2017 Major League Baseball Awards: Nolan Arenado, Jose Altuve Are Your MVPs

Both the AL and NL MVP races are as tight as they've ever been. Here is why Nolan Arenado and Jose Altuve get the edge this season while Clayton Kershaw and Corey Kluber are the Cy Young winners.

Tom Verducci | Sep 26, 2017

2017 Major League Baseball Awards: Nolan Arenado, Jose Altuve Are Your MVPs /

Where has all the drama gone in the eight major awards as voted by the Baseball Writers Association of America? Over the past four years, the 32 winners grabbed an average of 81% of the first-place votes, with an increased share three consecutive years, even with the narrow AL Cy Young Award win by Rick Porcello last year.

Landslides rule. Is the electorate more enlightened? Is it groupthink? Is it more transparency? Is it confirmation bias (favorites get broadly identified, like the “popularity” bar on iTunes that sells more of what’s popular because it’s been branded as such)?

Maybe this year will be different. With only five days left in a 183-day season, we have the potential for two or more cliffhangers this year. No race is more crowded than the one for National League Most Valuable Player. So as I give you my ballots—subject to change, and one of which will be an official BBWAA award ballot to be identified later—I must start with most unpredictable one of all. (Statistics entering Monday.)

Published Sep 26, 2017

TOM VERDUCCI

Tom Verducci is a senior writer for Sports Illustrated who has covered Major League Baseball since 1981. He also serves as an analyst for FOX Sports and the MLB Network; is a New York Times best-selling author; and cohosts The Book of Joe podcast with Joe Maddon. A five-time Emmy Award winner across three categories (studio analyst, reporter, short form writing) and nominated in a fourth (game analyst), he is a three-time National Sportswriter of the Year winner, two-time National Magazine Award finalist, and a Penn State Distinguished Alumnus Award recipient. Verducci is a member of the National Sports Media Hall of Fame, Baseball Writers Association of America (including past New York chapter chairman) and a Baseball Hall of Fame voter since 1993. He also is the only writer to be a game analyst for World Series telecasts. He lives in New Jersey with his wife, with whom he has two children.