Finally, the Halos of Los Angeles have something to smile about after a disappointing 74-88 season finishing second to last in the AL West; meanwhile for the Cubbies, the good news just doesn’t stop coming. Only a few nights ago, the MLB announced that Mike Trout of the Los Angeles Angels was the baseball MVP for the American League for the second time in his short career. In the other league, the MVP was a relative no brainer. Kris Bryant of the World Series champion Chicago Cubs won his first MVP in only his second year as a major leaguer. So, what separates them for the rest of the players of the MLB? Why did they receive baseballs individual most prestigious award? Time to take a look by the numbers on the two best players in the MLB.

Mike Trout, OF Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim

This year Trout had yet another strong year, but came nowhere near being able to lead his team to the playoffs due to a lack of leadership in his organization. Despite not having the season he wanted to have with his team, Trout’s numbers still mystified the league. In the 159 games that he played this year according to ESPN he had exactly 100 RBI’s, 173 hits, 116 walks, sent the ball soaring over the fence 29 times, and maintained a .315 batting average, the highest of his career. In 2014 when he was the American League MVP for the first time he had a lower batting average of .287, but did have 11 more RBIs than this year. This year marks his sixth year in the majors and in five of those years, including this year, he won the Silver Slugger Award. On defense, Trout plays the role of the center fielder, which is said to be in command of the rest of the outfield. Every year he continues to rob batters of base hits, doubles and home runs. Trout committed only four errors this whole season giving MVP voters yet another reason why this man deserves to be the American league MVP. Trout’s second MVP is yet another accolade on his road to being a future Hall of Famer.

Kris Bryant, 3B Chicago Cubs

Does it get any better for Cubs fans? You bet. Now, in addition to their World Series title the Cubs now house the NL MVP, Kris Bryant. Things just don’t get much better for Bryant. In 2013 he won the Golden Spikes Award, which goes to the best amateur player in the United States. In 2014 he won the Baseball America minor league award, which goes to the best performer in the minors. 2015, of course, was when he won the Rookie of the Year Award and finally this year he became a World Series champion and the MVP. How did he do it? Well, if the World Series wasn’t enough for you here were his regular season stats. Bryant played 155 games this year recording 176 hits, 75 walks, 102 RBIs and hit 39 home runs. In all of these categories besides walks Bryant had larger numbers than his rookie season. It wasn’t just at the plate where Bryant was effective. He was also strong at his position, 3rd base. This year he only committed 12 errors and made some spectacular plays at third, not to mention fielding the final out to win the Cubs the World Series. As for now it seems as if the Cubs are World Series favorites again in 2017 and if they would want to go back-to-back for the first time since 1907-08 Bryant will have to play another key role in the Cubs regular lineup. Overall, Kris Bryant is living the dream this year. A World Series Champion, recently married and now the nearly unanimous National League MVP player.