Milwaukee Brewers’ Ryan Braun Wins National League MVP
November 23rd, 2011
My Preseason National League MVP Pick: Buster Posey
2011 National League MVP: Ryan Braun
Before the season started, I thought San Francisco Giants’ catcher Buster Posey would pull a Dustin Pedroia; Win the Rookie of the Year award and then win the MVP award the following year. When Posey busted his ankle early in the season, that prediction went up in flames.
Once Posey went down, there were really three players who took the National League MVP race by storm. Ryan Braun, Matt Kemp, and Prince Fielder really made the MVP race a three-player race throughout the season and at the end, it was Braun who took home the honors.
Braun received 20 first-place votes to become the first Milwaukee Brewer to win the award since Robin Yount did so in 1989. Kemp finished second and Fielder finished third.
Braun finished the 2011 season with a .332/.397/.597 slash line with 33 HR’s and 33 SB’s. His numbers were great, but what helped him with this award was the Brewers’ season. Unless a guy completely blows everyone out of the water with his stats (see Andre Dawson in 1987), team performance still matters.
If the Dodgers weren’t such a mess and didn’t have a miserable season, it might have been Kemp who walked away with this award. But the Brewers finished in first, the Dodgers didn’t and that was a big reason why Braun is the MVP.
Isn’t MVP voting great? I mean, take a look at the people who got votes for the NL MVP…
| Voting Results | Batting Stats | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | Tm | Vote Pts | 1st Place | Share | WAR | ||||||||||
| 1 | Ryan Braun | MIL | 388.0 | 20.0 | 87% | 7.7 | |||||||||
| 2 | Matt Kemp | LAD | 332.0 | 10.0 | 74% | 10.0 | |||||||||
| 3 | Prince Fielder | MIL | 229.0 | 1.0 | 51% | 5.2 | |||||||||
| 4 | Justin Upton | ARI | 214.0 | 1.0 | 48% | 4.1 | |||||||||
| 5 | Albert Pujols | STL | 166.0 | 0.0 | 37% | 5.4 | |||||||||
| 6 | Joey Votto | CIN | 135.0 | 0.0 | 30% | 6.5 | |||||||||
| 7 | Lance Berkman | STL | 118.0 | 0.0 | 26% | 5.2 | |||||||||
| 8 | Troy Tulowitzki | COL | 69.0 | 0.0 | 15% | 5.8 | |||||||||
| 9 | Roy Halladay | PHI | 52.0 | 0.0 | 12% | 7.3 | |||||||||
| 10 | Ryan Howard | PHI | 39.0 | 0.0 | 9% | 2.7 | |||||||||
| 11 | Jose Reyes | NYM | 31.0 | 0.0 | 7% | 5.8 | |||||||||
| 12 | Clayton Kershaw | LAD | 29.0 | 0.0 | 6% | 7.6 | |||||||||
| 13 | Shane Victorino | PHI | 18.0 | 0.0 | 4% | 5.1 | |||||||||
| 14 | Ian Kennedy | ARI | 16.0 | 0.0 | 4% | 5.5 | |||||||||
| 15 | Cliff Lee | PHI | 12.0 | 0.0 | 3% | 7.4 | |||||||||
| 16 | Hunter Pence | TOT | 10.0 | 0.0 | 2% | 5.2 | |||||||||
| 17 | John Axford | MIL | 7.0 | 0.0 | 2% | 2.7 | |||||||||
| 17 | Pablo Sandoval | SFG | 7.0 | 0.0 | 2% | 6.1 | |||||||||
| 19 | Mike Morse | WSN | 5.0 | 0.0 | 1% | 3.0 | |||||||||
| 20 | Carlos Beltran | TOT | 3.0 | 0.0 | 1% | 4.4 | |||||||||
| 21 | Yadier Molina | STL | 2.0 | 0.0 | 0% | 3.9 | |||||||||
| 21 | Miguel Montero | ARI | 2.0 | 0.0 | 0% | 4.5 | |||||||||
| 23 | Starlin Castro | CHC | 1.0 | 0.0 | 0% | 2.2 | |||||||||
| 23 | Craig Kimbrel | ATL | 1.0 | 0.0 | 0% | 3.0 | |||||||||
| 23 | Carlos Ruiz | PHI | 1.0 | 0.0 | 0% | 3.0 | |||||||||
| 23 | Mike Stanton | FLA | 1.0 | 0.0 | 0% | 5.7 | |||||||||
Who the heck voted for Miguel Montero for MVP or even John Axford? Third place vote. Second place vote. It doesn’t matter. Who says “I am voting for Montero or Axford for MVP?” Or how does Ryan Howard and Roy Halladay almost have an equal number of votes?
I was always fascinated by the players who wind up on a MVP list.
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