My American League and National League MVP Ballots

 Welcome to the MVP Chase, where I look for, or chase, the best objective criteria to determine sports greatness without personal subjective bias.

Today's topic: the MLB MVP Chase

All season, I had put off looking into the Major League MVPs because I wasn't sure how to go about it. That's because my philosophy of the "Most Valuable Player" in all team sports places primary importance on contributions to victories instead of mere individual statistics. What's more valuable than a player who helps his team win?

The problem is that I didn't have time to look this up game-by-game; I wanted a short-hand way to find this out. And something didn't sit well with the ballots I came up with two weeks ago. 

I considered "the number of games a player played in which his team won, and his OPS in those games." Four Astros and four Dodgers wound up on the AL and NL ballots, respectively, because they were all outstanding hitters on teams that won a lot of games.

I was essentially rewarding them with a vote only because they were great hitters who also had the advantage of having great teammates, something other players didn't have.

So I revised my criteria.

This time, I continued to consider  "the number of games a player played in which his team won, and his OPS in those games." But then I considered the team's average OPS in victories. The greater the difference between the player's OPS and the team's OPS, the more valuable he is.

I then did the math for each player that had a minimum overall .800 OPS and whose team had a better than .500 record. 

I plugged in the numbers. The NL race was close at the top:

James Leroy Wilson's fictional 2022 National League MVP ballot

1. Paul Goldschmidt, Cardinals

2. Freddie Freeman, Dodgers

3. Pete Alonso, Mets

4. Manny Machado, Padres

5. Nolan Arenado, Cardinals

6. Mookie Betts, Dodgers

7. Hunter Renfroe, Brewers

8. J.T. Realmuto, Phillies

9. Austin Riley, Braves 

10. Kyle Schwarber, Phillies

The AL MVP Chase was a runaway, although there's an "honorable mention" 11th choice that was very close to making the ballot.

James Leroy Wilson's fictional 2022 American League MVP ballot

1. Aaron Judge, Yankees 

2. Yordan Alvarez, Astros

3. Jose Ramirez, Guardians

4. Jose Altuve, Astros

5. Teoscar Hernandez, Blue Jays

6. Andres Giminez, Guardians

7. Julio Rodriguez, Mariners 

8. Randy Arozarena

9. Yandy Diaz, Rays 

10. Alex Bregman, Astros

(11) Anthony Santander, Orioles 

I'll check back in a few weeks after the results are announced.

James Leroy Wilson writes The MVP Chase, Daily Miracles, The Daily Bible Chapter, and JL Cells. Thanks for your subscriptions and support! You may contact James for your writing, editing, and research needs: jamesleroywilson-at-gmail.com.

Photo credit: Tage Olsin