Well, figures, since I wrote that article about the Padres sucking, they sweep the Dodgers and look solid again. I still think they’ll choke but that’s not what this article is about. This post is about the ridiculously awesome Triple Crown/ MVP race in the National League. I honesty can’t remember a time when it was so close, so late in the season in my life. Battling for the prestigious award are Albert Pujols, Joey Votto, and the suddenly unstoppable Carlos Gonzalez (aren’t the A’s happy they traded him for Matt Holiday last year). Here’s a look at their stats.
Pujols: .311 36 HR 98 RBI
Votto: .326 32 HR 99 RBI
Gonzalez: .340 32 HR 100 RBI
My thoughts are that Pujols is still the best hitter in the game and it’s just so hard to bet against him but this year I am. His average is by far the lowest, a solid 29 points behind Gonzalez. That just might be too much ground to make up as Gonzalez is the hottest hitter of the three. Although, Pujols’s 36 HR’s leads them both by 4 and that might also be too many for Votto and Carlos to catch up on with only a month remaining with the inevitable 4 or 5 more homers by Albert. Votto’s in the same boat for HR’s, but his average is .326, and he has a solid shot at catching Carlos if he heats it up in the final few weeks. I don’t think anyone will actually win the Triple Crown because of the relatively large gap in homers and average, but it will be pretty cool to watch and it’ll keep things interesting for Cardinals, Reds, and Rockies fans.
For the MVP I see Joey Votto taking it home. He’s lead the Reds all season long and is looking at his first trip to the post season. He’s outmuscled Pujols just as the Reds have done the same to the Cardinals. Although, if the Rockies continue their hot play and sneak in to the playoffs, the voting for MVP will get really tough because then I feel like Gonzalez has to get the award. Regardless of who wins, I’m just happy that it isn’t Albert dominating the National League like he does pretty much every year where he’s the obvious MVP winner by August 1st. It got pretty boring and I’m happy to see two guys really step it up and (hopefully) take him down.
Loading ...