McCutchen finishes third in NL MVP Award vote

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Andrew McCutchen had hoped to make history on Thursday. Instead, he lost out to history, finishing third to Dodgers left-hander Clayton Kershaw and Marlins outfielder Giancarlo Stanton in balloting for the 2014 National League Most Valuable Player Award.

The same statistics and intangibles that had made the Pirates center fielder the 2013 NL MVP were not enough to overcome the historically exemplary season fashioned by Kershaw, the three-time Cy Young Award winner who garnered 18 of the 30 first-place votes from members of the Baseball Writers' Association of America.

Stanton, contending to become the first MVP in Marlins history, received eight first place votes and finished with 298 points.

McCutchen received the other four first-place votes, finishing with 271 points.

Video: Andrew McCutchen finishes third in NL MVP voting

It took the end of a 45-year embargo to keep McCutchen from becoming only the seventh player -- and the first Pirate -- to win consecutive NL MVP Awards. That is how long it had been since a pitcher received the honor, the Cardinals' Bob Gibson in 1968.

Gibson earned it with a 1.12 ERA in a season the league's average ERA was 2.99 -- a differential of 1.87. Kershaw prevailed for the same supremacy -- his ERA of 1.77 was 1.89 points lower than the league average of 3.66.

In the view of some voters, McCutchen impacted his chances when, as the Bucs were fighting for a playoff spot down the stretch, he deferred to Josh Harrison as the most valuable player on his own team.

Harrison finished ninth in the MVP vote, a fourth-place vote his highest. The Pirates third baseman did show up on a total of 17 ballots to finish with 52 points.

Catcher Russell Martin, the only other Pittsburgh players among the leaders, finished No. 13 with 21 points.