The regular season has come to a close, and with it comes the excitement of postseason baseball. With that as well, certain players have put the finishing touches on phenomenal seasons that may lead to winning awards to add to their resumes. This article will discuss the most worthy candidates to win the most coveted award of them all, the Most Valuable Player award for the 2018 season.
All stats info taken from MLB.com, unless otherwise noted
American League
Mookie Betts: .346/.438/.640, 32 HR, 80 RBI, 129 R, 30 SB
Betts has put together a phenomenal season for the Red Sox, who are sporting the best record in the major leagues and have set a franchise record for single season wins, in no small part to Betts contribution. He is leading the majors in batting average by 16 points (teammate J.D Martinez is second at .330), while putting together a rare 30 HR-30 steal season. According to Fangraphs, he is the major league leader in Wins Above Replacement with 10.4. He also led the majors in slugging percentage, which is incredible given he is the Red Sox leadoff hitter. He has done all this despite being on the Disabled List in early June due to a left abdominal strain. One knock on Betts is that he only played in 136 games this season, partly due to him missing time due to injury.
Mike Trout: .312/.460/.628, 39 HR, 79 RBI, 101 R, 24 SB, 122 BB
Surprise, surprise. Mike Trout’s name is in MVP discussions once again. After 5 consecutive top 2 finishes in voting, which ended last season due to missing significant time due to injury (he still finished fourth), here he is back in the running. He finished second in the majors in Fangraphs WAR at 9.8, and led the majors in OBP and On-Base-Plus-Slugging. The major knocks against him are his teams record, that he’s had a disabled list trip that caused him to miss some time, and his RBI totals are a bit less than what you’d expect out of an MVP candidate.
Jose Ramirez: .270/.387/.552, 39 HR, 105 RBI, 110 R, 34 SB, 106 BB
Ramirez has been fantastic for the Indians this year, who have rolled through a weak AL Central division on their way to the postseason once again. He was looking like he was on pace for an extremely rare 40 HR-40 SB season until he entered a slump in September (he’s batting .171/.307/.297 in his last 30 games). Nevertheless, he has reached career highs in home runs, RBI, runs, walks, and stolen bases. The knock on him is his batting average is quite a bit lower than the other candidates.
Alex Bregman: .289/.395/.537, 31 HR, 103 RBI, 105 R, 10 SB, 51 2B
The second overall pick of the 2015 draft out of LSU has not disappointed in his second full season, establishing career highs in almost every major category this season. He has also shown some ability to move around the diamond as well, filling in at shortstop while Carlos Correa has been injured. His emergence is a big reason why the Astros have completed another 100-win season and another AL West division title. His 51 doubles leads all major league players.
National League
Nolan Arenado: .297/.374/.561, 38 HR, 110 RBI, 104 R, 38 2B
Arenado has been a consistent year in and year out force for the Rockies, and 2018 has been no different. This is his fourth straight 100 RBI campaign, and his third straight season with 100+ runs scored. He also has continued his reputation as one of the better third basemen in the majors, as he is fourth amongst MLB third basemen in defensive runs saved (7.9) according to Fangraphs. His Rockies team made the postseason once again in no small part to Arenado’s contributions. Though as always has been the case with Arenado, voters have to decide how much he was helped by playing half his games at the hitters haven that is Coors Field.
Matt Carpenter: .257/.374/.523, 36 HR, 81 RBI, 111 R, 102 BB
Carpenter’s season was looking very bleak for the first couple of months (his batting average sat at .140 on May 15th, with only 2 homers). He then caught fire after that, slugging .636 in June, and .774 in July. He finished the year near the top of the league leaderboard in home runs. He played a major role in keeping St Louis in contention until the final weekend of the season.
Javier Baez: .290/.326/.554, 34 HR, 111 RBI, 101 R, 21 SB
Baez has always had a reputation for being a spectacular, if inconsistent, player. But this season he was able to put everything together and show the immense potential that everyone around baseball knew he had. He led the National League in RBI’s this season. He also displayed his versatility, appearing in over 20 games at 2B, SS, and 3B. The main knock on him is his free swinging nature, which led to a .326 OBP and 167 strikeouts compared to only 29 walks.
Christian Yelich: .326/.402/.598, 36 HR, 110 RBI, 118 R, 22 SB
Yelich set the world on fire during the second half of the year with his offensive explosion. He slugged .770 and hit 25 homers after the all-star break, which before this season would’ve been Yelich’s career high in itself (by comparison, only 48 big leaguers hit 25 homers over the ENTIRE SEASON in 2018). He led the National League in Fangraphs WAR with 7.6. He played a major part in the Brewers winning the NL Central, stealing it from the Cubs in game 163.
MVP Picks
American League: Mookie Betts
National League: Christian Yelich
Betts had everything going in his favour this year for him to win the award. He plays on the team with the best record in the majors, and has some eye popping regular season statistics to boot. As for Yelich, his all around offensive game was on display this season, as he is either at the top or near the top in almost every major offensive category. All the while playing for the team that had the best record in the National League.
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