The Closest MVP Races in MLB History… 

Right now, it’s Betts, and I say that as a huge Acuña fan. He’s been the best position player this year, and while Acuna’s season is historic, Betts has provided more value. I think the writers will go with Acuña, but for now, Betts is my choice.

@@UTNatlChampsthank you for not being biased

Ronald, easily.

@@CharmCityGamer no

Ronald because of the history that he made that’s why he should get it he’s the first player to get a 30/60 season I know mookie is putting up great numbers but it’s history just like judge s season last year

Judge had the best offensive season since juiced out Bonds and led the league in WAR by 1.0 over Ohtani and nearly 3.0 over everyone else. It wasn't just about the AL HR record, he had the best season. It will be quite a different situation if Mookie's overall production is higher than Acuna despite his unique accomplishment. Much more room for debate than Judge last year.

@@Il_Exile_lI Eh. I mean, Betts is having a career year for sure, but Acuna's playing on easy difficulty. Looking at the stats again, Judge last year had ~3 WAR more than Betts does right now, plus 25 more homers despite batting nearly the same average. Comparing the two, Betts' case for MVP gets worse in my eyes given how dominant Judge was and Acuna is now. Not to mention the effect all those steals have for Acuna. What people forget a lot is the impact those steals can have. When he leads off the inning or gets on with nobody on base, either with a walk or a single, he's effectively getting a double on those steals. His 32 pure doubles have to be joined by another 30-40 "doubles" (single/walk+steal), which is insane when you think about it.

​@@syan7558 It really comes down to stolen bases vs glove work. In my view, Betts' ability to play multiple positions at golden glove caliber is worth far more than 60 stolen bases/11 cs. Should be an interesting finish either way.

@@avrivah1101he is only hold glove level at RF. His 2B & SS stats are good but not hold glove. But Acuna is better defensively than given credit for. His arm alone is elite.

Mookie will break the all time home run and rbi record for a lead off man this year, that is pretty historic.

Came here to say this. Those odd mvps are because their team won the pennant.

That's why Ted Williams got robbed so many times. If the Red Sox were better he wins several.

In 1947, one writer hated Williams so much that he refused to include him on the ballot. That’s the only reason he didn’t win.

Yep, that was very common in all sports for a long time. The Cardinals won 105 games in 1944, while the Cubs won just 75, making it easy to dismiss Nicholson's better stats since he wasn't actually making the team competitive. The much more confusing thing is why Marion got so many more votes than his own teammate, Stan Musial, who had him covered in every single statistical category. Maybe it was just a form of voter fatigue considering Musial won it in 1943. The difference in the 1947 race wasn't nearly as extreme but it was still a player on a 97-win 1st place team vs a player on an 83-win 3rd place team. I can see how people can just fall back on "well if they didn't even make the playoffs, how valuable really were they?"

Voters long-standing obsession with pitcher wins is probably what led to your second point. Much easier to rack up wins on a winning team.

Nah MVP still almost always went to a playoff team player until like the 21st century

Better offensively - mookie betts both oWAR and ops+ say this Better defensively - do i really need to

@@darryelphillip5219 well acuna against the dodgers last few days really showing who the REAL MVP is lmao. Keep doubting tho

@@darryelphillip5219 Mookie has 7.0 war Acuna is 6.9 OPS different of .028 y’all need stop acting like that .0001 is huge difference

Not just the numbers. But the intangibles, Acuna clutch hitting and always seems to create walks when it matters, how many bases has he held runners on from advancing and holding them from scoring position. Just the mere threat from his cannon, is enough to scare Mookies Dodgers from taking extra bases. Acuna just a gamer no matter the month

@@KOCChristianhis war is 7.8 tf you on about

Same with Olson

I will sleep on Freddie because Ronald acuna jr is THE MVP and my MVP

@baseballguy0125 - Very unlikely. He's hitting .268, while the other candidates are way over .300. His WAR is 4.5, while Betts and Acuna are over 7. He'd probably have to get to 60 HRs and the other 3 guys would have to have really bad Septembers to even be considered.

@Jayden33336 - Well, he's way behind Mookie in WAR due to being the 2nd worst defensive outfielder in baseball (behind Schwarber). And Betts has a higher OPS, so he's definitely the favorite right now.

“If he recreates one of the greatest offensive months we’ve seen in modern baseball, it will be hard to ignore him” Freddie is great, but he’s not matching what Mookie just did

I'm hoping for 40 bombs from him to shut people up lol.

