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The West Coast took home all the glory in the Major League Baseball awards ceremony after Cody Bellinger of the Los Angeles Dodgers and Mike Trout of the Los Angeles Angels were named the most valuable players of their respective leagues Thursday night.
National League
Apart from Bellinger, finalists for the National League MVP award included Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Christian Yelich (last year’s winner) and Washington Nationals’ third baseman Anthony Rendon.
The Most Valuable Player in the NL: Cody Bellinger. pic.twitter.com/4fIAbBbwgV
— MLB (@MLB) November 14, 2019
Bellinger received 19 first-place votes and 362 total points while his opponents weren’t too close behind. Yelich had 10 first-place votes with 317 points and Rendon only had one first-place vote with 242 points in total.
The Dodgers have generated six NL MVP winners since they moved to Los Angeles in 1957. Bellinger is now part of a group that includes Maury Wills (1962), Sandy Koufax (1963), Steve Garvey (1974), Kirk Gibson (1988) and Clayton Kershaw (2014).
Bellinger has now become the 24th player in the history of MLB to win the Rookie of the Year and MVP awards. The slugger for the Dodgers was voted Rookie of the Year in 2017.
With an impressive 19 defensive runs saved, Bellinger also took home his first career Gold Glove as a right fielder.
American League
The race for the MVP award in the American League was a lot closer than the NL.
The final count left Trout with 17 first-place votes and 355 total points. Houston Astros third baseman Alex Bregman received 13 first-place votes and a close 335 total points. This left Oakland Athletics shortstop Marcus Semien in third place with a total of 228 points.
Who would win the award seemed uncertain after a late-season injury made Trout miss the final 19 games for the Angels.
𝗠𝗩𝗣 𝘅𝟯
For the third time in his career, @MikeTrout is your BBWAA AL Most Valuable Player! pic.twitter.com/gOllaWdcj3
— Los Angeles Angels (@Angels) November 14, 2019
Trout’s first full season came in 2012. Since then, the outfielder has added three MVP awards to his name, making him tied with five other players for most in the AL history.
