Cody Bellinger wins NL MVP, Yelich runner up

[adambr2]

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/28081747/cody-bellinger-1st-dodger-win-nl-mvp-clayton-kershaw

 

I think this was probably the reasonable expectation of most. Bellinger wins comfortably, but certainly not a landslide.

[stoutdude04]

Whomever didnt vote for Bellinger or Yelich in the top 3 shouldn't be allowed to vote.

[MrTPlush]

Someone had Bellinger...5th!!! Freeman comically had a #2 vote

 

Both those insane votes were from the same dude. He had Rendon first, freeman second, and Arenado third.

 

On another note 2/2 Cub voters and 1/2 Cardinal voters picked Yelich...so that conspiracy against Counsell can probably be taken out back and shot.

[BruisedCrew]

The MLB Network fan poll had Yelich at 61%. Brewers fans must have been working hard to stuff the ballot box.

[homer]

 

On another note 2/2 Cub voters and 1/2 Cardinal voters picked Yelich...so that conspiracy against Counsell can probably be taken out back and shot.

 

Which conspiracy?

[OldSchoolSnapper]

The farther away we got from the season, the more I felt like Yelich should have won it. I just genuinely feel like he was the best player. The injury made it very unlikely, but I still feel like he was.

[adambr2]

There are certain years where one guy is the clear MVP (2018), and years where there are 2 or more top candidates with very little difference between them.

 

When that happens, I think voters basically mentally start applying tiebreakers like best team, versatility, prior MVP awards, and the like.

 

Unfortunately, Bellinger checked basically every tiebreaker box.

[The stache]

"Yelich can't take off 30 games, even if due to injury, and still win the MVP."-talking heads on social media.

 

Well, it turns out that Bellinger can take off the second half, and still win it. His batting average was 73 points lower, and his OPS 207 points lower in the second half. In most years, those numbers are fringe All Star. In a season when nearly 1/4 of the teams in MLB hit over 250 home runs, and two hit over 300...a .919 OPS isn't anywhere near MVP worthy. The NL's leaguewide OPS was .753, the highest it's been since 2007.

 

He won the MVP on a half season, even though Yelich was clearly the greater offensive player. And, I'm sorry, no matter how good his defense was, it doesn't make up for the chasm existing between their final offensive numbers. Yelich led the NL In AVG and OBP, led the Majors in SLG and OPS. Had the best HR per AB ratio in the NL, and second only behind Trout in all of Baseball. Had the best stolen base percentage of all qualified batters in baseball. Had the highest win probability added in the NL by an absurd margin. 7.1 for Yeli, 5.0 for Bellinger. Bellinger was closer to Rendon (4.8) than Yelich.

 

Runs created? Yelich tops in the NL. 150 to 146 for Bellinger, even though Bellinger played 26 more games.

 

"But....but....occasionally, Bellinger made a great play in right field."

 

Please. As I said before, Bellinger had a real good season, but he's not the second coming of Clemente, and if we believe BBR, he just had a season in the field that rivaled all but one of Clemente's best seasons.

 

Bulls#*%.

 

fWAR had both Bellinger and Yelich at 7.8.

 

The Baseball Writers are freaking idiots.

[RollieTime]

Yelich definitely should of won. Him and Trout were the most deserving and they only got half of it right. Yelich definitely would of won if he didn’t get hurt. It’s a shame that they got it wrong. Yelich deserved to be the MVP in back to back seasons.

[adambr2]

I just don't see it, guys. I'd certainly call Yelich's offensive season better, but certainly not a "chasm" worth of difference. They weren't voting for OPOY.

 

Bellinger certainly had the better and more versatile glove, but probably more importantly to voters, like it or not, Bellinger was on a team that won 106 games.

 

I think you could have made a strong case for either guy and I wouldn't have disagreed with either result. But it's not some great travesty that Bellinger won.

[adambr2]

 

Well, it turns out that Bellinger can take off the second half, and still win it. His batting average was 73 points lower, and his OPS 207 points lower in the second half. In most years, those numbers are fringe All Star. In a season when nearly 1/4 of the teams in MLB hit over 250 home runs, and two hit over 300...a .919 OPS isn't anywhere near MVP worthy. The NL's leaguewide OPS was .753, the highest it's been since 2007.

