Detroit) and Michael Young (Texas) 26, Travis Hafner and Grady Sizemore (Cleveland), Ivan Rodriguez (Detroit), Vladimir Guerrero (LA/Anaheim), Alex Rodriguez (New York) and Vernon Wells (Toronto) 25, Ichiro Suzuki (Seattle) and Jorge Posada (New York) 24.

Win Shares leaders, pitchers: Johan Santana (Minnesota) 25, Roy Halladay (Toronto) 21, Jon Papelbon (Boston) and Barry Zito (Oakland) 18, John Lackey (LA/Anaheim), Joe Nathan (Minnesota), Chien-Ming Wang (New York) and B.J. Ryan (Toronto) 17, Erik Bedard (Baltimore), Curt Schilling (Boston) and Francisco Liriano (Minnesota) 16.

WARP1 scores:  Jeter 9.8, Mauer 8.9, Ortiz 7.9, Ramirez 6.3, Morneau 7.3, Ibanez 5.8, Dye 8.5, Thome 6.4, Guillen 6.3, Young 8.1, Hafner 8.0, Sizemore 8.5, I. Rodriguez 5.8, Guerrero 6.0, A. Rodriguez  5.8, Wells 6.2, Suzuki 7.0, Posada 7.5.  Pitchers, Santana 10.6, Halladay 8.4, Papelbon 8.2, Zito 7.0, Lackey 6.7, Nathan 8.0, Wang 6.9, Ryan 7.6, Bedard 6.9, Schilling 7.4, Liriano 7.2.

WAR leaders, position players:  Sizemore 8.0, Mauer 6.4, Jeter 6.3, Guillen 6.2, Hafner 5.9, Wells 5.8, Ortiz 5.5, Suzuki 5.4, Tejada 5.2, Beltre 4.9, Crawford 4.8, Thome 4.6, Johnson 4.5, DeJesus and Posada 4.4.  Pitchers:  Santana 7.3, Bonderman 6.1, Lackey 6.0, Halladay 5.7, Sabathia and Schilling 5.5, Mussina 5.2, Millwood 5.1, Bedard 5.0, Vazquez 4.8, Wang 4.7, Escobar 4.6, Westbrook 4.5, Contreras 4.2, Liriano 4.1.

 MVP voting (top 10):

1.) Justin Morneau, 320 points

2.) Derek Jeter, 306

3.) David Ortiz, 193

4.) Frank Thomas, 174

5.) Jermaine Dye, 156

6.) Joe Mauer, 116

7.) Johan Santana, 114

8.) Travis Hafner, 64

9.) Vlad Guerrero, 46

10.) Carlos Guillen, 34

Cy Young voting:

1.) Johan Santana, 140 points

2.) Chien-Ming Wang, 51

3.) Roy Halladay, 48

4.) Francisco Rodriguez,5

5.) Joe Nathan and Kenny Rogers, 3

7.) Justin Verlander, 2

Rookie of the Year voting:

1.) Justin Verlander, 133 points

2.) Jonathan Papelbon, 63

3.) Francisco Liriano 30

4.) Kenji Johjima, 10

5.) Jered Weaver, 8

6.) Nick Markakis, 7

7.) Ian Kinsler, 1

Manager of the Year voting:

1.) Jim Leyland, 118 points

2.) Ron Gardenhire, 93

3.) Ken Macha, 26

4.) Joe Torre 15

 Top player:  Derek Jeter.  Jeter has built himself a Hall of Fame career, not just in the newspapers but on the field.  This is a year when you could make a case for a pitcher as the MVP, but as I split these Jeter is the clear winner, leader in both Win Shares and WARP among position players.  Others did well, Jeter did better.

 #1 Derek Jeter, #2 Joe Mauer, #3 Grady Sizemore, #4 David Ortiz, #5 Carlos Guillen, #6 Travis Hafner.

Top pitcher:  Johan Santana.  How could it be anyone else?  A terrific run for Santana.

#1 Johan Santana, #2 Roy Halladay, #3 Mike Mussina, #4 Curt Schilling, #5 Jeremy Bonderman.

Top rookie:  Jon Papelbon succeeded in a pressure-filled situation for a contending team.  The writers' selection of Verlander would be the best long-term choice.

Top manager:  Jim Leyland turned the Tigers around, even if the final result isn't all they could have hoped for.