It’s never too early to determine who is at least in the running for awards in Major League Baseball. Sports Illustrated recently put out a column stating there are only three major candidates for the AL MVP.

I call shenanigans. There is one clear-cut deserving front-runner now, but there also at least eight others who are in the running.

We know that players go through hot and cold streaks, so here are the top nine candidates for the AL MVP.

Apologies to: Alex Rios (CHW), Magglio Ordonez (Det), Nick Swisher (NYY), Torii Hunter (LAA), and Kevin Youkilis (Bos).

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