Mike Trout has won two of the past three AL MVP Awards — with three second-place finishes also on his resume — and was well on his way to repeating before thumb surgery put him on the DL this week for the first time in his seven-season major-league career. Given the 6-8 week timetable for Trout's return, the race for this year’s award just got a lot more interesting.
The top candidates (as of now) to take advantage of Trout’s absence and make an MVP case of their own (WAR data from fangraphs.com):
Aaron Judge, Yankees
Why stop at the AL Rookie of the Year Award?