2011 American League

The 2011 American League featured a 97-win Yankee team, a 96-win Rangers team, and a 95-win Tiger team, with a 91-win Tampa Bay squad beating out 90-win Boston for the wild card slot.  Only the Angels, at 86 wins, mounted a good run at those leaders.  At the bottom, the Twins lost 99, the Mariners 95, the Orioles 93, and the Royals 91.

The Yankees looked like the dominant team going into the playoffs, but were knocked out by the Tigers while the Rangers downed the Rays.  Texas beat Detroit to go to the World Series, where they lost in seven games.

Miguel Cabrera led the field in batting average at .344, with Adrian Gonzalez and Michael Young tied for second at .338.  Cabrera was also second in on-base average and second in slugging.  Curtis Granderson led in runs with 136.  Ian Kinsler was well back in second with 121.  Young and Gonzalez tied for the hits lead with 213.  Jacoby Ellsbury was third in hits, and led in total bases.  Cabrera led with 48 doubles and Jeff Francouer was second with 47.  Austin Jackson and Peter Bourjos tied for the triples lead with 11.  Jose Bautista led with 43 homers, and was also second in on-base and led in slugging.  Granderson was second with 41 homers and led with 119 RBI.  Robinson Cano was second with 118 RBI.  Coco Crisp and Brett Gardner led in steals with 49.  Carlos Quentin was hit with 23 pitches.

Justin Verlander hit the trifecta, leading in wins with 24, ERA with a 2.40 mark, and strikeouts with 250.  Second in wins was C.C. Sabathia with 19, while Jared Weaver had 18.  Weaver was second in ERA at 2.41, James Shields third at 2.82.  Sabathia was second in strikeouts with 230.  Jose Valverde saved 49, Mariano Rivera 44.

Win Shares leaders, position players: Miguel Cabrera (Detroit) 38, Jose Bautista (Toronto) 36, Jacoby Ellsbury (Boston) 34, Robinson Cano (New York) 30,  Ben Zobrist (Tampa Bay) 28, Adrian Gonzalez and Dustin Pedroia (Boston), Alex Avila (Detroit) 27, Curtis Granderson (New York) 26, Asdrubal Cabrera (Cleveland), Evan Longoria (Tampa Bay) 25, Paul Konerko (Chicago), Victor Martinez (Detroit), Alex Gordon (Kansas City) 24.

Win Shares leaders, pitchers:  Justin Verlander (Detroit) 27, Jered Weaver (Los Angeles) 24, James Shields (Tampa Bay), C.J. Wilson (Texas), Ricky Romero (Toronto) 20, C.C. Sabathia (New York) 19, Dan Haren (Los Angeles) 18, Josh Beckett (Boston), Felix Hernandez (Seattle) 16,

WAR (Fangraphs version) leaders, position players:  Ellsbury 9.1, Bautista 7.8, Pedroia 7.6, Kinsler 7.3, M. Cabrera, Gordon, and Granderson 6.7, A. Gonzalez 6.3, Zobrist 6.2, Longoria 6.1, Howie Kendrick (Los Angeles) 5.6, Adrian Beltre and Mike Napoli (Texas) 5.4, Cano 5.3.

WAR leaders, pitchers:  Verlander 6.9, Sabathia 6.6, Haren 6.2, Weaver 5.8, Wilson 5.4, Doug Fister (Seattle/Detroit) 5.2, Hernandez 4.7, Shields 4.6, Brandon McCarthy (Oakland) 4.5, David Price (Tampa Bay) 4.4, Justin Masterson (Cleveland) 4.3.

Actual BBWAA voting:

MVP:

Voting Results				Batting Stats												Pitching Stats
Rank		Tm	Vote Pts	1st Place	Share	WAR	G	AB	R	H	HR	RBI	SB	BB	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	W	L	ERA	WHIP	G	GS	SV	IP	H	HR	BB	SO
1	Justin Verlander	DET	280.0	13.0	71%	8.40	34	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	.000	.000	.000	24	5	2.40	0.920	34	34	0	251.0	174	24	57	250
2	Jacoby Ellsbury	BOS	242.0	4.0	62%	8.11	158	660	119	212	32	105	39	52	.321	.376	.552	.928
3	Jose Bautista	TOR	231.0	5.0	59%	8.07	149	513	105	155	43	103	9	132	.302	.447	.608	1.056
4	Curtis Granderson	NYY	215.0	3.0	55%	5.40	156	583	136	153	41	119	25	85	.262	.364	.552	.916
5	Miguel Cabrera	DET	193.0	2.0	49%	7.58	161	572	111	197	30	105	2	108	.344	.448	.586	1.033
6	Robinson Cano	NYY	112.0	0.0	29%	5.45	159	623	104	188	28	118	8	38	.302	.349	.533	.882
7	Adrian Gonzalez	BOS	105.0	0.0	27%	6.90	159	630	108	213	27	117	1	74	.338	.410	.548	.957
8	Michael Young	TEX	96.0	1.0	24%	2.30	159	631	88	213	11	106	6	47	.338	.380	.474	.854
9	Dustin Pedroia	BOS	48.0	0.0	12%	7.94	159	635	102	195	21	91	26	86	.307	.387	.474	.861
10	Evan Longoria	TBR	27.0	0.0	7%	7.49	133	483	78	118	31	99	3	80	.244	.355	.495	.850
11	Ian Kinsler	TEX	25.0	0.0	6%	6.97	155	620	121	158	32	77	30	89	.255	.355	.477	.832

