AL Most Valuable Player: Dustin Pedroia

While I did not predict him during the original predictions, midseason, or postseason predictions, the AL MVP is Dustin Pedroia...although we all know it should have gone to Josh Hamilton.

Just call him Mr. November. Or better yet, refer to Dustin Pedroia as the Most Valuable Player of the American League.
The second baseman of the Boston Red Sox continued his rapid burst into the national spotlight on Tuesday, when he was recognized with that impressive honor.

Though most pundits expected the race for MVP to be agonizingly close, Pedroia won in comfortable fashion, outdistancing a solid field that included, among others, Red Sox first baseman Kevin Youkilis, Twins first baseman Justin Morneau, Rangers outfielder Josh Hamilton and Angels closer Francisco Rodriguez.

Following a 2007 season in which Pedroia helped fuel the Red Sox to a World Series championship and won the American League Rookie of the Year Award, the right-handed hitting machine staged quite an encore.

Pedroia joins Cal Ripken Jr. and Ryan Howard as the only players to win Rookie of the Year and MVP in consecutive years.

For his performance in 2008, Pedroia received a Gold Glove Award, a spot on the American League's Silver Slugger team and now the MVP.

By prevailing in the Baseball Writers' Association of America voting, Pedroia became the first Red Sox player to cart home the coveted MVP Award since Mo Vaughn in 1995. But unlike Vaughn, one of the most physically imposing figures in club history, Pedroia will go down as one of the slightest.