Ok, I have been having some internet problems, so I typed a couple in Word, and will import them now that my internet is for the moment, operational.

Earlier this week Albert Pujols was named the Most Valuable Player in the National League, for the second time in his career. Pujols, beat out Missouri State graduate Ryan Howard, claiming 18 of 32 first place votes. Pujols had one of the best statistical seasons of his career, hitting .357, 37 home runs, and 116 RBI.
With numbers like that one might think that it would be impossibe to even question that Albert Pujols should be the MVP. But the problem is that Pujols plays for the St. Louis Cardinals, and they finished fourth in their division, wheras Ryan Howard's Philladelphia Phillies were World Series Champions. If you look at the award, it is not the player of the year award, it is the Most VALUABLE PLayer, which many, including myself believe to mean, without the player, where would the team be. The Cardinals finished with a 86-76 record on the season, and played in one of the toughest divisions in all of baseball. Without Albert Pujols, they would not have had a winning season. They would not have been playing meaningful games in September, and they would have finished much farther out than just four games back of the Wild Card Champion Milwaukee Brewers.

So if people are questioning if Albert Pujols is deserving of the award, the answer should be a resounding yes. In fact we should be talking about Albert's fourth or fifth MVP award, not his second, that should be the real debate.