Time To Settle The Debate: Mookie or JD for MVP?
For pretty much the entire 2018 there has been quite the debate on the hands of Red Sox fans. Who’s the MVP? Check out the numbers below:
In just about every category they rank either one or two and this season is very reminiscent of the 2003 season that David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez had. And quite honestly, it’s just not fair to the rest of the league.
The Case for J.D. Martinez
Since J.D. has come to the Red Sox, this team went from winning 90 or so games, to being on pace to win 115. The Red Sox had one of the least powerful offenses in the league last year to being one of the most feared. Now I’ll be honest, at the beginning of the year, I did not want J.D. I thought he was going to be a waste coming from the NL to the AL. (Yes, I know he’s played in the AL before). But man was I wrong, and gladly wrong. J.D. Martinez has single handedly changed this team offensively.
He leads the league in homers with 38 with Jose Ramirez right behind him with 37. I don’t think anyone saw this coming, but we’ve seen in the past that if you anger J.D. Martinez, he has a knack of proving you wrong and he’s doing just that this year. He could be awarded the MVP just because he’s changed the lineup so drastically without playing much defense.
The Case for Mookie Betts
Two seasons ago, Mookie Betts finished second in MVP voting. It was truly a sight to see that season for Mookie because of lot of people didn’t see him as an MVP caliber player. Yet. He lost that MVP campaign to Mike Trout even though Mookie beat Trout in AVG., HR, RBI, and pretty much everything else.
Mookie is essentially continuing that 2016 season this year and is easily the best leadoff hitter in all of baseball. When you have a hitter at the very top of your lineup that can hit for power and steal bases at will, you know you have a special player. He’ll most likely end up as only the second Red Sox player all time with a 30-30 season. 30 homers and 30 steals. The only other player to do that for the Sox, was Jacoby Ellsbury back in 2011.
On top of all of that, Mookie is a gold glove right fielder. Not only can he win games at the plate, he can steal games with his glove. Which is why I give Mookie the slight edge over JD for the MVP.
–Brian Berard (@RockyBerard)