Miguel Cabrera’s season came to an early end when he was scratched from Wednesday’s game with a sprained ankle. That freezes his 2010 statistics where they are at 150 games played, 38 home runs, 126 RBI, a .328 average, a 1.042 on-base plus slugging percentage, 111 runs scored and 180 hits. His stats have him right in the middle of the conversation about who will be this year’s American League Most Valuable Player, but one fact hurts him more than the rest.

Cabrera’s MVP candidacy is only debatable in that he plays for the lowly Detroit Tigers. He hasn’t helped his team reach the postseason like fellow candidates Josh Hamilton and Robinson Cano. However, Hamilton has missed almost the last month of the season and Cano’s only in the conversation due to an incredible first-half of the season that has cooled off considerably since the All-Star break. Most of Cano’s season stats pale in comparison to Cabrera’s.

Hamilton has played in 20 fewer games than Cabrera and as such, his running total stats aren’t as good in some cases. Cabrera has seven more home runs and 29 more RBI, but Hamilton has actually racked up three more hits and has a much higher batting average; and he’s set to come back for on Friday’s for Texas’ final series of the season. Cabrera, however, has a better on-base percentage, thanks to 89 walks this year, including 32 intentional free passes; more than twice as many as any other American Leaguer.

Not many others are really worthy of the AL MVP; perhaps Paul Konerko or Jose Bautista, but first-place votes will likely go to Cabrera or Hamilton. The fact that Hamilton missed almost a month may even the odds compared to Cabrera’s Tigers jersey, so it will be interesting to see which way the voters lean after the season. However it plays out, Cabrera certainly did earn every penny of his $20 million contract. It’s just too bad that most of his teammates played well below theirs.