MLB MVP Race
The competition is steep–who will come out on top?
Shohei has 44 home runs which is second in the American League, also pitching with under a 3.3 ERA.
Every year the fans of the MLB will vote for multiple awards given to players. It’s a huge part of the game and gets super competitive. But there’s one that every player dream of receiving, the MVP award. That reward is handed to the player who brought the most to their team and was the most electric. Only the best of the best receives this award, you can only imagine how competitive it gets.
In the MLB there is the National and American league, a player from each league is given the award. This year there are many stand out players, some players that have never been recognized until this season. Furthermore, the National league has some of the most competitive players racing for this award, including Bryce Harper, Fernando Tatis Jr., Juan Soto, Jesse Winker, and Trea Turner. Some would even say the American league consists of some of the best players to ever touch the field including Vladimir Guerrero, Shohei Ontani, Matt Olsen, Kyle Tucker, and Jose Ramirez. Vladimir and Shohei are also competing against each other for the home run record for this season, they are both young stand out players who will dominate for years to come. Shohei is one of the most unique players that I have ever seen, He is top in the league for pitching as well. Having under a 3.3 ERA which is amazing for a player who can hit 40 home runs.
Swinging back to the National league there are two players who have come out hot in the back half the season, Fernando Tatis and Bryce harper. Tatis has introduced a different level of swag and electricity, he wears unique clothing, and his celebrations are so crazy that other players steal his ideas. Bryce Harper started his career on the Washington nationals, which he played decent but nothing crazy. He signed a huge contact in 2018 for 330 million dollars with the Philadelphia Phillies. Everyone thought he would have an amazing first season with them, but that was not the case. He played no better than he did with the nationals, maybe even worse. The start of the 2021 season he started to pick it up, now he is batting .313 which is 3rd in the National League and has 33 home runs.
Bryce harpers old teammate Trea Turner is also having the season of his life, batting .316 which is leading the National league and has 22 home runs. Trea is known as the fastest player in the MLB, giving him 104 stolen bases. Turner started his career with the Padres in 2014 and was traded to the Nationals in 2015, playing his first Major League game in 2016. Since then, he has been getting better and better, recently his career took a turn. In July of 2021 he was traded to the super team the Los Angeles Dodgers, but still preforming as good as he was with Washington. I asked my dad’s thoughts, Ryan Oliver, about the Nationals and Dodgers trade and this is what he had to say. “Personally, I don’t think the Nationals should have traded away two of their best players to a team already filled with talent for only 4 young players. But it’s good to see Trea still playing up to an MVP level.”.
Baseball is filled with a bunch of young talent which is refreshing to see, all these players bring such unique and interesting play to the game. I have so excited to see who’s going to come out on top with the MVP award, therefor I asked one of my teammates on my summer ball team, named Brody Schultz and who he thinks is going to win the awards. “I think the National league is pretty clear that Fernando Tatis will win, but the American league is where is gets tricky. Shohei and Vladimir are both stand out players who have hit a lot of home runs and have amazing batting averages, but I think Shohei stands over him only because he is also a standout pitcher.” In my opinion this year has one of the most interesting MVP races ever, there is so much talent scattered across the league.
My prediction is that Shohei Ontani will win for the American League and Bryce Harper will win for the National League. This season has definitely put baseball back on the map with the crazy amount of talent from all over the world, what a great season of baseball!
