The Reds and Cardinals each have a Triple Crown hopeful, but team wins is the stat that matters most for Albert Pujols’ and Joey Votto’s MVP chances.
Entering Monday night’s games, Votto led the league in batting average — seven points ahead of Pujols — while trailing the Cardinals’ three-time MVP for the NL lead by three home runs and three RBI. But Votto’s biggest advantage for the individual honor is Cincinnati’s lead over St. Louis in the NL Central.
Recommended Stories
Players can win the MVP without making the playoffs: Pujols did it as recently as 2008 and Alex Rodriguez won the AL MVP while playing for a 71-91 Rangers team. But when statistics are too close to decipher a clear-cut winner, the team’s success becomes the default tie-breaker.
Which brings us to the circumstance that every MVP voter dreads: Pujols edges out Votto, and the rest of the NL hitters, in every Triple Crown category while the Reds win the NL Central.
Could a Triple Crown winner — the first in the NL since Joe Medwick in 1937 — not win the MVP?
Well, it’s happened before to Chick Klein (1933) and twice to Ted Williams (1942, 1947).
Baseball has been waiting more than 40 years for another Triple Crown winner. But if he’s watching the playoffs from home, he doesn’t deserve to win the MVP.