✅

I can understand Ted not winning the MVP in 1941. It’s 1942 and 1947 that just don’t make sense

More like it hasn’t been done, like ever. This isn’t a “first time since,” it’s a “first time EVER,” which is why I’m kinda annoyed people are just glossing over that and not acknowledging that he is literally creating new slashlines for the sport

@@slicedthree80_43he’s creating new slash lines because of the new rules that allow him to. There’s gonna be several more 30/60 seasons in the years to come

@@jaimelannister1797 Rules change, and baseball evolves. Just because they make changes to the game doesn’t make a certain feat less impressive. The Babe blasted 714 homers when pitchers were hurling their spit at the hitters, does that make Hank’s 755 HRs, or even Pujol’s 703 HRs, less impressive? Did these two legends have an easier path to the 700 club, since the spitball was essentially banned? Since one-hoppers used to be counted as outs, is it more impressive for someone in the 1800s to accumulate at least 200 hits or for someone to reach 200 hits in today’s game? Do you think that, since they changed that rule all the way back from the 1800s, it it now easier to get hits? It doesn’t make sense to say “well they’re able to do it because they changed this and that, and it wasn’t like that before” because baseball has been evolving since the start. It’s a good thing baseball has evolved because, if it didn’t, we wouldn’t have a foul line, catchers would be prone to injury (not bc of Buster Posey, but bc catchers literally used to be used as a barricade), ground-rule doubles would be home runs, and like, so many more flaws would still exist.

@@jaimelannister1797then why does no one else have 60 steals?

@@pjbuma13Ricky Henderson stole 118, that’s ACTUALLY history

Betts and Acuña have very close OBPs and pitchers also are not as scared of Acuña as they are of Betts, considering Mookie is clearly ahead of Acuña in SLG. WAR takes into account baserunning, so rest assured Acuña is being appropriately credited. The Braves lineup also offers Acuña huge protection.

@@UTNatlChamps Not saying pitchers are more afraid of him. I’m saying the lineup gets better pitches to hit when he is on first base because of his aggressiveness

@@UTNatlChamps There isn’t a stat that can measure the importance of something like that

@@UTNatlChampsMookie doesn’t get protection from Freddie?

Mookie had a bad September so acuna won

its because his august is fucking absurd he should win it no one gives a fuck about what was going on in april

Mookie has been amazing all year.

What do you mean how? Betts' season numbers are as good or better and he's an above average defender who plays 3 positions. Acuna is the 2nd worst defensive outfielder in baseball by metrics. Also, if you want precedent, just look at the 2015 Cy Young race... Zack Grienke was amazing every single month and never faltered. Jake Arrieta had an okay first half, didn't even make the All Star team, then had a monster 2nd half and won the award. All that matters is where you stand at the end of the season... how you did month to month is irrelevant.

Nobody remembers the guy that came in second

Mookie Betts has a higher SLG, OPS, OPS+, wRC+, WAA, bWAR, fWAR, wOBA, and waaWL% this season. You are so hilariously wrong that it’s pathetic.

Same except I like the braves

1 position at all star level and played 2 other positions at an above average but not all star level.

@@pjbuma132 positions at an all star level* look at baseball reference

Actually I think mookie might of won it if he didn’t hit like crap in September

@@RyanSchilling-fg9qn Probably not considering Acuna made history with a 40/70 season

Bro everyone says that Betts beats him in almost every stat, Betts may not be fast but his fielding cancels it out

Betts better offensively and defensively how this is a race in favor of acuna is beyond me

Acuna made history with more than a month left in the season. Acuna should win

@@brendonmasters7199Doesn’t matter what history is made if one player is providing more value than said history-making player.

well yeah. Mookie chokes whenever there is anything on the line

Bro the stolen bases created like 5 extra runs, I think that the stolen bases don’t add enough VALUE to a team to outweigh what mookie is doing

@@wolfboy8667 thats crazy if true but that sounds false. Even if it is true, the guy put himself in scoring position, not much else you can do, up to your teammates to drive you in.

.4 is a huge margin in SLG. And WAR takes into account Acuna’s SBs and other baserunning, and Betts still supersedes him by over 1 win.

@@UTNatlChamps the difference in WAR is much more so predicated on mookie being an elite defender at multiple positions and Acuna being average in the field rather than a substantial difference at the plate. Honestly I can see your argument but I think it’s absolutely asinine that a guy having a 30/70 season hitting .330 on the best team doesn’t win mvp

​@@UTNatlChampsapparently .4 isn't too big of a difference in SLG since it only took three weeks for Acuna to pass Betts

valid take

Honestly, that's a great point, although i don't agree, i have respect for the take

i value being the best player all year around and not being mentioned being in the MVP race after 1 great month.

