NL MVP Race

[xisxisxis]

The 2018 NL MVP is a race like the 1973 Belmont stakes was a race...

[BrewFan130]

Yelich will the NL MVP without a question. It was close at the beginning of September and I’d say the edge was to Baez, but Yelich has dominated the month of September and Baez got cold.

 

As far as Baez goes, I’m not a fan. This guy showboats and I’d be ok with that except for the fact that when a player from another team acts in the same manner he gets all offended and gets into with them. It’s not a Cub thing either because as much as I’d like to dislike Rizzo I can’t, he’s a good guy that does it the right way on and off the field.

[jjfanec]

At this point only DeGrom should take 1st place votes away from Yelich. There is no good argument for Baez anymore.

[nodakfan17]

If a voter was on the fence before today ...

 

When it really mattered most, one guy went 3 for 4, while the other went 1 for 4.

[TURBO]

If a voter was on the fence before today ...

 

When it really mattered most, one guy went 3 for 4, while the other went 1 for 4.

 

but the 1 x 4 guy did apply a couple tags, so there is that...

[coolhandluke121]

If a voter was on the fence before today ...

 

When it really mattered most, one guy went 3 for 4, while the other went 1 for 4.

 

but the 1 x 4 guy did apply a couple tags, so there is that...

 

Not tags, TAGS. It has to be in all caps to convey the significance.

[FVBrewerFan]

Yelich's launch angle sucks.

 

Sincerely,

 

June

[sveumrules]

Pretty sure that after today Yelich's batting average will be higher than Baez's on base percentage.

 

Not that it matters since we won the division & all that.

[HiAndTight]

I think it's a shame that Baez plays for the Cubs. As a player, he's someone I really should like and find fun to watch. Yet I don't, and I wish I did.

 

I'm not a fan and it has nothing to do with being a Cub. He is just too much of a showboat, those kind of guys really bug me.

 

 

I don't see that. I see guys like Gomez, Lindor and others just playing baseball and having so much fun. They're playing a kids game earning a ton of money, but that makes their enthusiasm that much more fun.

[HiAndTight]

If a voter was on the fence before today ...

 

When it really mattered most, one guy went 3 for 4, while the other went 1 for 4.

 

but the 1 x 4 guy did apply a couple tags, so there is that...

 

Not tags, TAGS. It has to be in all caps to convey the significance.

 

 

I know we're being sarcastic, but if it was a little closer I think you go with the Cubs best defensive 2nd, 3rd and SS who can also hit close to .300, 35 and 110in the counting stats.

 

But it wasn't closer and Yellich ran away with it.

[jjfanec]

I know we're being sarcastic, but if it was a little closer I think you go with the Cubs best defensive 2nd, 3rd and SS who can also hit close to .300, 35 and 110in the counting stats.

 

But it wasn't closer and Yellich ran away with it.

 

How accurate are Fangraph's defensive rankings? Because Baez doesnt rate very well with them.

 

According to Fangraphs, Baez was definitely not the Cubs best defensive SS. Russell is better. He isnt a great SS according to most metrics. He was also behind Zobrist at 2B and Bote and Happ at 3b.

 

His ranking when I got the innings to where he would qualify

2b - 18th (behind Zobrist at 14)

SS - 35th

3b - 77th

 

Maybe Fangraphs is way off but he definitely isnt the Cubs best fielding SS and he doesnt look like a great 3B either. He is a really good 2B thought

[topper09er]

 

 

I know we're being sarcastic, but if it was a little closer I think you go with the Cubs best defensive 2nd, 3rd and SS who can also hit close to .300, 35 and 110in the counting stats.

 

But it wasn't closer and Yellich ran away with it.

 

His OBP was also close to .300

[tmwiese55]

Also, it's just historical tendencies to value RBI so much. First, the HR and RBI go hand in hand so they're a bit redundant. Second, why does the RBI matter so much but Runs scored doesn't and is never talked about. They're both a product of the people around you. Yelich had him on Rs the whole year because he batted higher in the lineup. Really all Baez had on him is playing a position that rarely provides good offense and that he didn't miss 10 games on the DL like Yelich did.

[HiAndTight]

 

 

I know we're being sarcastic, but if it was a little closer I think you go with the Cubs best defensive 2nd, 3rd and SS who can also hit close to .300, 35 and 110in the counting stats.

 

But it wasn't closer and Yellich ran away with it.

 

His OBP was also close to .300

 

Well...it was .326. I wouldn't say that Aguilar hit close to .300 this year.

 

And Baseball reference has him at about 1 WAR defensively. You can prove just about anything with defensive metrics.

 

 

But the larger point I was making was that Baez is a really good player who plays in the middle of the IF, or far more important positions than Yellich and it's still not even close. I'm not trying to argue that he should win it.

[Boomer5]

It was close in mid September and maybe Baez would have picked up some votes with a big game 163 but it’s not at all close now.

 

Yelich in a landslide.

[tigerbrew]

Interesting to see that Yelich's season OPS is exactly 1.000

[Eye Black]

In Jayson Stark’s article for The Athletic he admits that even though he wrote a week ago that Baez was his NL MVP, he cast his official ballot on Monday night and his 1st place vote was for someone other than Baez. It is pretty obvious he voted for Yelich, but said isn’t allowed to publically say who he voted for.

 

I enjoyed this fun fact from the article...

 

Yelich hit .370/.508/.804/1.313 from Sept. 1 on. How phenomenal was that? Just five men in history have ever matched or beaten that September slash line and led their team into the postseason. Good group:

 

David Ortiz 2007

Jason Giambi 2001

Barry Bonds 1992

Bobby Thomson 1951

Hank Greenberg 1940

[Ennder]

If we had chosen to let Arcia play 3B and 2B this year he would have also been our best defensive player at each position. I'd expect that to hold true for any good defensive SS in the majors. That part is really getting overblown.

[Eye Black]

In case you needed more reasons to appreciate how impressive Christian Yelich has been the last few months this Fangraphs article by Jeff Sullivan has you covered...

 

Lift-Off for Christian Yelich