End-of-season awards are always a bit of a popularity contest, almost by definition. But this year, the chatter and the statistics all seemed to be pointed to Stefan Frei winning the award for the first time. That was wrong.
In what can only be called a shocking upset, Columbus Crew goalkeeper Zack Steffen won the award despite having a rather unremarkable year by most statistical measurements. How did he do it? Steffen was BY FAR the most popular goalkeeper among his fellow players, while Frei ranked a rather distant fifth in that voting bloc.