Who's in first?

Which is why the vote could be close.

Before injuring his wrist, Quentin was the heart of the White Sox' order, and he ended his season hitting .288 with 36 homers, 100 RBIs, a .394 on-base percentage, and a .964 OPS.

Quentin, 25, was on his way to leading the White Sox to a division title in the AL Central. He had the earmarks of an MVP candidate - the numbers, the big bat in the middle of the order. Could you conservatively add 5 homers and 20 RBIs to those totals for the final month of the season?

But Quentin went down, which elevated the candidacy of Morneau and Rodriguez.

Quentin may still get votes, but as Morneau himself put it during the stretch run, "This is the time of year when you show whether you're an MVP. If you can help lead your team to the playoffs, then you should be in the running for the award."

With the Twins fighting for a playoff berth and falling just short, Morneau didn't have the best of endings: .243 with 2 homers and 21 RBIs in September. Yet his .300 season average with 23 homers and 129 RBIs certainly make him a contender. But Pedroia hit .326 the final month with 2 homers and 15 RBIs, while Youkilis, who missed five games at the start of the month because of injuries, hit .275, his worst monthly average of the season, with 5 homers and 21 RBIs.

There's a theory that if Pedroia and Youkilis split enough of the vote, Morneau could sneak in and win his second MVP.

The case is less compelling for Rodriguez, who set a season record by saving 62 of the Angels' 100 wins, an impressive feat. Yet late in the season Rodriguez's name wasn't coming up much in MVP discussions, prompting his manager, Mike Scioscia, to say, "He should be a strong contender for the Cy Young and the MVP."

There might not be a lot of love for K-Rod because the Angels were such a dominating regular-season team; they clinched their division Sept. 10, the night K-Rod earned his 56th save. All that was left for Rodriguez was to mount more saves, which he did.

The theory among some baseball officials is that if K-Rod was saving games in a tight divisional race, he would be considered a more serious contender.

But is that his fault?