Baseball chooses its MVPs

AL: Shohei Ohtani (Unanimous choice.)

Ohtani was a no-brainer. He also had the highest Wins Above Replacement in the AL

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NL: Bryce Harper, for the second time.

The NL balloting was split. The top five were as follows:

  1. Bryce Harper, PHI: 17 (first-place votes), 9 (second), 2 (third), 1 (fourth), 1 (fifth) — 348 points
  2. Juan Soto, WSH: 6 (first), 11 (second), 7 (third), 2 (fourth), 2 (fifth), 1 (sixth), 1 (seventh) — 274 points
  3. Fernando Tatis Jr., SD: 2 (first), 5 (second), 15 (third), 5 (fourth), 1 (fifth), 2 (sixth) — 244 points
  4. Brandon Crawford, SF: 4 (first), 2 (second), 1 (third), 7 (fourth), 8 (fifth), 4 (sixth), 3 (seventh), 1 (ninth) — 213 points
  5. Trea Turner, WSH/LAD: 1 (first), 3 (second), 3 (third), 10 (fourth), 3 (fifth), 4 (sixth), 2 (seventh), 1 (eighth), 1 (10th) — 185 points

Harper was not among the top 10 in the NL in Wins Above Replacement. He didn’t even have the highest WAR on his own team! Juan Soto was the top NL position player in that category. Harper did have a mammoth second half after not even having made the all-star team. He was batting only .271 on the morning of July 6th, but he batted .341 the rest of the way, with 54 extra base hits and an incredible 1.171 OPS. Oddly enough, Soto was also on a tear and had the exact same OPS over the exact same period, but individuals are rarely awarded an MVP for playing on a last-place team, and Soto did just that, and in baseball’s weakest division to boot. The typical thought is, “They could have finished in the same place without him, so he wasn’t really all that valuable.” At any rate, Soto just turned 23 and has already played four full seasons, and Tatis is even younger. They probably have multiple MVPs in their futures.

3 thoughts on “Baseball chooses its MVPs

  1. It’s like Nick Castellanos doesn’t even exist. He almost single-handedly kept the Reds in contention most of the year. But since he’s now greedily opted out of his contract and refused the Reds’ new offer, hell with him.

  2. Ohtani was one of the biggest no-brainers since the guy who hit 50 homers and 50 doubles in 144 games in 95. Albert something.
    I’m a Nats fan in the NL but can’t get too completely honked off. I think it came down to the Nats finishing last and the Phils staying somewhat competitive until the end pretty much just based on what Harper was doing. Soto will win at least one. Biggest local can’t-miss AB since Eddie Murray, the guy Phils fans shouldn’t have been serenading in the last ’83 WS game. Scoreboard RIP.
    Btw Kapler became a pretty good manager once he had more than a one-man pitching staff, eh?
    All star games can have one serious consequence though. Down the road if, you’re up for Cooperstown, having not enough of them can hurt. Ask Dwight Evans.

  3. As a Phillies fan this gives me at least one silver lining to what was an otherwise crappy season filled with terrible bullpen-raining storm clouds.

    Citing Harper’s lack of inclusion in the All-Star Game is pointless, though. As a fan-voted game, it has absolutely no meaning vis-a-vis a player’s value or performance, being more about popularity than anything. There are countless examples of mediocre players making the ASG over much more deserving choices. Like all other sports’ ASGs, it’s best ignored outside of a meaningless diversion.

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