 

He won the MVP on a half season, even though Yelich was clearly the greater offensive player.

 

You have brought up Bellinger's .919 OPS second half numerous times to claim he shouldn't be MVP worthy and it just doesn't hold any water. It's a season award, not a one half award.

 

Claiming he won MVP on half a season -- you realize Yelich had an .823 OPS in the first half of 2018, right? Was he also not deserving of the MVP award?

[OldSchoolSnapper]

I just don't see it, guys. I'd certainly call Yelich's offensive season better, but certainly not a "chasm" worth of difference. They weren't voting for OPOY.

 

Bellinger certainly had the better and more versatile glove, but probably more importantly to voters, like it or not, Bellinger was on a team that won 106 games.

 

I think you could have made a strong case for either guy and I wouldn't have disagreed with either result. But it's not some great travesty that Bellinger won.

 

I agree with you. It's not a big injustice. But I do think he was the MVP. It was a pretty close vote. Results reflected the debate.

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

I think if Yelich doesn't go down with an injury during the stretch run, he wins going away. He was on pace for an incredible 50-40 type season. Bellinger wasn't great the last month of the season, and if Yelich would have been the centerpiece of the big run, he would have cemented it. Alas ...

[MrTPlush]

It isn't an injustice at all. Bellinger was better, he played in 156 games to 130, and he led his team to October baseball. September is the biggest month in baseball and often makes/breaks a teams season. Sorry, but Yelich was missing in action when it mattered most...it just doesn't look good when voting for the MVP award. Of course that isn't everything, but in a close race where the other guy was already arguably better it is not going to help.

 

I think this would have been an incredibly close vote had he stayed healthy...especially considering they may have been NL Central champs on another crazy September run. It didn't happen though and he rightfully got 2nd place. It was a shame an incredible MVP race all season long got decided prematurely on a broken knee cap.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

I accept that reality of him missing time making it unrealistic, but if the other guy in the race wasn't as good as Bellinger, Yelich wins it running away over any of those guys, 130 games be damned.

[adambr2]

I accept that reality of him missing time making it unrealistic, but if the other guy in the race wasn't as good as Bellinger, Yelich wins it running away over any of those guys, 130 games be damned.

 

Yeah his 2019 season, even over 130 games, definitely tops his 2018 season and wins it a year ago. By the same token if Bellinger has his 2019 season last year, he beats Yelich handily in 2018. Different years will have a different bar for MVP. Just the way it goes.

[sveumrules]

fWAR had both Bellinger and Yelich at 7.8.

 

The Baseball Writers are freaking idiots.

 

So by fWAR, they are equally deserving, but since the coin flipped Belli instead of Yeli the writers are idiots?

 

Sure, Christian was a better hitter & baserunner. But Cody played more games, was a more versatile/better defender by all of Outs Above Average (7 vs -4 & this doesn't account for throwing in the OF or his time at 1B), UZR (+9.8 vs +1.9) & DRS (+26 vs -1), plus his team won more games, which has always been important to voters.

 

I'd say both were about equally deserving, but given how these things have historically turned out it was pretty obvious this would be the most likely outcome.

 

That it was somewhat close is actually a sign of the writers evolving a little & I think a lot more thought is put into it now than even ten years ago.

 

Ryan Howard finished 2nd in 2008 voting with 1.8 WAR (but 46 HR & 146 RBI!!) while Chase Utley put up 9.0 WAR on the same team but only finished 14th.

[KeithStone53151]

I think this was fairly close too, but I fully expected Bellinger to get MVP. They were close offensively(Yelich slightly better), but Bellinger is so much better a defender than Yelich. Missing time hurt Yelich as well. I think the race becomes a push if Yelich doesn't miss time and rakes those last 18 games. There's enough there that it makes sense to me for Bellinger to get it.

 

That said, baseball writers are quite idiots. I have no idea how Verlander got the Cy Young over Cole. It's frankly laughable. I feel like they backed into the right answer picking Bellinger over Yelich.

[MrTPlush]

The voting system is a joke...only one vote for Kevin Pillar? Unreal.

[Pugger]

"Yelich can't take off 30 games, even if due to injury, and still win the MVP."-talking heads on social media.

