Bellinger vs. Yelich - MVP

[packs]

Those trained monkeys are the ones voting for MVP.

But besides that, your stats really don't tell the story that makes someone an MVP. Yelich didn't have a great second half. His counting stats were essentially halved while Rendon's counting stats got better when the Nationals needed him most. Whereas Yelich's home runs and rbi's dropped by more than half, and his on base and OPS dropped, Rendon's rbi total went up, his average was more than 30 points higher, and his on base and OPS both went up. The Nats are out of the playoffs without him and given that the Nats also finished with a better record and were the superior team, their best player should naturally win the award.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Anyone want to give me 6-1 on Rendon?

[the 'stache]

Originally Posted by packs

Those trained monkeys are the ones voting for MVP.

But besides that, your stats really don't tell the story that makes someone an MVP. Yelich didn't have a great second half. His counting stats were essentially halved while Rendon's counting stats got better when the Nationals needed him most. Whereas Yelich's home runs and rbi's dropped by more than half, and his on base and OPS dropped, Rendon's rbi total went up, his average was more than 30 points higher, and his on base and OPS both went up. The Nats are out of the playoffs without him and given that the Nats also finished with a better record and were the superior team, their best player should naturally win the award.

And your stats represent one of the most egregious examples of cherry picking I've ever seen on Net 54.

Yelich didn't have a great second half? Are you fucking kidding me with this??

You're telling me how great Rendon was after the All Star break. Yet:

2019 second half OPS:
Christian Yelich 1.034
Anthony Rendon 1.023.



If Christian Yelich didn't have a great second half (your words), but his performance was still better than Rendon's, what does that say about how Rendon played after the break?

Whoops.

Christian Yelich won the MVP last year with a 1.000 OPS. His 2019 second half OPS was 34 points higher than the same metric that led the National League last season.

But he didn't have a great second half. Riiiight.

And this BS about how his "counting stats were essentially halved"? Nice how you just casually gloss over that those counting stats dropped because Yelich was hurt. His didn't realize some precipitous drop in performance. He had 150 fewer plate appearances in the second half.

And this nugget--"Yelich's OBP dropped".

Yeah, from .433 to .423. Wow, what a drop off!! You also managed to avoid that Rendon's SLG dropped from .611 in the first half, to .585 in the second. But you DID mention that Yelich's SLG dropped. Yes, it dropped to .611. His SLG "dropped" to perfectly equal Rendon's "best" half of baseball from a SLG perspective.

#2

And Rendon's "counting stats" got better.

Like home runs??

Rendon's first half home runs: 20
Rendon's second half home runs: 14

#3

"Rendon's RBI total went up"

By a whopping 2. From 62 to 64. An increase of 2 RBI is such a statistically insignificant number, it's not worth mentioning. And anybody with a clue about baseball stats doesn't point to RBI for....anything, anymore. Not in 2019. RBI are a stat of opportunity. Logic dictates that the player who gets more opportunities will have a better result.

And this little gem makes me crack up:

"Rendon's counting stats got better when the Nationals needed him most."

Like the last month plus of the season, right? When a team either makes the playoffs, or misses them. September and October are where legends are born. So Rendon kicked it into high gear in September and October....when his team needed him most, right?

Hmm. Let's look at the actual statistics:

Anthony Rendon's batting statistics in September and October of 2019:

26 games played, 115 PA
.239 AVG, 3 HR, 17 RBI, slash line of .400/.420/.820.

A .239 AVG and a .820 OPS. Wow, Rendon just killed it...you know, when his team really needed him.

Just for shits and giggles, how was Christian Yelich doing before he got hurt, in September, you know, when his team "really needed him."

Christian Yelich's batting statistics in September of 2019 (I didn't include the 9th game where he came to the plate once, and Trent Grisham finished his at bat):

8 games played, 38 PA
.357 AVG, 3 HR, 8 RBI, slash line of .526/.750/1.276.

When their "teams really needed them", let's compare the performances of Anthony Rendon and Christian Yelich side by side, shall we?

September and October 2019 batting performances:
Rendon .239 AVG, .400 OBP/.420 SLG/.820 OPS
Yelich .357 AVG, .526 OBP/.750 SLG/1.276

Yes, when "their teams needed them most", Anthony Rendon performed better than Yelich....right?

#4

And those RBIs? That big counting stat you so proudly point to as evidence of Anthony Rendon's MVP worthiness. Rendon had almost exactly three times as many plate appearances as Yelich in September and October. 115 PA for Rendon, 38 for Yelich.

Rendon drove in 17 runs. Yelich drove in 8. Again, Rendon had three times the plate appearances.....but only twice Yelich's RBI count. Yelich's RBI count is more impressive than Rendon's, especially when you consider that 97.7% of Rendon's plate appearances in 2019 came from the third or fourth position in the batting order, while 78.7% of Yelich's plate appearances in 2019 came while batting second.

"Counting stats".

Down the stretch, Yelich and Rendon both had 3 HR. Only, Yelich equaled his home run total in 18 fewer games.

Yelich averaged one RBI every 4.75 PA in Sept/Oct.
Rendon averaged one RBI every 6.76 PA in Sept/Oct.

Yelich homered once every 9.33 AB in September/October. 3 HR in 28 AB.
Rendon homered once every 29.3 AB in September/October. 3 HR in 88 AB.

Counting stats!!!!!!

#5

[packs]

Who won the MVP?

[the 'stache]

Originally Posted by packs

Who won the MVP?

Not Anthony Rendon.

[packs]

Originally Posted by the 'stache

Not Anthony Rendon.

Not Yelich, though, right?

[Touch'EmAll]

Obviously, the hot start ( about 1/3 of the season) is why the majority of MVP voters gave it to Bellinger. After that he had monthly BA of .272, .265, .235, & .280 Bellinger's OPS also declined each and every month. Then when it really counts, Post Season, the MVP couldn't help get his team out of their first match up as he hit .211 - yes, that's correct, post season BA almost sub-.200 and slugging at .263 Yes, I know post season supposedly doesn't count toward the voting. Regardless, there are your 2019 MVP numbers folks ... oh, boy...need to find that emoji where the eyes roll back. Y'know, the voters don't always get it right. Go back in MVP voting history and there are headscratchers. Dimaggio won it over Ted Williams one year when hands down Teddy had the far superior year. Oh, well, the human element, we don't always get it right.

[Touch'EmAll]

What if Bellinger's season had been flip flopped with his big numbers coming in the last third of the season. So at the end of August he is hitting .263 for the season and then goes on his tear and finally brings his BA up to .305 by the very end. I don't think he would have nearly been on the MVP radar all season long like he was.

Flip flop it for Yelich. So consistent the whole season. Yelich would have definitely been on the MVP radar early on and all the way through.