The National League playoff race is tight in the central division and the wild card and with the Pittsburgh Pirates poised to make the postseason for the first time in two decades, Andrew McCutchen is playing the best ball of his career and that is why he should be the favorite for the Most Valuable Player.
Often times there is a debate in baseball circles about whether the award is about stats or "value", or whether a team is winning or losing and that came up last season with Mike Trout and Miguel Cabrera, with Cabrera winning out after he won the Triple Crown. In the National League this season, no player is having the year Cabrera did and that is why McCutchen fits the bill perfectly. McCutchen is having an excellent season statistically and his play for the Pirates has been crucial as they have gone from under .500 to World Series contenders.
This season McCutchen is hitting over .325 with 19 home runs and nearly 80 RBIs and his OBP has been among the most consistent in the league and his defense has also been above average all year. McCutchen has continued getting better and better every season and while his power numbers have gone down from 31 to 19 this year and 96 RBIs to 79, he has cut down on his strikeouts and he also has added to his stolen base totals. McCutchen should get over 100 runs for the season and he also is closing in on getting near 200 hits.
The Pirates would be nowhere without him and his play this season and he has been leading the NL in WAR for some time and that is every voter's favorite stat these days. McCutchen is ranked third in the league in batting average and third in on base percentage, which has increased for the outfielder in each of the past three seasons. McCutchen is sixth in the league in stolen bases, third in doubles and fifth in runs and he has been in and out of the top 10 in other categories as well.
Some players like Paul Goldschmidt, Clayton Kershaw, Yadier Molina and Joey Votto all are in the mix for the MVP, but that crop proves exactly why McCutchen should win. No one is having as consistent of a season as McCutchen and no one is running away with things, making the Pirates story resonate more over the other players. McCutchen is exactly the type of player that the MLB should market more and he has helped bring baseball back in Pittsburgh and that is one of the many reasons why he should win MVP.
Prediction: McCutchen wins the MVP over Kershaw, who has been dealing this season while leading in strikeouts and innings.