The National League MVP race, 2 men duel in the forum. Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher/designated hitter Shohei Ohtani and Chicago Cubs center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong.
The American League, one man stands solo.
Yordan Alvarez is raking, yo.
Hitting 322/.436/.621 with 25 doubles, 35 home runs, 87 RBI, 80 runs and 196 OPS+. He leads the majors in everything—batting average, OBP, slugging and OPS. OPS+—everything. He leads the AL in home runs, RBI, runs and hits. His 23 intentional walks lead the league. (No batter in the AL has more than 10 intentional walks.)
But there’s still a whole ass month of baseball left. Alvarez could cool down, doubtful with holes in his game, baserunning, fielding, anything outside of the batter’s box, I see opportunity for a new AL MVP to arise.
Let’s run through the 3 guys who can steal the trophy from Yordan Alvarez.
I want to start with an honorable mention:
Bobby Witt Jr.
In his Mike Trout era, Bobby Witt Jr. is arguably the best baseball player in the world playing for a Kansas City Royals organization in the midst of some sort of re-rebuild on a whim.
Hitting .285/.355/.448 with a 129 OPS+, 25 doubles, 13 bombs, 42 RBI, 60 runs, 32 stolen bases, 5.3 bWAR and 5.3 fWAR.
Back-to-back AL MVP Top 5 finishes, a 3rd runner-up consultation email soon cometh.
Good luck dragging Salvador Perez’s corpse to the finish line. Meet all the young bums coming up in September who will help you lose more games next season.
Junior Caminero
The Devil Rays own the best record in baseball, currently on a 9-game win streak, the longest active streak in the sport and they’ve won the most series.
I don’t hate the best player from the best team winning the MVP, especially when it’s Junior Caminero.
Caminero’s hitting .279/.370/.553 with a 156 OPS+, tied with Yordan for the lead with 35 home runs, only behind Alvararez by 10 RBI and 4 runs scored.
Yordan Alvarez could win the Triple Crown this season.
So can Junior Caminero.
Kevin McGonigle
The Detroit Tigers rookie shortstop leads the AL in bWAR and is Top 10 in WAR in MLB. Though his hitting stats less gaudy than Yordan’s or Junior’s—batting .286/.390/.426 hitter with 21 doubles, 12 homers, 48 RBI, 79 runs and 12 steals—but McGonigle’s 3rd in on-base percentage with his baserunning and defense catapulting a putrid Detroit Tigers club back into the playoff picture, with or without that traitor Tarik.
Cam Schlitter
10-6 record, 146.2 IP, 2.21 ERA, 182 K, the best pitcher on the best pitching staff in baseball tasked with strapping opposing batters to the floor while the Yankees offense, batter-by-batter, confidently walks into the batter’s box, strikes out swinging.
Without Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, Cody Bellinger, Gerrit Cole, Max Fried, Carlos Rodon—starting pitcher Cam Schlitter’s kept the Bronx from burning.
Get Dylan Cease out of my face.
Read More: Yankees Rookie So Unbelievably Nice With It, Mariners Rookie Loses His Job
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