Should the Most Valuable Player come from a losing team? It’s a good discussion because there’s no right or wrong answer. Penalizing an outstanding player because of his teammates seems unfair. But at the same time, value is often reflected in the standings.
On Thursday, Mike Trout rose above those arguments when he was named MVP of the American League by a wide margin.
Trout received 19 of a possible 30 first-place votes from the Baseball Writers’ Association of America to win for the second time in three years. He is the first MVP from a losing team since Alex Rodriguez won with the Texas Rangers in 2003, and only the fifth in history.
Trout finished with 356 points. Red Sox right fielder Mookie Betts was second with 311 points and nine first-place votes. Betts was the only player to finish in the top three of every ballot.
Houston second baseman Jose Altuve was third with 227 points. He did not receive any first-place votes.
In his final season, David Ortiz finished in sixth place and received one first-place vote, that coming from Mark Feinsand of the New York Daily News.
Ortiz received MVP votes in eight of the 14 years he played for the Red Sox and finished sixth or better six times.
Betts and Ortiz were named on every ballot along with Trout, Altuve, Toronto’s Josh Donaldson, and Baltimore’s Manny Machado.
Since 2012, the 25-year-old Trout has been first or second in the MVP balloting. But with the Los Angeles Angels finishing 74-88 and 21 games out of first place, he wondered if that meant another runner-up finish.
“I was really surprised,’’ Trout said on a conference call. “If your team doesn’t have a great record, what do you think about your MVP chances? For me, I’ve got to stay positive . . . I know how it works.’’
Trout hit .315 with a .991 OPS and led the league with a .441 on-base percentage. He had 123 runs, 100 RBIs, 66 extra-base hits, and 30 stolen bases.
Trout scored 17 percent of the Angels’ runs, the highest percentage for an American League player since Rickey Henderson scored 146 runs for the 1985 Yankees.
“I can’t control what people think. I go out there with one mind-set: to be the best,’’ Trout said.
Trout and former San Francisco Giants star Barry Bonds are the only players in history to finish first or second in the MVP voting for five consecutive years.
Bonds won four National League MVPs in a row from 2001-04.
Betts hit .318 with an .897 OPS over 158 games. He had 122 runs, 113 RBIs, 42 doubles, 31 home runs, and 26 stolen bases. His 359 total bases led the majors.
Defensive metrics showed Betts saved 32 runs in right field, a statistic that contributed to his winning a Gold Glove. Betts also won a Silver Slugger and was an All-Star for the first time.
Betts hit five home runs over a span of two days in Baltimore. He also drove in eight runs against Arizona on Aug. 14, hitting three home runs.
Betts was the leadoff hitter until mid-August when manager John Farrell shifted him lower in the order. He hit either third or fourth the rest of the season and had a .900 OPS over 49 games with the Sox going 32-17 and winning the American League East.
“What an unbelievable player [and] person,’’ Trout said. “I got to know him a little bit. He’s great for the game. People ask me about the young guys coming up. For him to have a year like that, it was just unbelievable.
“I talked to a bunch of the guys on the Red Sox that play with him. [They] said he’s one of the best they’ve been around. He’s a special talent. It’s going to be a fun battle hopefully the next 10-15 years.’’
Betts and Hall of Famer Ted Williams are the only Red Sox players with 30 home runs and 100 RBIs in a season before turning 24.
Betts is in good company.
Williams finished second in 1941 despite hitting .406 with a 1.287 OPS. Williams won the Triple Crown in ’42 and finished second again.
Peter Abraham can be reached at peter.abraham@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @peteabe.
