Four unanimous awards aren't groupthink. The reliever vote proves it

My first reaction to 120 first-place votes going to four people was the same as yours. Somebody copied somebody's homework. I've spent enough nights in press boxes to know writers travel in herds, and I say that as a lifelong member of the herd. Then I looked at the one ballot this week that didn't come out unanimous, and I changed my mind. What I found was four races that were never close, sitting next to one that was.

Pete Crow-Armstrong got all 30 first-place votes for NL MVP on Thursday night, and Yordan Alvarez got all 30 in the AL. That came a day after Jacob Misiorowski and Cam Schlittler swept the Cy Young ballots. MLB says it's the first season both MVPs and both Cy Youngs went unanimous.

ESPN added the number that should make anybody a little suspicious, me included. It's only the third time in history both MVP winners were unanimous, and all three have come in the past four seasons. That's a real trend and I won't wave it off. Voters look at the same leaderboards on the same phones, and nobody enjoys being the lone ballot that gets picked apart for a week in November.

But look at what the same writers did with relievers. The BBWAA handed out its first Reliever of the Year awards this week, and Toronto's Louis Varland won the AL with 16 of 30 first-place votes. Mason Miller swept the NL after 38 saves and 129 strikeouts in 70 innings, but the AL vote split almost down the middle even though Varland's 1.27 ERA was the lowest among qualified relievers in the majors. When there was an argument to have, the voters had it, and herds don't split like that.

And the four races they agreed on weren't arguments. Crow-Armstrong hit 45 home runs, tied for the most in baseball, stole 41 bases, led the majors with 119 runs, led the NL with a .943 OPS and won the Platinum Glove. ESPN had his 10.6 fWAR leading both leagues. Alvarez won the batting title at .316, led the majors with 109 walks and a 1.033 OPS, and his .432 on-base percentage sat 46 points clear of the next guy. Misiorowski led the majors in ERA, WHIP and strikeouts for the team that won the World Series. Schlittler's 1.95 ERA trails only Spud Chandler and Ron Guidry among qualified Yankees starters.

Here's the part that surprised me most. Shohei Ohtani, a four-time MVP, finished second in the NL and didn't get a single first-place vote. If you're hunting for groupthink, that's your best exhibit, because there's always been a writer somewhere willing to vote for Ohtani on principle. This year nobody did. I read that as 30 people deciding a better season was a better season, which is the entire job.

The honest worry is the next close year. If unanimity becomes a habit, the dissenting ballot starts to feel like a stunt, and a voter with a real case keeps quiet. I'd rather the writers be wrong out loud than right in a chorus. The Varland vote tells me they still know the difference.

So here's my dare to everybody typing "groupthink" this weekend. Name the voter who should have put somebody other than Alvarez first, and give me a reason that isn't "to keep it interesting." I'm old. I've got all the time in the world to hear it.

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