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Last season’s National League MVP now plays for the Yankees so this year’s race feels pretty wide open. The contenders are obvious as the top three teams in the National League are far better than the rest of the league. That doesn’t mean that someone from there will, it just makes it more likely.
The preseason MLB MVP futures are up at 5Dimes and today we’re taking a look at them. Let’s take a look at who they think the favorites are.
| National League MVP Odds |
|
| Bryce Harper | +300 |
| Kris Bryant | +400 |
| Nolan Arenado | +500 |
| Paul Goldschmidt | +800 |
| Joey Votto | +800 |
| Cody Bellinger | +800 |
| Anthony Rizzo | +1200 |
| Corey Seager | +1800 |
| Freddie Freeman | +2000 |
| Charlie Blackmon | +2500 |
| Clayton Kershaw | +2500 |
| Yoenis Cespedes | +3000 |
| Anthony Rendon | +3000 |
| Max Scherzer | +3000 |
| Marcell Ozuna | +4000 |
| Justin Turner | +4000 |
| Eric Hosmer | +5000 |
| Rhys Hoskins | +6000 |
| Daniel Murphy | +8000 |
| Trea Turner | +8000 |
| Jake Lamb | +10000 |
| Evan Longoria | +10000 |
| Jay Bruce | +10000 |
| Ryan Zimmerman | +10000 |
| Kyle Schwarber | +10000 |
| Wil Myers | +10000 |
| Josh Bell | +10000 |
| Buster Posey | +10000 |
| Yasiel Puig | +10000 |
| Matt Carpenter | +20000 |
| Chris Taylor | +20000 |
| Domingo Santana | +20000 |
| Adam Duvall | +20000 |
| Christian Yelich | +20000 |
| Carlos Santana | +20000 |
| Andrew McCutchen | +20000 |
| Eric Thames | +30000 |
| Brandon Belt | +30000 |
| Willson Contreras | +30000 |
| Trevor Story | +30000 |
| Eugenio Suarez | +30000 |
| Paul DeJong | +30000 |
| Todd Frazier | +50000 |
| Starlin Castro | +50000 |
| Justin Bour | +50000 |
The favorites are Bryce Harper and Kris Bryant because of course they are. These are two of the best hitters in the game right now and their teams should almost definitely be in the playoffs this season.
For Bryant, while Anthony Rizzo is quite good he’s not quite that elite level that Bryant is. Plus, it feels like there is still a chance that he could level up and put up an outstanding season. He’s still young and the Cubs are here to stay.
Harper is Harper. He might never touch that magical 2015 season that he had, but he’s never going to bad and he’s going to be the best hitter on the Nationals. A team that should easily win the National League East. They are going to win 90+ games, he’s going to hit 30+ homeruns and he’ll get consideration.
I’m a bit more interested in the Dodgers’ hitters Corey Seager (+1800) and Cody Bellinger (+800). This is likely to be one of the best teams in the NL and there offense is more good across the board than great. That makes Seager and Bellinger likely to stand out. They are both still young with room for improvement. Either one of them is a good value, in my opinion.
For a sleeper, how about Christian Yelich? He’s going to see a huge boost to his stats from moving from Miami’s cavernous park to the Brewers homer friendly park. He’s been worth 4.5 WAR in each of the past two seasons and at only 26 he could make a leap this year.
The only other guy I’d consider here is probably Joey Votto at +800. He’s the best hitter in the NL, he just is. He always is near the top of every leader board, but his team is bad and it’s never quite enough to overcome it. He had a good argument last year, but Stanton’s huge homer numbers outshone him. Well, Stanton’s gone now. Why not Votto?
