We are back for another dose of MLB Monday as we look at the 2007 season, both MOTYs and the postseason MVPs. We may have another tricky situation here as the Boston Red Sox won the World Series again, and that means we have to sift through the statistical outliers to either confirm or revised MVP votes from the time. It would be so much easier if the new “American Way” hadn’t become, “Cheat, Lie, Steal” …

2007 World Series MVP: Mike Lowell, 3B, Boston (original); Jacoby Ellsbury, OF, Boston (revised)

The Colorado Rockies won their first NL pennant, reaching the World Series on a 21-1 run that left them as hot as any team in baseball history. Alas, they had to wait around 9 days (!) for the Fall Classic to start, and they must have gotten rusty: the cheatin’ BoSox swept Colorado in 4 straight games. Two of the games were blowouts (Games 1 and 3); two of them were nailbiters (Games 2 and 4). Fate can be cruel, of course, clearly.

Third baseman Mike Lowell (1.300 OPS) won the MVP vote, but we won’t give it to him as he is “Exhibit A” in our look at the Fenway Frauds of ’07. Plus, he actually committed an error, too, in this matchup, which means we wouldn’t have given it to him, anyway. This award comes down to 2 guys for us, considering no starting pitcher got enough innings: outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury and closer Jonathan Papelbon. Dilemma!

Ellsbury hit .438 with 3 RBI, 2 BBs, 1 SB, and a 1.188 OPS, while Papelbon earned 3 saves across 4 1/3 IP with a 0.00 ERA and a 0.462 WHIP. He only struck out 3 guys, though, so we see Ellsbury as more impactful here, in terms of dominance in multiple areas. It’s a small sample size, and that happens with sweeps, but Ellsbury led the Boston lineup with 7 hits in the World Series, and we think that’s pretty much the clincher.

2007 ALCS MVP: Josh Beckett, SP, Boston (original, confirmed)

Down 3-1 in the matchup to the Cleveland Indians, the Red Sox again found some lost mojo to run roughshod over their opponents: Boston won the last three games by a combined 30-5 margin. SP Josh Beckett (2-0, 1.93 ERA, 0.714 WHIP, 18 K in 14 IP)—the hero of the 2003 World Series for the Florida Marlins—won the ALCS MVP vote, and it’s hard to disagree with it on the surface, despite no Game 7.

He won Game 1 at home, and he dominated the must-have Game 5 on the road, out-dueling Cleveland’s ace in the process. After that, it’s like everyone sort of knew the Red Sox would win Games 6 and 7 at home, even if Beckett didn’t pitch. And they did, and he didn’t need to even come in for relief. Combined with our nod for the 2003 NLCS MVP, this makes him a two-time winner of an LCS MVP trophy in our books.

2007 NLCS MVP: Matt Holliday, LF, Colorado (original, confirmed)

The Rox swept the Arizona Diamondbacks to complete a miracle run of 21 wins in 22 games that started with 14 games left in the regular season. Colorado was 76-72 and then won 13 of its final 14 games to force a one-game playoff for the NL Wild Card—which the Rockies won at home in miraculous fashion by scoring 3 runs in the bottom of the 13th inning. No joke. Then Colorado swept both their NLDS and NLCS series.

Against Arizona, the Rockies completed their 21-1 run of success by outscoring the D’backs, 18-8, and left fielder Matt Holliday (2 HRs, 4 RBI, 1.145 OPS) was the voted MVP. He did lead the team in hits (5), HRs, RBI, and OPS, while hitting .333 overall. We have no problem confirming this vote, as it was a sweep of modest margins, and no SP got 2 starts, either. It was a crazy conclusion to an amazing ride for the Rox.

2007 AL MOTY: Eric Wedge, Cleveland (original); Mike Scioscia, Los Angeles (revised)

The Indians won the AL Central by 8 games over the Detroit Tigers, with Cleveland Manager Eric Wedge (plus-5 PPP) winning the MOTY vote. The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim won the AL West by 6 games over Seattle Mariners, who received a combined plus-9 PPP effort from 2 managers. In the process, Angels Manager Mike Scioscia (plus-4) definitely did a good job fighting off the nearest competitor there. So …

Detroit Manager Jim Leyland (minus-1) didn’t do a lot to push Wedge, while we see the Mariners giving the Angels a better run for the money—both in margin of standing and managerial impact. So, with no disrespect to Wedge, we’re going to re-assign this hardware to Scioscia. We took this trophy away from him in 2002, so once again we demonstrate most things even out in the end, if you just have some patience.

2007 NL MOTY: Bob Melvin, Arizona (original, confirmed)

Arizona Manager Bob Melvin (plus-11 PPP) really earned this MOTY vote victory, no doubt, and we will confirm it right away—since he helped his team fight off the hard-charging Rockies by 0.5 games (thanks to the wild-card playoff) in the NL West. That’s an insane PPP mark, of course. Honorable mention goes to Philadelphia Phillies Manager Charlie Manuel (plus-2) who helped his team win the NL East by 1 game.