ST. LOUIS – Thirteen years have passed since the St. Louis Cardinals sported the season’s National League MVP on their squad, but it appears there’s a chance that streak might end soon.
Major League Baseball announced Monday that Cardinals infielders Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado are two of the three players nominated for this year’s NL MVP award. They will take on San Diego Padres’ infielder Manny Machado for bragging rights.
Goldschmidt flirted with the NL Triple Crown for much of the season, ultimately finishing among the league’s Top 5 in batting average (.317), home runs (35) and RBIs (115). Arenado ended the 2022 campaign with a .293 batting average, 30 home runs and 103 RBIs while recently picking up his 10th consecutive Gold Glove award.
The dynamic duo will have a chance to pick up votes from a select group involved with the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. All voters must choose one of Goldschmidt, Arenado or Machado for first place, but can select anyone else for nine more spots after that. The votes are only based on regular-season accomplishments.
For league MVP awards, there is a point system that is weighted by one’s spot on the ballot. A first-place vote is worth 14 points. A second-place vote is worth nine points. Each voting spot following that deducts one point from the second-place total.
Oddsmakers are currently leaning toward Goldschmidt in the race for MVP, giving him the following odds…
VegasInsider.com (-10000)Covers.com (-6000)SportsBettingDime.com (-5000)BetMGM (-3000)TheSportsGeek.com (-2500)
The same group of oddsmakers projects good chances of a high seed for Arenado, but perhaps not the top seed…
Covers.com (+7000)VegasInsider.com (+6600)SportsBettingDime.com (+4000)BetMGM (+3500)TheSportsGeek.com (+3500)
The National League and American League MVP awards will be announced at 5 p.m. on Nov. 17.