Why 2 MVP voters listed Joey Votto 5th

Joey Votto missed out on the second Most Valuable Player award of his career by the fourth-slimmest margin in the history of voting on the award by the Baseball Writers Association of America. Both Votto and the Marlins’ Giancarlo Stanton received 10 first-place votes from writers, but Stanton received 302 points in the balloting to Votto’s 300.

First-place votes count for 14 points, second place nine, third place eight and so on down to one point for a 10th-place vote.

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Votto appeared no lower than fifth on any of the 30 ballots, compiled by the BBWAA here. He was second on nine, third on four, fourth on five and fifth on two. Stanton had one more second-place vote and one more third-place vote. Stanton had one fifth-place vote and one sixth-place vote.

After the award was announced, Votto said, “I think he and I had similar seasons but couldn’t be more different.”

Stanton had 59 home runs, while Votto had another season where he topped many of the acronym categories, like OPS, wRC+ and RE24. In the end, the two were also on losing teams, costing them some votes.

The other 10 first-place votes went to players who were on playoff teams.

The Enquirer reached out to the two voters who had Votto lowest on their ballots, USA Today MLB columnist Bob Nightengale and Bleacher Report MLB columnist Scott Miller.

Here is how they explained their fifth-place votes for Votto:

Nightengale: “For me, simply, it's the Most Valuable Player award and not the most outstanding player award. The Reds would have finished last with or without Joey Votto. I give a lot of weight to players whose teams earn playoff berths or at least are in contention.

"I didn't vote for Giancarlo Stanton first either and picked the player who led the Arizona Diamondbacks to the playoffs."

Miller: “Simply put, if the name of the award was Player of the Year instead of Most Valuable Player, my ballot would have looked different than it is. But MVP, to me, is not an award for individual statistics. It is a combination of those plus value to the team. From that perspective, Paul Goldschmidt was the heart and soul of a team that went from a 69-93 record in 2016 to 93-69 in 2017. The combination of his individual season and what he meant in the clubhouse, in the dugout, in meeting rooms for the Diamondbacks all summer – all of that – counts.

“Arenado and Blackmon sort of split the Rockies' vote for me. Again, they spurred their team to the postseason. Blackmon was incredible as a leadoff hitter, igniting the Rockies' offense all year. Arenado was great offensively and spectacular defensively at a premium position. Stanton and Votto obviously are great, great players and worthy of winning an MVP award. For me, there are no wrong answers. But because it is not a Player of the Year award, I also focus on that word ‘valuable’ and give that little extra nod to players who push their teams into the postseason. Especially in this day of expanded playoffs in which a third of the teams – 5 of 15 – make it to the postseason."

Each chapter of the BBWAA is allotted two votes per team (per league in cities with more than one team) for each of the organization's four awards, MVP, Cy Young, Rookie of the Year and Manager of the Year. The Cincinnati chapter's two voters for the MVP were C. Trent Rosecrans of The Enquirer and Mark Sheldon of MLB.com.