This is one title I never thought I'd give to a blog post that wasn't littered with satire. The little second baseman that could has been chugging away all season and, for my money, is already the MVP of this club. 

In a year that saw Ortiz get hurt and struggle to develop a rhythm, Manny go insane and get himself traded after assaulting the travelling secretary, and pretty much the entire pitching staff struggle at some point this season, Pedroia has been a rock. When the club hit a snag at the end of August and into September, pushing for the division title the kid even hit cleanup to keep them afloat.

If Dustin Pedroia wore pinstripes and was named Derek Jeter, this would've been a lock three weeks ago. But he doesn't, he isn't, and he still might not win.

Now, his numbers are definitely great for a second baseman, but are they MVP-worthy?

With nine games to play he's hitting .323, leads the AL in runs, is second in the AL in AB with 638, is fourth with 317 total bases, has 17 homers, and has struck out just 50 times while getting over 200 hits, giving him the best SO/AB ratio in the league.

OPS and RBI are the categories he's not as high in, but he's not a power hitter (obviously) so his slugging percentage is lower and when you aren't hitting third or lower, you just don't have the runners in front of you to knock in.

Besides, it's all about relative value. He's been unquestionably the most valuable second baseman. It's why Hall of Fame voters always give more leeway to a second baseman in terms of numbers than to, say, a center fielder, because less offense is expected from them. Relative to the position, he's been unbelievable.

The entire league is struggling in OPS though as, barring a major streak over the last nine games, 2008 will be the first season nobody in the AL OPSes over 1.000 since 1992. (Mitchell Report, eat your heart out) 

Carlos Quentin is out, Josh Hamilton is playing for a team with a bunch of great hitters but that has only won 75 games and is just too far out of the playoff race. A-Rod won the MVP on a last-place team, but he also cranked out 47 home runs and still barely won that year.

There are hitters who have knocked in more homeruns, there are hitters that have knocked in more runners, but nobody's scored more than him in the AL and nobody's helped their club out more this season than the little man with the big mouth and bigger bat.