Flip a coin; get your MVP

It is the time of year where the MVP and Cy Young award races expose their heads a little more. They are still on the back burner because of the playoff race, but it is that time of year. This time of year is like April in the NBA for Major League Baseball. You have a small sample size of games to give voters recency bias.

Just like the NBA in the MLB this year for both leagues there are two candidates that easily can win this award. In the American League; you have Jose Altuve of the Houston Astros and Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees. In the National League, you have Giancarlo Stanton of the Miami Marlins and Nolan Arenado of the Colorado Rockies. Unlike the NBA there is no other legitimate players to steal votes away these four players in each league.

Every sport has their new school defenders against the old schoolers. In Baseball, it is more of a personality problem (similar to the NFL) and whether or not players should be allowed to celebrate when something big happens in the game. My thoughts on that is you should be able to celebrate in you do something in a big moment of a game. I think wearing your heart on your sleeve during the game is perfectly okay. The only thing that I say is if you are going to hit a guy, do it on the first attempt. Yes, it is fine retaliating if one if your guys get hit, that is okay.

Anyway, in the MVP voting the only thing that is frowned upon in baseball is if a pitcher gets MVP votes because of the Cy Young. That isn’t the case this year, it is a case of just giants playing a new era of baseball. With the American League it’s a case of a rookie phenom in Aaron Judge who went from absolute stardom to maybe the worst low you can have, back to relevancy with a good September run. Judge is batting .277, a .591 Slugging percentage (Best in the American League), .608 OPS (Best in the American League), with 45 homers (Best in the American League), and 101 RBI’s (5th in the American League). That is an incredible season and Judge is only a rookie, so can he pull it off because the Rookie of the Year is an award. The other player who is the only other candidate for the AL MVP is Jose Altuve. Altuve has had a great season for the Astros leading the charge for one of the best teams in the American League. Altuve is batting .348 (Best in the American League), 194 hits (Best in the American League), 31 stolen bases (Best in the American League), 24 homers,.559 Slugging percentage, .967 OPS and 79 RBI’s.

This is a great race with a perfect example of where the game was (and still is in smaller dosages) and where the game is going. Judge is just a huge human being that hits absolute moon balls that blow people’s mind, and Altuve is the exact opposite in size and the way he plays the game. It is refreshing to see a guy like Altuve to steal 30 bags, hit 20+ homers, and have almost 200 hits.

I think Altuve will win this award if he continues to lead the league in hitting—Avisail Garcia is in second hitting .333 so he should be fine, gets 200 hits, and gets over 80 RBI’s he will get the MVP this year. He is a great all-around baseball player that if he gets 200 hits—it’ll be his 4th straight year doing it. What also helps that the Astros are the second-best team in the American League right now (92-58) and might has the best chance to get the best record in the American League. If Judge wins I won’t argue because he has had an incredible season, but if Altuve wins the batting title, gets over 200 hits, and the Astros are within 2 games of the best record in the American League, that will be the winning formula for Jose Altuve.

In the National League, you have two true titans battling it out for the MVP. Nolan Arenado is sheltered from the baseball world because he plays for the Rockies but, he is the second best all-around third baseman in all of baseball behind Manny Machado. Arenado is batting .306, .579 Slugging percentage (7th in the National League), .954 OPS (10th in the National League), 34 homers (6th in the National League), 93 runs scored (8th in the National League),  and 125 RBI’s (Best in the National League). He is just an absolute stud at 3rd and is one of the scariest threats in any order in the game. Arenado might be the best run producing player in the game because of how he can produce runs and generate runs. Stanton on the other hand, might actually break the home run record. Yes, the home run record is 73 home runs set by Barry Bonds in 2001 but he was on steroids. The real non-juiced home run record is 61 set by Roger Maris in 1961. Giancarlo Stanton has 55 homers (Best in the National League), 117 (2nd in the National League), batting .278, slugging .631 (Best in the National League), and a 1.012 OPS (4th in the National League).

The way that Arenado wins this award is he continues to hit over .300, gets close or hits runs scored, and doesn’t give up his lead in the RBI race. The way Stanton gets his MVP is he gets closer to Maris’ home run record, gets his batting average around .280-283 range, and increases his OPS.

I don’t know who I would vote for the National League MVP, but you cannot go wrong with either of these two guys, they are the best of the best in the National League.

The Cy Young award winners, however, are not even close. In the American League Cleveland Indians starter Corey Kluber who is 17-4, 252 strike outs, and a 2.35 ERA in 191.2 innings. Kluber’s 17 wins is the best in the American League, his 2.35 ERA is the best in the American League, his 191.2 innings is 6th in the A.L, and his 252 strike outs is 2nd best in the A.L. case closed. In the National League, it’s Clayton Kershaw. Kershaw is 17-4, striking out 194, has a 2.26 ERA in 163 innings. His 17 wins is the best in the National League, his 194 strike outs is 6th, and his 2.26 ERA is the best in the National League. Both of these pitchers are machines and deserve this award without question. Kershaw should get his 4th Cy Young, while Kluber would be getting his 2nd.


It has been a great baseball season in 2017, one of the best that we have had in a while. The playoffs will only be the cherry on top of this 162-layer master piece that the Major League Baseball season has produced for the fans. If you are new to the sport of baseball, you should go back and re-watch all the great moments that this year has produced and watch how Altuve, Judge, Arenado, Stanton, Kluber, and Kershaw play the game because that is the way it should be played. Take your pick with who wins the major awards this year, you really cannot go wrong.              

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