Start at the top of the list and everything feels pretty familiar. The National League MVP award has only been discussed and debated since midway through the regular season—earlier, if you count me shouting that Odubel Herrera’s April and May numbers made him a candidate on a podcast early in the year.
But mostly, the same names have been tossed around for weeks: the deserving winner, Milwaukee’s Christian Yelich, has a heat map that’s primed to explode. Javier Baez is a dynamo in the Cubs’ infield, Nolan Arenado is the Rockies’ third base stud, Freddie Freeman is Freddie Freeman; but Yelich set himself apart this year after Derek Jeter sent him to the Brewers.