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ESPN Staff Writer- Sports reporter, Kansas City Star, 2002-09
- Writer, Baseball, Baseball Prospectus
- Co-author, Pro Basketball Prospectus
- Member, Baseball Writers Association of America
- Member, Professional Basketball Writers Association
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ESPN Senior Writer- Covers MLB for ESPN.com
- Former deputy editor of Page 2
- Been with ESPN.com since 1995
While Shohei Ohtani continues his historic season for the ages -- he could miss the remainder of the season and probably still be the unanimous MVP winner in the American League -- the National League MVP race and the two Cy Young races aren't over yet.
Yes, Ronald Acuna Jr. remains the MVP favorite in the NL as he puts up historic power/speed numbers, but he'll need to finish strong to hold off some strong competition. And the Cy Young races? Let's just say they're still wide, wide open -- especially in the NL.
Let's break down all four races, including the top 10 in each category from Bradford Doolittle's AXE rankings.
NL MVP
Award Index (AXE) Leaders
1. Ronald Acuna Jr., Atlanta Braves (147.1)
2. Mookie Betts, Los Angeles Dodgers (145.7)
3. Freddie Freeman, Los Angeles Dodgers (143.9)
4. Matt Olson, Atlanta Braves (133.9)
5. Ha-Seong Kim, San Diego Padres (133.8)
6. Corbin Carroll, Arizona Diamondbacks (131.1)
7. Francisco Lindor, New York Mets (128.4)
8. Christian Walker, Arizona Diamondbacks (128.3)
9. Cody Bellinger, Chicago Cubs (128.3)
10. Juan Soto, San Diego Padres (127.9)
The favorite
Ronald Acuna Jr.
Why he's the current front-runner: Acuna raced out to the lead in this category early in the season and has been the king of the NL hill ever since. At the end of April, he was hitting .352/.440/.546 with 23 runs and 13 steals. By the end of the day July 4, the NL AXE leaderboard had Acuna first (151) and Betts second (137), while Freeman was sixth (131).
As you can see, things have tightened considerably over the past few weeks, but this remains Acuna's race to lose, even if Freeman and/or Betts manages to overtake him in the value metrics. The traditional categories don't hold as much sway as they used to, but they matter when they get into rarefied territory and the race is otherwise close.