12-12-2018, 08:21 AM
The case Elvis Andrus Jersey for Bryce Harper to be the National League MVP is as clear as his name at the top of so many leaderboards.The Nationals 22-year-old superstar is tops in the National League in batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, OPS, OPS+, runs created, isolated power, wOBA, wRC, offensive WAR, total WAR for position players by baseball-reference.coms formula and WAR in general by Fangraphs formula. Harper is second in runs and at-bats per homer, tied for second in walks, third in homers and extra-base hits, tied for third in total bases, tied for seventh in doubles and tied for ninth in hits.MORE: Bryce Harper in action | Worst MVPs everFor anyone into the notion that a player should be on a playoff team to be MVP, not only is that position Men's Nolan Ryan Royal Blue Jersey out of line with the history of the award, it creates a real problem when it comes to finding a rival for Harper among position players.Nos. 2 through 5 on BRs position player WAR list are Paul Goldschmidt, Joey Votto, A.J. Pollock and Brandon Crawford, all of whom play for teams six or more games out of a playoff spot. By Fangraphs calculation, its Votto, Goldschmidt and Pollock.For his closest position player WAR pursuers on playoff teams, Harper has an 8.0-5.6 lead on Anthony Rizzo by the BR formula, 7.6-5.4 on Andrew McCutchen by Fangraphs metric. Its not close.The key words there are position player, because if you want to find a real challenger for Harper to be MVP, it has to be a pitcher.Zack Greinke is the National League leader in BRs version of WAR, which is based on ERA, with an 8.5-8.0 margin on Harper that is right at the edge of being nontrivial. On Fangraphs FIP-based WAR calculation, though, Greinke trails Harper by 2.3 WAR, and trails his own teammate, reigning MVP Clayton Kershaw, by Shin-Soo Choo Jersey 1.8. Kershaw trails Harper by 1.5 WAR on the BR side of things, ranking fifth overall in the National League, second only to Greinke among pitchers.How do you pick between Greinke and Kershaw? Beyond the differences in WAR according to the different calculations, youve got Greinke leading the league in ERA and Kershaw in strikeouts, both by wide margins. The Dodgers aces are 1-2 in the National League in WHIP, with a 0.051 edge for Greinke.Greinke had a scorele s streak of 45.2 innings, Kershaw had one of 37 innings. Greinke Ian Desmond Jersey has had two starts with a Game Score of 80 or better, Kershaw has had eight. At his best, Kershaw is better, as evidenced in Wednesday nights 15-strikeout complete game that basically wrapped up the National League West, but you also cant ignore that over the first two months of the season, he had a rather pedestrian 3.86 ERA.The fact Greinke and Kershaw are teammates serves to hurt their candidacies for MVP. The Dodgers obviously would be vastly worse without either one, but how do you say which one they would mi s more were he to be abducted by aliens? If you could vote for co-MVPs, it would be much easier, but you cant, so it isnt. Kershaw being so good since the beginning of June he has a 1.33 ERA basically sabotages Greinke's chances.Given Rangers Flex Base Team Gray Jersey the trouble in choosing between his two closest pursuers, who each carry the stigma (a misguided one, but it matters to some, even though Kershaw was last years MVP) of being pitchers, Harper still should cruise to the MVP award, even though his team has vastly underperformed. Just imagine the disaster they would be without him.