Braun's season-ending push

[MNBrew]

MVP votes or not, it's fun watching Ryan Braun put on another impressive late-season push toward some statistical milestones in the midst of this playoff push.

 

- He entered September w/ 21 SBs, which projects to finishing with about 25. Well, he's at 29 SBs now w/ 7 more games to swipe #30.

 

- He entered September w/ 150 hits -- in the Top 10 in BA, but 50 hits from another 200-hit season. Well, he's making it interesting: 32 hits so far w/ 7 games left. Highest one-month total was 34 in August. While the odds are very slim, you still can't quite count Braun out.

 

- While the BA crown is too far off, this September push has still seen him boosting his BA a lot at the time of year it's hardest to pull that off. Shoot, he's only hitting .356 this month -- wow!

 

Braun's very much a team-first guy, but it's also cool knowing how his efforts are making a major contribution to this playoff push. Now here's hoping the Brewers run the table w/ Braun's offense being among the greatest reasons for it. Most players couldn't pull this stuff off. Maybe Braun can't either, but the guy has incredible drive to go w/ his incredible talent and you simply can't rule him out.

 

Has anyone else been noticing this huge finish? Do you think he'll make 30 SBs or 200 hits?

 

(Of course, I'd take making the playoffs over the stats. But the stats are fun to follow, too, esp. as long as they're winning.)

[torts]

no, i dont think he'll get 200 hits, thats 5 hits a game for 7 games.

[dlk9s]

no, i dont think he'll get 200 hits, thats 5 hits a game for 7 games.

 

It's 3 hits per game, but no matter, as he won't do that either (though I wouldn't put it past him since he's such a sicko).

[torts]

oh, i read that as he needed 32 over 7, my bad

[topper09er]

Although this is a "lets make a group" that Bill James has warned against, Ryan Braun is the only ever to hit 200 HRs and steal 120 bases in his first 6 seasons.

[brewmann04]

IT does sound like MVP Numbers

[fondybrewfan]

Based on stats alone he should be MVP; although Posey does hold a slight lead in OPS +. Posey will probably win because he is a catcher and because of Braun's off field stuff this past year.

[Fear The Chorizo]

I give Braun a ton of credit for putting up one big "F U" type of season after all the stuff he's gone through with the media, fans, etc over the past year. Tons of writers already had their articles written about how Braun's statistical decline proves he was on something during his 2011 MVP season. Now that he's put up better numbers than last year in spite of the intense scrutiny (and without Fielder hitting behind him), the silence of the writers on him has been deafening even though he's solidified his status among the top 5 everyday players in all of baseball.

 

kudos, Mr. Braun.

[brewmann04]

I am sorry about what i am about to say ( Screw the Writers and the Media)

Ryan is the MVP

[sdcheezhd]

(and without Fielder hitting behind him)

 

A-Ram has done a great job behind him this year.

[MNBrew]

(and without Fielder hitting behind him)

 

A-Ram has done a great job behind him this year.

 

Yeah, but only once it got to about mid-May. The first month-plus was ugly -- it might as well have been Franklin Stubbs hitting behind him.

[TooLiveBrew]

(and without Fielder hitting behind him)

 

A-Ram has done a great job behind him this year.

 

Yeah, but only once it got to about mid-May. The first month-plus was ugly -- it might as well have been Franklin Stubbs hitting behind him.

That's not actually true -- he really only had a bad first 10 games (.317 OPS). From April 18th (his 11th game) to now, his OPS is .940... and from April 18th through the end of April, it was .932.

 

What took until mid-May was for his season stat line to overcome the slow start through 10 games.

[SoCal Brew Crew Fan]

Braun should win the MVP...but he won't. He's been the best player in the league, but his stats lead over Posey isn't so overwhelming that the media won't go for the story. It is great that he answered all of the critics the best way he could...by having an even better year than his MVP season. My guess is he battles it out with McCutchen for 2nd/3rd.

 

He's our MVP...that's probably enough for him after this season. He'll be the last player to ever wear the #8 in a Brewers uniform, he'll have a big statue in front of Miller Park and a bronze bust in Cooperstown someday. He may not get his just due this year, but he will over time.

[Outlander]

I hope future writers are critical of the current voters and how silly it was to pick Posey over Braun for MVP.

[LouisEly]

They'll just use the "SF won their division, MIL didn't make the playoffs" excuse.

 

Although the irony is that LA fans will still be upset. The only thing they hate more than Braun is the Giants.

