How’s this for a Mybookie.ag prop for the 2020 Major League Baseball season, assuming there is one: On the odds to win NL MVP, all Dodgers against the field. That’s how stacked L.A. is this season after trading for 2018 AL MVP Mookie Betts to play with 2019 NL MVP Cody Bellinger. Let’s check the NL MVP Odds for next season.
MLB Regular Season Awards: NL MVP Odds & Prediction April 8th Edition
Last year, Bellinger got 19 of the 30 first-place votes for his first MVP Award. The lefty won a Gold Glove and Silver Slugger along with his MVP award, making him the first player to earn all three since Betts did so in 2018. Since making his MLB debut in 2017, Bellinger ranks among baseball’s best in OPS (2nd, .928), home runs (1st, 111), games played (4th, 450) and total bases (2nd, 892).
While Bellinger is +1000 to repeat, Betts is the +350 betting favorite to join the late, great Frank Robinson is the only player to win the award in both the American and National Leagues. The Cincinnati Reds won the NL pennant in 1961, and Robinson won his first MVP, the last time the NL played a 154-game schedule. Robinson won the AL MVP in 1966 with the Baltimore Orioles when he hit for the Triple Crown: 316 BA, 49 HR, 122 RBI.
Betts spent his first six years with Boston and is a four-time All-Star who has a career .301/.374/.519 slashline with 139 homers and 470 RBI. Manager Dave Roberts said he planned to hit Betts at leadoff in 2020. Betts led the majors with 135 runs scored last year for the Red Sox. Only four players had more plate appearances than Betts last year — Marcus Semien, Whit Merrifield, Ronald Acuna and Jonathan Villar. Roberts did say Betts would occasionally bat second against tough right-handed starters so the team could insert a left-handed platoon batter at the top of the order.
Young Braves superstar Ronald Acuna is +500 with 2018 NL MVP Christian Yelich at +700 – Yelich was runner-up last year to Bellinger. Acuna smacked 41 home runs and had 101 RBIs last year but didn’t really find his groove at the plate until after he moved to the leadoff slot in mid-May. He ended up stealing 37 bases and scoring 127 runs as well.
Acuna and teammates Ozzie Albies and Freddie Freeman Freddie Freeman each won a National League Louisville Slugger Silver Slugger award last season, the first such honor of their careers. Atlanta was the only team in the majors to have three recipients. Acuaa and Albies were the first teammates in major league history age 22 or younger to win Silver Sluggers in the same season.
Washington’s Juan Soto is +850 after having a breakout postseason in leading the Nationals to their first World Series title. Soto went 2-for-4 with an RBI single and a walk in the Game 7 win over the Astros. Soto scored the tying run on Howie Kendrick’s two-run shot off of Will Harris after drawing a walk off of Zack Greinke, and he gave the Nationals a cushion with an RBI single an inning later through the shift. Soto is just 21. Last season, he ranked in National League in walks (3rd, 108), on-base percentage (5th, .401), OPS (6th, .949) and slugging percentage (12th, .548). His 56 homers before his 21st birthday tied for the second-most ever behind Mel Ott’s 61.
Young Padres star Fernando Tatis Jr. is interesting at +1000. Tatis missed the last six weeks of the 2019 season due to a stress reaction in his back but had reported to spring training fully healthy. The 21-year-old shortstop has already proven himself as one of the best players in MLB because as a rookie he batted .317/.379/.590 with 22 homers, 53 RBI and 16 stolen bases in just 84 games.
However, our value pick is Bryce Harper at +1400. He should be much more comfortable in his second season with the Philadelphia Phillies. Some might consider Harper’s 2019 season a bit of a disappointment, but he still had a.260/.372/.510 triple-slash line, 98 runs scored, 35 homer, 114 RBI and 15 stolen bases across 682 plate appearances. He also displayed noticeable improved from a defensive standpoint.
NL MVP Expert Pick
Bryce Harper at +1400 to win his second career NL MVP.