 

Well, it turns out that Bellinger can take off the second half, and still win it. His batting average was 73 points lower, and his OPS 207 points lower in the second half. In most years, those numbers are fringe All Star. In a season when nearly 1/4 of the teams in MLB hit over 250 home runs, and two hit over 300...a .919 OPS isn't anywhere near MVP worthy. The NL's leaguewide OPS was .753, the highest it's been since 2007.

 

He won the MVP on a half season, even though Yelich was clearly the greater offensive player. And, I'm sorry, no matter how good his defense was, it doesn't make up for the chasm existing between their final offensive numbers. Yelich led the NL In AVG and OBP, led the Majors in SLG and OPS. Had the best HR per AB ratio in the NL, and second only behind Trout in all of Baseball. Had the best stolen base percentage of all qualified batters in baseball. Had the highest win probability added in the NL by an absurd margin. 7.1 for Yeli, 5.0 for Bellinger. Bellinger was closer to Rendon (4.8) than Yelich.

 

Runs created? Yelich tops in the NL. 150 to 146 for Bellinger, even though Bellinger played 26 more games.

 

"But....but....occasionally, Bellinger made a great play in right field."

 

Please. As I said before, Bellinger had a real good season, but he's not the second coming of Clemente, and if we believe BBR, he just had a season in the field that rivaled all but one of Clemente's best seasons.

 

Bulls#*%.

 

fWAR had both Bellinger and Yelich at 7.8.

 

The Baseball Writers are freaking idiots.

 

So did Yelich.

 

Yes, Yelich was the best last year but that knee injury hurt any chance he had at winning it, unfortunately. Those writers are dopes IMO.

[adambr2]

"Yelich can't take off 30 games, even if due to injury, and still win the MVP."-talking heads on social media.

 

Well, it turns out that Bellinger can take off the second half, and still win it. His batting average was 73 points lower, and his OPS 207 points lower in the second half. In most years, those numbers are fringe All Star. In a season when nearly 1/4 of the teams in MLB hit over 250 home runs, and two hit over 300...a .919 OPS isn't anywhere near MVP worthy. The NL's leaguewide OPS was .753, the highest it's been since 2007.

 

He won the MVP on a half season, even though Yelich was clearly the greater offensive player. And, I'm sorry, no matter how good his defense was, it doesn't make up for the chasm existing between their final offensive numbers. Yelich led the NL In AVG and OBP, led the Majors in SLG and OPS. Had the best HR per AB ratio in the NL, and second only behind Trout in all of Baseball. Had the best stolen base percentage of all qualified batters in baseball. Had the highest win probability added in the NL by an absurd margin. 7.1 for Yeli, 5.0 for Bellinger. Bellinger was closer to Rendon (4.8) than Yelich.

 

Runs created? Yelich tops in the NL. 150 to 146 for Bellinger, even though Bellinger played 26 more games.

 

"But....but....occasionally, Bellinger made a great play in right field."

 

Please. As I said before, Bellinger had a real good season, but he's not the second coming of Clemente, and if we believe BBR, he just had a season in the field that rivaled all but one of Clemente's best seasons.

 

Bulls#*%.

 

fWAR had both Bellinger and Yelich at 7.8.

 

The Baseball Writers are freaking idiots.

 

So did Yelich.

 

Yes, Yelich was the best last year but that knee injury hurt any chance he had at winning it, unfortunately. Those writers are dopes IMO.

 

Again, why? There were two really great players with very little separation between them and one had to come in 1st and one had to come in 2nd.

[PeaveyFury]

 

So did Yelich.

 

Yes, Yelich was the best last year but that knee injury hurt any chance he had at winning it, unfortunately. Those writers are dopes IMO.

 

Again, why? There were two really great players with very little separation between them and one had to come in 1st and one had to come in 2nd.

 

I think both statements can be independently true

[adambr2]

I mean, I think the guy who gave a vote to Kevin Pillar is a dope, if that's what you're getting at.

[PeaveyFury]

I mean, I think the guy who gave a vote to Kevin Pillar is a dope, if that's what you're getting at.

 

Yep. I think the idea that they made a perfectly acceptable outcome here is fair, and it's also fair to think that, in general, they're dopes.