Pujols unanimous winner of NL MVP award

Tribune News Services

To the surprise of no one -- Cubs fans in particular -- Albert Pujols is the unanimous winner of the National League MVP award, becoming the first player to repeat since Barry Bonds won four in a row from 2001-04.

Pujols led the majors in homers (47), runs (124), slugging percentage (.658) and intentional walks (44), and topped the NL in on-base percentage (.443).

Although Pujols has tormented the Cubs throughout his career, his numbers against them this season were relatively pedestrian: a .264 batting average with three homers and 11 RBI in 53 at-bats.

Pujols received all 32 first-place votes and 448 points in balloting announced today by the Baseball Writers' Association of America. It is the third MVP award for the Cardinals first baseman, who also won in 2005. He is the first unanimous MVP since Bonds in 2002.

Florida's Hanley Ramirez (233 points) finished second in the voting and Philadelphia's Ryan Howard (217) was third. Cubs first baseman Derrek Lee (66) was eighth.