New CBA agreement reached, NL and AL MVPs

November 22, 2011

Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association have reached a new 5-year labor agreement on Tuseday, which gives Major League Baseball a span of 21 years of labor peace.

The new agreement brings some notable rule changes on free agents, the draft,  drug testing, social media use for players, and the postseason format.

Here are some of the most notable ones:

It appears that, as early as next season, there will be two wild card teams who will play in a one game series to advance to the division series.

Instant replay will expand to calls on fair or foul balls, but calls on the bases still cannot be reviewed.

Also, the Houston Astros will move from the NL Central to the AL West in 2013, but tat was agreed to by the owners earlier.

You can read the full details on the new CBA at MLB.com by clicking on the link below.
http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20111122&content_id=26025274&vkey=news_mlb&c_id=mlb

Braun wins NL MVP, Verlander wins in AL

It was really just a two horse race for NL MVP. Milwaukee Brewer's left fielder Ryan Braun and Los Angeles Dodger's center fielder Matt Kemp were the only two players in the race to finish with 300 points in the voting.

But in the end, Braun came out on top.

Braun batted .332 with 33 home runs, 111 RBI's, a .397 on base percentage, and a .597 slugging percentage. He received 20 1st place votes, and 12 2nd place votes for 388 points.

Kemp batted .324, with 39 home runs, 126 RBI's, a .399 on base percentage, and a .586 slugging percentage. He received 10 1st place votes, 16 2nd place votes, and 6 3rd plce votes.

Compared to Braun, Kemp had the edge statistically, but the vote probably was decided on the fact that Braun helped his team win the NL Central, and get to the NLCS.

Braun is the first Brewer to win an MVP award since Robin Yount won his second in 1989.

In the American League, Detroit Tiger's starting pitcher  Justin Verlander was awarded MVP a week after winning the AL Cy Young Award.

Verlander is the first starting pitcher to win AL MVP since Roger Clemens did it in 1986.

Verlander received 13 1st place votes, and had 280 total points. Red Sox center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury finished in second with 242 points, but only 4 1st place votes.

There was the arguement that a pitcher should not win MVP, but when you look at Verlander's stats, it's easy to disprove it.

Verlander was absolutely dominant in 2011, leading the Majors in wins (24), strikeouts (250), and ERA (2.40). Oh yeah, and he threw a no-hitter.

You can see the final votes for the AL and NL MVP races by clicking on the links below.

AL MVP
http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20111121&content_id=26015614&vkey=news_mlb&c_id=mlb

NL MVP
http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20111121&content_id=26018700&vkey=news_mlb&c_id=mlb