I haven't been able to keep up with this blog as much as I would have liked but with good effort, I will be able to put my thoughts in a concise form instead of spread around Twitter (@StevenPhilNYY). As crazy as it may seem, the MLB season is half way over. 81 games have been completed and a lot has been settled in this 3 1/2 months. The best part about this unique 2012 season is that it is the first time in the history of baseball that we will have two wild card races to look after. This means that a handful of teams that were dead by July, are alive and well. Baseball purists who still stand by the old way of doing things are not properly weighing out the benefits of adding just one more playoff spot. I have been for this move by Bud Selig and I stand completely by my opinion that it is great for the game.
This post will not be long winded but I wanted to take the time to give you some of my thoughts about the first half MVPs in baseball.
So without further stalling, I will dive into the complicated world of the American League.
Standing atop of the AL with the best record in all of baseball is the familiar Yankees. They are doing it in ways we are quite used to seeing it. They win by smashing the ball into smithereens but this team is different. They are overcoming adversity and winning despite their injuries. They have overcome the storm and come out stronger. If the unlikely pieces like Ibanez, Wise, and Jones continue to produce at a high level paired with the Yankees strong pitching, they will be hard to beat.
The American MVP race is a tough choice and will be a really hard decision at the end of the year for the powers that be. It has been a discussion that will live on around barbecues and in swimming pools. Can a player that missed the first month of the season, come through and win the MVP? Yes, I am talking about Mike Trout. To me, this is a two player race. Obviously Josh Hamilton continues his torrid pace despite recent injury stints but Mike Trout has literally altered the fate of a faltering Angels squad. It has not been a coincidence that the Halos turned around after Trout sped onto the scene. His projected numbers based on this pace are MVP caliber especially when taking the Angels early struggles and recent success into account based on his arrival in Anaheim. The 2nd half will need to be huge for this young man, but if you watch him on a weekly basis, you see a player that is only going to get better. Trout just gets it. He gets my first half MVP.
Moving onto the National League, the MVP will continue to be a 5 horse race all through the summer and early fall. To me, it is between Joey Votto, Matt Kemp, David Wright Melky Cabrera and Andrew McCutchen. If Kemp didn't fall victim to injury woes this would be no question. He was on his way to becoming the Michael Jordan of baseball with so many epic moments in April. He quickly was grounded by injuries and others took the attention of the baseball world. Joey Votto continues to show the world he is the best 1B in all of the National League. He is expected to be in this discussion every year. David Wright has quietly taken over the Mets clubhouse with his play on the field. He was snubbed in the All Star Game but with a strong 2nd half, he could very well walk away with some MVP hardware. D-Wright, is for sure going to be someone the Mets need to lock up when the time comes. But for now, he will continue batting in the high .300s and leading a renaissance in Queens. Surprisingly, McCutchen and Cabrera are hanging with the big boys all year. It is another debate that will be ironed out at the end of the year but given the fates of all of the teams based on performance, I have to go with McCutchen. The first place Bucs come into the All Star Break surging, in first place for the first time since '97 this late in the year. They are a fun story and it would be not be possible without 'Cutch. Cutch is my first half MVP.
I fully expect to look back on this at the end of the year and be wrong. That is what I love about baseball, it is unpredictable. There very well may be a team or player that will surprise us all in the 2nd half. What we must not forget is that the 2nd half is just as long as the first. We need to take into consideration what was accomplished in the first 81 but the second set of 81 is JUST as important. Until next time...Thanks for reading
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