Gents, the 2019 MVP race is gonna be handled differently this year.
HONOR SYSTEM ALERT - PLEASE DO NO SCROLL DOWN UNTIL YOU FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS IN THIS POST.
As I look at the stats for batting leaders (http://www.mutinybaseball.com/statistics/), I have a difficult time pulling out the top 5 or 6 players like we usually try to do, allowing you then to click a name to vote for. Yes, there are perhaps 1 or 2 obvious names you may think I should list, but then there are so many other candidates with "peripheral" numbers, or who carried their teams throughout the season into the playoffs with perhaps slightly worse numbers than the seeming front-runners.
Therefore, I'm going to require that you look at the link and then type the name of the player you believe deserves the MVP as your response. If you have time, please explain why you voted for him (optional).
Mookie Betts, ACLs.
Betts gets the edge over Jose Abreu, but barely. Why? While they both hit the leaderboard in nearly all the major categories, Betts played an EX RF (Abreu and AV 1B), and had 30 SBs (Abreu: 3) and 81 walks, compared to 37. Both are weapons, but Betts is also a menace.
Betts is the MVP to me. 30/20 110/95 crazy ops and excellent defense. Pretty crazy to have all that and defense
I'm showing 23 stolen bases?
I think it’s really hard to justify a vote for anyone other than Betts. The combination of offense, baserunning, and defense is pretty much unparalleled this season. And he played for a top team so it’s not like Andre Dawson either
(https://www.espn.com/blog/sweetspot/post/_/id/16403/bad-mvp-winners-andre-dawson)
Anyway. As much as I’d like to see Abreu win for personal reasons there’s no justification for it.
Betts for me.
It was close between Mookie Betts and you know the "real baseball MVP" Mike Trout.
The offensive numbers are impressive and we know he plays elite defense. When you hit the ball like that and get on-base at over a clip of .420, you are just in the thick of things all the time.
As much as I wanted to vote for my guy, Khris Davis who had a tremendous season as well, he doesn't play too much defense and he's become mostly a DH.
My bad! I was reading his real life amount, I think.
As much as I want to vote for Jose Ramirez, I'll cast my vote for Mookie Betts. Runs Created is a major factor I use in voting for MVP since it measures many of the most important offensive categories. Ramirez actually had a slightly higher RC than Betts but did it in more AB's. Trout was 3rd in RC and Abreu was 8th. So for me it came down to Ramirez and Betts with Mookie's better defensive skills putting him over the top. Surprisingly, Trout's defensive metrics were much worse than I expected them to be before I looked at the actual results this year.
Betts is my vote as well although I strongly considered Ramirez. For all the reasons already mentioned.
It's a race between Mookie Betts and Jose Ramirez for me. Trout, Davis, and Abreu would round out my top 5, but I think the other two far outdistanced the pack. In the end, superior defense, base running, batting average and OBP along with equal numbers in other rate stats sway me to....
Mookie Betts as MVP over a very close second in Ramirez.
Mookie Betts.
Betts. Sure hope the Red Sox find a way to keep him.
bob h - Robots
OCD vote Ramirez
The answer here is Betts. The dude hits, runs the bases, and plays defense...you just don't see that!
Betts over ramirez but I think it is closer than ramirez is getting credit for.
Well, I wonder who the ACLs will vote for here. :) :) :)
Since I want Mookie happy next season when he tries to lead the ACLs back to the playoffs and hopefully the crown, I'll select Betts. I will admit that Jose Ramirez had a great season and would be a fine pick.
I'm afraid that my decision to keep Betts on the bench a bit more to keep him below the 105% playing time (I'd rant about raising the limit to 110% here), might have cost him some counting numbers. Actually, I was shocked at the number of players that got into all 162 games. I am wondering how many of them run into playing time limit issues by the end of the season.
Yep, Betts.
Betts is my MVP