Mookie Betts & Christian Yelich Named AL & NL MVPs Respectively

TheSportster

2018 AL & NL MVPS Officially Named

By Thomas Hall

Published Nov 18, 2018

Mookie Betts has been named the AL MVP while Christian Yelich has been named the NL MVP.

The MVP awards were handed out and it was revealed that Mookie Betts had been awarded the American League MVP, and Christian Yelich for the National League.

Betts and Yelich both surely deserved to win these respective awards. They both carried their teams throughout the majority of this past season. It is also the first time either of them have even been nominated for this award.

The voting race for both awards didn't end up being as close as people previously thought it was going to be. Both Betts and Yelich finished with an overwhelming amount of first-place votes. Betts finished with 28 first-place votes, while the second place winner, Mike Trout, only received one first-place vote.

This was a career year for Betts, as he had career highs in home runs(32), stolen bases(30), batting average(.346) and OPS(1.078). Betts also led the American League in three offensive categories.

Betts led the AL in runs, batting average and slugging percentage. He also finished second behind Trout in OBP and OPS. For saying he only played in 136 games, Betts made every at-bat count.

Betts was a big reason as to why the Red Sox went to the postseason for the second straight season, and to why they won the World Series. Every time the team seemed to need a spark, Betts was the usual suspect to create that offensive spark.

Either with hitting three home runs in one game, or stealing both second and third base in the same at-bat he just found a way to spark his team.

Yelich also won by a landslide of first-place votes to win the NL MVP. Just like Betts, Yelich carried the Brewers to the postseason. Up until September, it looked like a guarantee that Javier Baez would win this award.

Once the calendar turned to September, Yelich turned his game up to another level. Yelich produced ten home runs and 34 RBIs in the month of September. He also led the NL in batting average(.326), slugging percentage(.598) and OPS(1.000) this past season.

Yelich took the league by storm to earn his first ever MVP award. Regardless of how ineffective he was in the postseason, he guided his team back to the postseason which rewarded him in earning the MVP award.

Both Betts and Yelich definitely worked hard enough this past season to earn the MVP awards by such a large margin. Which makes it very possible for both of them to be in the running for these awards again next season.

WHAT THIS MEANS

With the way both Betts and Yelich performed this past season, if they can replicate similar performances next season they will make their respective teams so much more dangerous to face.

However, it will be especially tough for Betts to win the MVP again next season. This is because he plays in the same league as Trout, and in six of the last seven seasons, he has either finished first or second in the voting.