Josh Allen finally earned his first MVP award Thursday night by a slim margin. The Buffalo Bills quarterback edged Lamar Jackson by 21 points. Allen received 27 first-place votes to Jackson's 23.

For most MLB players, this would be a season to hang ... in which he won a Silver Slugger and finished fourth in the MVP race, his numbers noticeably declined in 2024 slashing ...

but he's a big reason why the Orioles are one of the better teams in baseball. That duality has him among the preseason contenders in the American League MVP race. He finished fourth in last year ...

Yet, his all-MLB defense helped him record a 4.3 fWAR ... Francisco Lindor was an MVP finalist. If not for the historic brilliance of one Shohei Ohtani, the New York Mets star would've won ...

That left the race susceptible to ties if ... down to a fraction of that total — though it's still larger than MLB's MVP awards, which are both decided by a different block of 30 voters.