Looking into the crystal ball at the beginning of the baseball season, I never would have placed Dustin Pedroia in the AL MVP race. Lo and behold, look who won this year – the 5-foot, 9-inch second basemen.

Pedroia batted .326 with 17 home runs and 83 RBIs, while stealing 20 bases. He led the league in hits and runs, and his defense was top-notch. But when was the last time someone was an MVP with 17 home runs?

Now, I'm not one of those that's going to rant about about how so-and-so should have won. What I'm curious about is how the power numbers in baseball in general have dried up with the recent crackdown in performance-enhancing drugs. At no time prior to this year would Pedroia have gotten the nod (this is off the top of my head, but 17 HRs and 83 RBIs are run-of-the-mill numbers in years past). You could argue Ichiro's MVP season in 2001 is on the same level, but Pedroia didn't hit as well as him this year.

Gone are the days of 50 home runs and 150 RBIs? Probably not, but they will be a lot less instances of them. The Brady Andersons of the world will no longer pop up in baseball.

And just because I can't resist: Did Pedroia single-handily carry the Red Sox into the postseason? For a stretch, it seemed like it, but with a team that full of stars, I find it hard to reward just one of them