Hello, fellow humans! My name is William Malone IV. Son of William Malone III. And I come with great news! While the Minnesota Twins do not have a baseball game today, they will play one against the Boston Red Sox tomorrow. Off days stink, but it only means we are one day closer to more baseball. And that's pretty cool.

You know what else is pretty cool? Reminiscing about the greatness of Joe Mauer. He was awesome. You don't win five Silver Sluggers and three Gold Gloves by accident! These are just some of the accolades that got him into Cooperstown on the very first try! Need more of his sweet, sweet resume? Your ole pal William Malone IV is about to give you a healthy dose of it!

Mauer played 15 season for the Twins. Some were better than others, so maybe we should rank them. Starting with the worst and shooting right on up to the very best of his amazing and wonderful career. And as always, don't forget to light up the comments calling William Malone IV a big stupid dum dum when you disagree on where your favorite Joe Mauer season is ranked!

15. 2011
Stats: 82 G, .729 OPS, 18 XBH, 30 RBI
Accolades:

The infamous bi-lateral leg weakness injury limited Mauer to just 82 games in 2011, and his stats were not Mauer-esque when he was on the field. While he would eventually return to All-Star form as a catcher in 2012 and 2013, his 14 starts at first base late in 2011 foreshadowed his future at the position.

14. 2005
Stats: 131 G, .783 OPS, 37 XBH, 55 RBI
Accolades:

After knee injuries cut his rookie campaign short, 2005 marked the first fully healthy season of Mauer's career. A lot of his rate stats dropped off from what he had shown during a 35 game sample in 2004, but his .294 average was still second among primary catchers.

13. 2004
Stats: 35 G, .939 OPS, 15 XBH, 17 RBI
Accolades:

2004 proved that Mauer was talented enough to be a big league star. He was the Opening Day catcher, and was immediately one of the best players on a talented team that had won back-to-back division titles. Unfortunately, the Twins would have to wait in order to see this production in bulk. Knee issues limited Mauer to just 35 games during that rookie season.

12. 2014
Stats: 120 G, .732 OPS, 33 XBH, 55 RBI
Accolades:

Mauer struggled in his first season as a full time first baseman. He spent most of the first half trying to play through an oblique injury, but the Twins finally placed him on the disabled list at the end of June. Mauer had a .695 OPS through 76 games at the time he was shut down. He returned in mid-August, and actually played pretty well down the stretch. He hit .295 with an .805 OPS in 44 games after returning from injury.

11. 2016
Stats: 134 G, .718 OPS, 37 XBH, 49 RBI
Accolades:

Joe Mauer looked like Joe Mauer at the plate in April, slashing .337/.459/.461 (.920). Unfortunately, the Twins were sitting at 7-17 on May 1st. Even an MVP level Mauer couldn't save this team, and his performance eventually caught up with all of his teammates...in a bad way.   

10. 2018
Stats: 127 G, .729 OPS, 34 XBH, 48 RBI
Accolades:

The .282 batting average wasn't that bad, but his walk rated dropped below 10% for the first time in his career. This gave Mauer the second worst on-base percentage of his career, only beating out the 2015 campaign where he hit almost 20 points lower. He also suffered another concussion in mid-May, which began the rumors that his retirement might be near.

9. 2015
Stats: 158 G, .718 OPS, 46 XBH, 66 RBI
Accolades:

From a purely statistical standpoint, you can justify putting this season dead last. 2015 was the only time Mauer had an OPS+ that sat below the standard league average of 100, and his .338 OBP was the worst of his career. But the guy was still 44-for-125 (.352) with runners in scoring position, and there were countless big hits throughout the summer that kept a very mediocre Twins roster mathematically alive through the final week of the regular season. 

8. 2007
Stats: 109 G, .808 OPS, 37 XBH, 60 RBI
Accolades:

It looked like Mauer was going to win a second consecutive batting title. He was batting .353 in early May, but a strained quad put him on the disabled list. Mauer missed a little over a month, and was never quite the same once back on the field. He returned on June 8th, and hit just .273 in 81 games after the Twins re-activated him.

7. 2017
Stats: 141 G, .801 OPS, 44 XBH, 71 RBI
Accolades:

After hitting just .267 between 2014 and 2016, Joe Mauer was finally a .300 hitter again. He hit .305 for the whole season, and led the charge after Minnesota sold off pieces at the deadline and seemingly waved the white flag. The veteran hit .340 in 55 games after August 1st, helping push the Twins into the playoffs for the first time since 2010.

6. 2013
Stats: 113 G, .880 OPS, 46 XBH, 47 RBI
Accolades: Silver Slugger, All-Star

The infamous concussion in August ended Mauer's 2013 season a bit early, and it also ended his time behind the plate. It's a shame, because he was probably still the best catcher in baseball at that point. His .880 OPS led everyone at the position, a strong 44 points ahead of Cardinals backstop Yadier Molina that season.

5. 2012
Stats: 147 G, .861 OPS, 45 XBH, 85 RBI
Accolades: AL OBP leader, All-Star

Joe Mauer won five Silver Sluggers in his career, and he might've been robbed of a sixth in 2012. The award went to A.J. Pierzynski, who hit .278 with an .827 OPS and just 77 RBI. Mauer hit .319 with an AL best .416 on-base percentage in 2012, leading all AL catchers with an .861 OPS.

4. 2008
Stats: 146 G, .864 OPS, 44 XBH, 85 RBI
Accolades: AL batting champion, Silver Slugger, Gold Glove, All-Star

This marked the second Silver Slugger and first Gold Glove won by Joe Mauer. He also won his second of three career batting titles in 2008, thanks to a late surge that helped him pass Dustin Pedroia in the final weeks of the season. Mauer hit .373 over his final 30 games of the season, raising his average from .317 to .328 in the process.

3. 2010
Stats: 137 G, .871 OPS, 53 XBH, 75 RBI
Accolades: Silver Slugger, Gold Glove, All-Star

2010 was the third consecutive season in which Mauer won the Gold Glove and Silver Slugger. Only Ivan Rodriguez has swept these two awards at the catcher position more often (seven times). His 43 doubles in 2010 was a career high.

2. 2006
Stats: 140 G, .936 OPS, 53 XBH, 84 RBI
Accolades: AL batting champion, Silver Slugger, All-Star

Mauer became the first American League catcher to win the batting title in 2006. He finished sixth in the AL MVP voting, but he might win the award if you re-voted today. His 5.8 bWAR was higher than four of the five people ahead of him, and tied with the fifth (third place finisher David Ortiz). This was obviously before WAR was a huge talking point in MVP discussions.

1. 2009
Stats: 138 G, 1.031 OPS, 59 XBH, 96 RBI
Accolades: MVP, AL batting champion, AL OBP leader, AL slugging leader, Silver Slugger, Gold Glove, All-Star

Leading the league in average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage is very rare. Mauer was the first American League player to do this since George Brett in 1980. His .365 average was boosted by a .373 clip after August 1st, and his team needed every single hit down to the very end. This is the year where Minnesota snuck into the playoffs with a tiebreaker win over the Detroit Tigers. Mauer reached base four times in that tiebreaker game.