Kevin McGonigle’s MVP voting representation just gave Tigers fans ultimate edge over Guardians

Guardians fans may never get over that Parker Messick not only didn't win American League Rookie of the Year, but that he lost in overwhelming fashion. The final vote in Kevin McGonigle's favor were 28 of 30 first-place votes. Only two went to Messick.

Cleveland fans' arguments have taken aim at WAR, have tried to argue that the Guardians being a postseason team matters (it doesn't), that Messick was overall more important to the Guardians' success than McGonigle was to the Tigers' (he wasn't), and so on.

But we're pulling out receipts after the final MVP tally came through. Yordan Alvarez unanimously won the AL award, which we'd never dare to argue against, but the key here is further down the list.

McGonigle placed seventh in MVP voting as a rookie. And where is Messick? All the way down at No. 13 with an eighth-place vote, three ninth-place, and one 10th-place.

Twitter user Guardians perspective placed the most hilarious jinx on themselves and any other Cleveland fan trying to argue against McGonigle's win, when they wrote, "McGonigle's numbers while outstanding for a rookie will not get a sniff or be considered for the AL MVP award."

How about them apples?

Kevin McGonigle's seventh-place MVP result should put annoying Guardians-Parker Messick ROY argument to bed

There's a reason pitchers only win MVP once in a blue moon. They have to have otherworldly seasons, and even then, the odds are stacked against them. Messick was good in 2026 — great, even — but the odds that he ever wins MVP are miniscule in comparison to McGonigle, who very well could win in the next three or four years.

Guardians fans trying to put Messick names in league with pitchers like Paul Skenes, José Fernández, Dwight Gooden, and so on is not an invalid argument. Tigers fans have been doing much of the same for McGonigle. But when the players McGonigle is in league with are Aaron Judge, Ichiro Suzuki, Mike Trout, Ted Williams?

This is the key. Messick was good, McGonigle was better.

It doesn't have to be about WAR — it should be about usage. McGonigle very well may end up going on a Cal Ripken- or Matt Olson-esque Iron Man run at some point in his career and, of course, the bat has to still continue to play. But if it does, McGonigle will always be a more valuable player than Messick, period.

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