Preseason favorites for AL and NL MVP
Major League Baseball sits alone as the only Big 4 professional American sport to crown two most valuable players: one in the National League, and one in the American League. Last season, a .346 average, 1.078 OPS, and 10.9 WAR were more than enough for Mookie Betts of the Boston Red Sox, who received all but two first-place votes to take home the AL hardware. Christian Yelich of the Milwaukee Brewers received all but one first-place vote with a .326 average and an MLB-leading 187 hits.
The 2018 voters clearly voiced which players they felt provided the most value in their respective leagues. In baseball, though, value can be a fickle and difficult thing to patently define. A starting pitcher takes the mound only once every five days (on average), but his contributions in those appearances can be absolutely crucial to a game's outcome. There is a separate award for pitching (the Cy Young Award) and sometimes—like Clayton Kershaw in 2014 and Justin Verlander in 2011—a starting pitcher can win both the MVP and the Cy Young.
And then enters the concept of the designated hitter, which is only featured in an AL lineup. How valuable is someone who doesn't contribute on defense? A "primary" DH has never won MVP in either league, despite a compelling case for J.D. Martinez of the Red Sox last season.
Largely ambiguous criteria leave MVP voters with inherent biases making decisions that are largely subjective. What will 2019 have in store? Might we have a repeat winner for the first time since Miguel Cabrera in 2012–13, or will someone new emerge like a Betts or Yelich who were both first-time winners? Are Mike Trout of the Los Angeles Angels and Bryce Harper of the Phillies, both recipients of unprecedented offseason contracts, the favorites in their respective leagues?
To determine which players in each league have the best odds of earning the highly coveted MVP award, Stacker looked at odds by Bovada and stats from Baseball Reference, with data last updated March 14, 2019. Players are ranked in order from lowest to highest by betting odds, with ties broken by 2018 batting averages. Read on to see how your pick fares.
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