So if Andrew McCutchen misses a month and Troy Tulowitzki can’t make it back soon, is Yasiel Puig the 2014 National League MVP?
— Drew Silva (@drewsilv) August 5, 2014
It seems to me that McCutchen and Tulo were clearly the best two candidates, with McCutchen probably being the favorite given that the Pirates are winning. As for Puig: he’s a good candidate. But Vegas doesn’t have him as the favorite right now. From Bovada:
Odds to Win the 2014 NL MVP
Clayton Kershaw (LAD) 4/7
Giancarlo Stanton (MIA) 7/4
Yasiel Puig (LAD) 10/1
It does seem like a pitcher’s year if McCutchen doesn’t come back effectively and soon. When Justin Verlander won his MVP in 2011 his ERA, ERA+, strikeout rate, walk rate and just about everything else was inferior to Kershaw’s right now. The one area where Verlander had a clear advantage was wins -- 24 -- whereas Kershaw, thanks to missing all of April, is on pace for “only” 19 wins. His minuscule loss total may make up for that to some extent, but maybe not enough to sway MVP voters who tend to like starting pitchers to win 24 games or more -- seriously, go look it up -- in order to claim the MVP too.
Should be interesting, though.