Bregman has the numbers to be an MVP this season. Plus he is doing so in a team with the best record in the AL. That should count for a lot. I’ve heard the Narrative that Trout a multiple MVP is having his best season, so almost as a shoe in for the award. But hopefully better heads prevail and see that Bregman is putting up these types of numbers on a Juggernaut, leading the league in wins, and playing to win every single game, plus getting teams best performance as the Astros are the current benchmark for success.
Trout is going to win it. Bregman will likely be with Lemahieu in a race for 2nd. If Breg can go on a tear over the next few weeks, maybe he can close the gap. He’s going to have to pass Trout in some of the big categories. I just wonder why Brantley isn’t getting more run for MVP. Where are we without him, too? Taking Sanchez’s place who’s on the IL.
Baseball MVP doesn’t really take into account team wins. The player having the best season wins it more often than not. Should more leagues just use that formula? Certainly is more consistent and less media narrative driven.
"Narrative" suggests some nonsense like what happens in the NBA. Mike Trout is the most valuable player in baseball. It's not a narrative, it's a fact. The team around him being trash doesn't change that. Bregman winning would be the exact opposite of "better heads prevailing". In a normal era Bregman would be a very legit candidate, but Trout is next level. Altuve only won his because Trout got hurt.
So the division record is the first tie-breaker between AL & NL? For some reason I thought run differential was the first tie-breaker.
Devers? I would love to see Bregs slip in and take it but the fact that we are even talking about Brantley is amazing to me what a pick up.
Why should Bregman get more votes because he has better players around him? If anything, it makes his job easier - you can pitch around Trout. You can't pitch around Bregman because of all the people behind him. It's been talked about extensively how the length of the Astros lineup just makes it easier on everyone. And MLB is not a sport where there's any reason for teams to play their best against the Astros. Something like the NBA makes sense where it's a bunch of one-on-one matchups and people want to prove themselves against a Lebron or whomever. Baseball is a precision sport - no one's batting less hard because they are facing a crappy pitcher instead of Verlander, or pitching better because they are facing Alvarez as opposed to someone on Baltimore. If anything, playing well and improving their numbers against the crappy teams is how those players on other crappy teams can earn money.
Bregman should be second as of today. Trout frankly should be unanimous, there's a significant gulf between him and everybody else. But Bregman is 2nd in WAR (bWar and fWAR), 2nd in OPS, has the quality cumulative stats, and is on the best team in the AL. I'm not for putting much into team wins, but I'm fine using it as a tiebreaker if guys are otherwise comparable. After those 2, no clue. There's like 6 guys I could reasonably argue being 3rd.
If you need a tiebreaker, I think you go team wins in MVP voting but otherwise it’s not high on the criteria list.