I value Acuna more because he's been alot more consistent all year while mookie while been good has one crazy month.

​@RealCGH this is why you need to get informed before talking shit. Look up mookie's stats by month. He has been playing with a 1000 ops since june

You dont know that at all😂 They are both playing baseball to the best of their ability and doing what they can to win, acuna isnt planning on shutting down in the playoffs and neither is mookie

I kinda agree, Acuña is gonna hurt his leg or something going into October and is gonna ruin the braves chances in the postseason

@@wolfboy8667 ok time traveler I have a question, what year did we learn how to make time machines?

@@scranemdranem336 I’m just joking lol but acuna’s previous acl tear doesn’t help

@@scranemdranem336 also they are made in 2067

^ east coast bias

@@wolfboy8667 well i mean he’s not wrong, and i hate the Dodgers

Because everyone figured mookie would come crashing down in September and he has. Acuna is the better offensive player by quite a bit

Ok I disagree, mookie was good either way. And it shows because he’s replicating it while playing even better without Apple Watches so I think it’s pure hitting ability, just like Acuña

Betts has a higher SLG, OPS, OPS+, wRC+, bWAR, fWAR, wOBA, WAA, and waaWL%. So, what exactly is your point?

@@UTNatlChamps lmaooo, that let's me know all I need to know...

@@UTNatlChamps well I know dodgers fans were really looking forward for this series to determine the mvp... and let me just say... its not looking good...

@@UTNatlChamps like I said.... not even close lol.

Post season doesn’t count for MVP and neither does team accomplishments.

Until he gets injured and the depth goes away

Stupid comment. Mookie has literally better than him at everything except sb

@willyrodriguez10 and average and consistency and you know making history

@@RS7Wes am I on mute? Do you not know how to read? He has been consistently playing at an MVP level since may. How about that? Making history? That doesn't mean shit if you are playing worse than Mookie.

@willyrodriguez10 and hits and obp and runs scored. But yeah only stolen bases

@willyrodriguez10 Ronald leads the mlb in 3 categories and mookie leads in 0.

Stolen bases r going to win Acuna the mvp 😂

There are 3 teams that have less steals than Acuña if they meant nothing more players would be doing it, but they aren't

With all the stolen bases Acuña has he’s only scored 6 runs more than Mookie…

Watch the game nerd. Stolen bases are very important. Even just the threat bothers the pitcher and scares them to throw off speed pitches or balls in the dirt

​@@TheJav10acuna has scored 20 more runs than Mookie. He's knocked himself in more in September than mookie has scored. Acuna has more extra base hits than mookies total hits in September

Then why isn't anyone else doing it? I'm fact there are 3 entire teams that have less steals than Acuña. This point is just absurd

You act like Acuna is a liability in the OF. This would be a better argument if we were talking shortstops or catchers otherwise who cares. As long as your not a slowpoke with a noodle arm outfield defense is not as important

@@aj-pf7gdhe is on the brink though. 0 drs means he hasn’t done anything to help the team in the outfield

Mookie has been a better power hitter. But Ronald has him beat in hits, average, and on base percentage.

@@RS7Wes I mean acuna isn't a slouch by any means but there's I'll take the higher OPS and ops+.

“Base running is much easier” yet he has more SB than the entire Rockies/giants team lol

With the game on the line give me the guy with the higher batting average and the ability to bother pitchers on the bases. I’m not relying on a walk or homer

@@RS7Wesuh “better power hitter” do you know slugging percentage?

Lmfao L take

I mean, Acuna also nearly got into the 40-40 club in 2019 even though he only really started stealing bases around the All Star break. It's not like he needed the rule changes to suddenly be a top quality base stealer

@@Khaoki Not saying he needed the rules to be good at base stealing, just saying he wouldn't have 60 SBs without the new rules.

@@mimonikeda5768 then why bring it up? The game evolves

@@ItBeNolanThoit’s literally true it’s obv no coincidence that this happens as soon as the disengagement rule happens lol this will be nothing special in 20 years

The Dodgers are also stacked dude. They could, and have, done it without Mookie and they’d probably be winning the division without him. The two best teams with two of the best players. Acuña’s been better imo.

Bruhhh. Mookie literally has the guy who will finish 3rd behind these 2 in MVP batting right behind him 🤦‍♂️

@@aj-pf7gdyeah but it just so happens that when mookie goes off they go 24-5 in one month