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During the last week of the 2012 MLB season, 10 writers from Beyond the Box Score joined forces to create the greatest collaboration of baseball minds the world has ever known [citation needed]. This elite organization, known only as the BtBWAA, was formed for one and only one purpose: To conduct a player awards vote in which the truly meritorious take home the coveted hardware.
We've already announced our picks for MLB Executive of the Year, Silver Sluggers (AL, NL), Gold Gloves (AL, NL), Rookies of the Year (AL, NL), Cy Youngs (AL, NL), and the AL MVP: the National League Most Valuable Player.
Before we get to the results, a few words on the process. Voting began on October 1 (after 159 games had been played) and continued until October 5, with the balloting closing before the first playoff games started. Each writer voted for three candidates, with voting scored Each writer voted for three candidates, with ballots scored on a 14-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis.
Without further ado, here are the results: (click to embiggen)
Ladies and gentlemen, your 2012 NL MVP is Buster Posey! Of course, you already knew that because the BBWAA announced it two weeks ago. But now we've offered our affirmation, with nine out of our 10 voters putting him atop our ballots.
Moving down the list, it looks like the BBWAA got the next few spots right too. Reigning MVP Ryan Braun (the recipient of the other first-place vote) comes in second, followed by Andrew McCutchen taking home the bronze. We also agreed about Yadier Molina coming in fourth, though we have him tied with David Wright (who tied for sixth in real life).
In tabulating the results, I was fascinated by how quickly and dramatically our consensus falls apart after the first six or seven picks. Posey, Braun, McCutchen, Molina, and Wright each appeared on all 10 ballots, but we stopped agreeing shortly after. Players ranked as highly as eight-place finishers Ian Desmond and Joey Votto appeared on only four of our 10 ballots.
For those interested, my ballot went: Posey, McCutchen, Braun, Chase Headley, Wright, Molina, Votto, Giancarlo Stanton, Carlos Ruiz, and Clayton Kershaw, in that order.