[Fear The Chorizo]

For argument's sake, let's say Braun goes on a tear and finishes the season with 200 hits (very unlikely, but possible). He'd have to go a minimum of 16-24 in order to do so...that would put his batting average right at 0.333. Since Melky has taken himself out of the running for the batting title, Braun would wind up right near the top of the batting average race. A red-hot finish to the season gives him an opportunity to win the triple crown in the NL. Would be interesting to see a guy win the triple crown and not win MVP (actually a better chance of happening in the AL, where Cabrera could win the crown and lose to Trout in MVP voting)

[Patrick425]

I don't think there is any possible way Cabrera does not win the MVP in the AL if he wins the triple crown. What would be the justification for that? Can't use the "non-playoff contender" argument and can't use any PED argument. I think Ted Williams was the only player to win the TC and not the MVP (since there has been an MVP) and that's only because the writers hated him.

 

Cabrera winning the TC and not the MVP would be more of an injustice than the Packer's stolen win last weekend and rank right up there with Armando Galarraga being robbed of a perfect game.

[Outlander]

It actually happened with Detroit in the 30's as well but that time Mickey Cochrane of the Tigers won it over Lou Gehrig when Gehrig had the triple crown, which may very well be the worst decision in MVP history.

[Baldkin]

It actually happened with Detroit in the 30's as well but that time Mickey Cochrane of the Tigers won it over Lou Gehrig when Gehrig had the triple crown, which may very well be the worst decision in MVP history.

 

Ted Williams won the triple crown twice, hit .400 once, and didn't win the MVP in any of those seasons.

 

I will say, if I had a vote this season, my vote goes to Trout, whether Cabrera wins the triple crown or not.

[TooLiveBrew]

They'll just use the "SF won their division, MIL didn't make the playoffs" excuse.

Just like they did last season in picking Braun over Kemp

[HiAndTight]

I don't think there is any possible way Cabrera does not win the MVP in the AL if he wins the triple crown. What would be the justification for that? Can't use the "non-playoff contender" argument and can't use any PED argument. I think Ted Williams was the only player to win the TC and not the MVP (since there has been an MVP) and that's only because the writers hated him.

 

Cabrera winning the TC and not the MVP would be more of an injustice than the Packer's stolen win last weekend and rank right up there with Armando Galarraga being robbed of a perfect game.

 

 

That Trout has been a much better overall player, and the most valuable player doesn't mean the league leader in a couple of statistical area's?

 

Trout's War-9.7

Cabrera's War-6.7 and has never has a season as good as Trout's and Trout missed a month.

 

Or that one is an elite defensive CF'er who's robbed 4 HR's this year and has 80 speed while Cabrera is a terrible defender at 3rd base?

Or that one is an exceptional base runner while the other isn't. He has 47 SB's and been caught just 4 times. That's...ridiculous. He's scored 125 runs...which is obviously in large part a function of who is hitting behind you, but it's also clearly evident he's wreaked havoc on the base paths.

I think the justification is simply who is the better player, and that has been Trout easily.

 

Oh, and by the way, just as an offensive player, Trout has an OPS+ of 167 while Cabrera has a OPS+ of 165.

 

So you can actually make an argument that he's a BETTER offensive player than Cabrera while also making a definitive statement that his defense is ridiculously more valuable than Cabrera.

 

 

Edit-Within a minute or two of typing this, Cabrera just hit his 43rd HR of the season making meaning as of now, he'd be credited with a triple crown.

 

I also want to articulate how impressive the triple crown is. What Miggy can do as a hitter is amazing. However....it's simply not as amazing as the 20 year old CF'er playing in LA.

[TURBO]

I really hope they don't use an unproven and inaccurate stat like WAR to decide an MVP...

[RockCoCougars]

Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge fan of Trout and he's been amazing for his age... but if Cabrera wins the Triple Crown, he has to be the MVP. I can't believe that he's not even 30 years old yet. The Marlins made one of the worst trades ever when they traded him.

[M Skjellyfetti]

I really hope they don't use an unproven and inaccurate stat like WAR to decide an MVP...

 

Ok. Then go by one of the myriad other stats HiandTight just mentioned. I can play this game too: I really hope they don't use a triple crown consisting of two archaic stats that give me very little information about a hitter to decide the MVP...

[Baldkin]

I really hope they don't use an unproven and inaccurate stat like WAR to decide an MVP...

 

How about they use this:

 

Cabrera Trout

OPS: .993 .954

OBP: .392 .393

Runs Created (hitting only): 134 129

Runs from Base running: 0 10

Robbed HRs: 0 4

Stolen Bases: 4 47

CS: 1 4

Outs made: 435 373

Runs Created/27 outs: 8.1 9.0

 

So, as much as everyone tells me how great Cabrera is, in his counting stats, he leads the league in GIDP, and has made 62(!) more outs on the season than Trout.