Joe Mauer is having an incredible year he's hitting .383 with 25 home runs and 77 RBI. He does have a few things going against him, he missed some games earlier this year due to injury, the Minnesota Twins probably won't make the playoffs and he plays in Minnesota which doesn't get the publicity that New York gets (his main competitor for MVP is Yankees first baseman Mark Teixera). He does however have numerous things going for him:

1) In addition to hitting a major league leading .383 which is 20 points higher than anyone else he leads the league in on base percentage, slugging and OPS.

2) He's hitting while catching. He's doing all this production with his bat while playing gold glove caliber catcher which is arguably the toughest and most important defensive position to play.

3) The Twins just had a MVP. Even though Minnesota isn't a regular on ESPN sunday night baseball, Twins first baseman Justin Morneau won the MVP two years ago.

4) Alex Rodriguez won the MVP on a last place team. When A-Rod was on the Rangers he won the MVP and the Rangers finished dead last in the AL west that season.

5) He's in elite company. Only four other players have had 25 home runs and a batting average of over .380 this late in the year. They were: Ted Williams, Joe DiMaggio, Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth. Not bad company.