Jacob deGrom gets the last laugh this time.
A day after a mini-controversy was stirred when deGrom came up one vote shy of a unanimous Cy Young win – he got 29 of 30 first-place votes – the Mets ace received a first-place vote in the NL MVP voting revealed Thursday.
The vote for deGrom was the only first-place selection not given to the Brewers’ Christian Yelich, who otherwise blew away the field.
A vocal minority was upset Wednesday after deGrom failed to earn the NL Cy Young award unanimously, with San Diego Union-Tribune writer John Maffei giving his first-place vote to the Nationals’ Max Scherzer.
The controversy then blew up when Maffei got on the phone with WFAN host Steve Somers to discuss his vote, but hung up just two questions into the chat.
Maffei was blasted as out of touch and accused of being a contrarian looking for his 15 minutes of fame.
It remains to be seen if the same fate now will befall the Arizona Republic’s Nick Piecoro, who was the dissenting MVP vote.
In all, deGrom appeared on 22 of the 30 MVP ballots and finished fifth with 141 points.
Yelich got 29 first-place votes and one second to win the NL MVP with 415 points. The Cubs’ Javier Baez (250), the Rockies’ Nolan Arenado (203) and the Braves’ Freddie Freeman (174) also finished ahead of deGrom.
Mookie Betts won the AL MVP award with 28 first-place votes and two seconds. The Angels’ Mike Trout finished second and the Indians’ Jose Ramirez third.