There are only two more awards to be awarded before the books on the 2009 MLB season can be officially closed – one of which is the National League Most Valuable Player. Last year’s winner, Albert Pujols of the St. Louis Cardinals, looks poised to repeat. If he wins, it will be his third NL MVP nod, as he also took home the hardware in 2005 after knocking off Barry Bonds and his four consecutive titles. What makes him the most obvious choice is that he greatly improved on many of his totals from last season.

Phat Albert lead both leagues in home runs, cracking 47, which was also a career-high. He scored 24 more runs (124) than he did a year ago, and walked 115 times to last year’s 104. His 135 RBI was third to only Prince Fielder and Ryan Howard, two of his closest competitors, along with Hanley Ramirez and Andre Ethier, however, Pujols’ accumulated totals eclipse the efforts of the other four considerably. The only number that seems to have gone in the wrong direction for Pujols is his average, which dropped from .357 in 2008 to .327.

Pujols’ offense is never in question. He’s a high-average hitter who smacks line drives that just happen to carry – a lot. His defense at first base is just as solid. With 159 games at first base, he committed only 13 errors. His range factor per nine innings was 10.84, compared to the league average of 6.54. He is the ideal offensively-charged power-hitting first basemen, and he combines that with the much sought-after solid defense that is so rare to find in a single player.

The question surrounding the NL MVP award isn’t so much “will Albert Pujols win?” It’s “will Albert Pujols win unanimously?” He has all the credentials to repeat, including being only the second player in history to hit 40 doubles and 40 home runs in a season three times in his career, and while some of the others have higher numbers in a few categories, Pujols’ consistently high numbers across the board make him the clear choice.