Cy Young:

Rank		Tm	Vote Pts	1st Place	Share	WAR	W	L	W-L%	ERA	G	GS	GF	CG	SHO	SV	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	IBB	SO	HBP	BK	WP	BF	WHIP	ERA+
1	Justin Verlander	DET	196.0	28.0	100%	8.44	24	5	.828	2.40	34	34	0	4	2	0	251.0	174	73	67	24	57	0	250	3	2	7	969	0.920	172
2	Jered Weaver	LAA	97.0	0.0	49%	7.04	18	8	.692	2.41	33	33	0	4	2	0	235.2	182	65	63	20	56	0	198	3	0	8	926	1.010	156
3	James Shields	TBR	66.0	0.0	34%	5.15	16	12	.571	2.82	33	33	0	11	4	0	249.1	195	83	78	26	65	1	225	5	0	4	975	1.043	134
4	CC Sabathia	NYY	63.0	0.0	32%	7.47	19	8	.704	3.00	33	33	0	3	1	0	237.1	230	87	79	17	61	4	230	7	1	2	985	1.226	143
5	Jose Valverde	DET	28.0	0.0	14%	2.00	2	4	.333	2.24	75	0	70	0	0	49	72.1	52	21	18	5	34	4	69	3	1	3	301	1.189	185

Rookie of the Year:

Rank		Tm	Vote Pts	1st Place	Share	WAR	G	AB	R	H	HR	RBI	SB	BB	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	W	L	ERA	WHIP	G	GS	SV	IP	H	HR	BB	SO
1	Jeremy Hellickson	TBR	102.0	17.0	73%	3.79	29	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	.000	.000	.000	13	10	2.95	1.153	29	29	0	189.0	146	21	72	117
2	Mark Trumbo	LAA	63.0	5.0	45%	2.83	149	539	65	137	29	87	9	25	.254	.291	.477	.768
3	Eric Hosmer	KCR	38.0	4.0	27%	1.60	128	523	66	153	19	78	11	34	.293	.334	.465	.799
4	Ivan Nova	NYY	30.0	1.0	21%	3.30	28	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	.000	.000	.000	16	4	3.70	1.331	28	27	0	165.1	163	13	57	98
5	Michael Pineda	SEA	11.0	0.0	8%	2.38	28	5	0	1	0	0	0	0	.200	.200	.200	.400	9	10	3.74	1.099	28	28	0	171.0	133	18	55	173
6	Dustin Ackley	SEA	6.0	1.0	4%	3.67	90	333	39	91	6	36	6	40	.273	.348	.417	.766
7	Desmond Jennings	TBR	1.0	0.0	1%	2.38	63	247	44	64	10	25	20	31	.259	.356	.449	.805
7	Jordan Walden	LAA	1.0	0.0	1%	0.82	62	0	0	0	0	0	0	0					5	5	2.98	1.243	62	0	32	60.1	49	3	26	67

Manager of the Year:

Rank		Tm	Vote Pts	1st Place	Share	G	W	L	W-L%	Finish
1	Joe Maddon	TBR	133.0	26.0	95%	162	91	71	.562	2.0
2	Jim Leyland	DET	54.0	1.0	39%	162	95	67	.586	1.0
3	Ron Washington	TEX	31.0	1.0	22%	162	96	66	.593	1.0
4	Manny Acta	CLE	16.0	0.0	11%	162	80	82	.494	2.0
5	Joe Girardi	NYY	14.0	0.0	10%	162	97	65	.599	1.0
6	Mike Scioscia	LAA	4.0	0.0	3%	162	86	76	.531	2.0

Top player:  the rankings systems differ.  This sort of thing tends to happen when the top hitters, here Bautista and Cabrera, are poor fielders, and there are good hitters who are also excellent defenders, like Ellsbury, Cabrera, and Kinsler.  Verlander got the MVP, but we don't consider him.  I'll go with Ellsbury, top player in BBWAA voting and tops in WAR from Fangraphs.
#1 Jacoby Ellsbury, #2 Jose Bautista, #3 Miguel Cabrera, #4 Dustin Pedroia, #5 Curtis Granderson, #6 Ben Zobrist.

Top pitcher:  Pretty clear the best guy is Verlander, who tops every measuring stick.
#1 Justin Verlander, #2 C.C. Sabathia, #3 Jered Weaver, #4 Dan Haren, #5 James Shields.

Top rookie:  Jeremy Hellickson had a darn good year.

Top manager:  Joe Maddon, which would be true in most recent years in the AL.