The 2023 MLB regular season is flying by, as the dog days of August are rapidly coming to a close and giving way to September baseball.
The MVP race had been a cakewalk for Ronald Acuña Jr. in the season’s first five months.
Acuña is the best player on the best team, and it will feel almost illegal if he doesn’t win the Most Valuable Player.
He leads the league in runs, on-base percentage, and stolen bases while being one of the most electric players in the league.
Monday night saw Acuña’s 60th and 61st stolen bases of the season. He is the first player since Dee Strange-Gordon to record 60 stolen bases in a season in 2017.
Acuña is one home run away from creating a new club in MLB glory. No one has ever hit 30 home runs and swiped 60 bags in a single season. There have only been two players to record 30 home runs and 50 stolen bases. This record, practically guaranteed at this point, is the difference-maker in 2023’s MVP conversation.
But the Los Angeles Dodgers second-half resurgence has proved the NL MVP race is far from over.
The Dodgers had a unique first half of the season, going into the All-Star break tied for the lead in the NL West with the Arizona Diamondbacks. But since the break, the Dodgers have been the hottest team in baseball. They have the best record since the All-Star break and have lost just 11 of the 41 games they have played since they got a four-day rest. They are averaging nearly six runs per game in that span.
Mookie Betts is in the midst of arguably the best season of his career, which is incredible, seeing as his 2018 MVP season racked up the highest WAR (10.7) since Barry Bonds (11.7) over 20 years ago.
Betts again leads position players in WAR and has been arguably the best leadoff hitter in baseball. The only other player that comes to mind would be. Ronald Acuña Jr.
Just six players have hit 35 home runs out of the leadoff spot, and Mookie has done it in two consecutive years. After hitting his 35th long ball of the season on Sunday’s game in Boston, Betts is on pace to finish the season with 44 home runs, the most from any leadoff hitter in history.
Mookie’s 2023 season has been as productive as ever, but his numbers seem impossible in the second half. In the 38 games he has played since being named to his seventh All-Star game, Mookie has tallied 60 hits for a .390 batting average with nine home runs and 31 RBI. That culminates in a staggering 204 wRC+ (Weighted Runs Created.)
On the season, Mookie is slashing .312/.406/.606 (AVG/OBP/SLG) with a 169 OPS+ (On-base+Slugging Percentage). His slugging percentage and OPS+ lead the National League.
The most enticing part of Mookie’s proposal to win his second MVP is what he does on the other side of the ball. Betts came up through the minors playing middle infield, mainly second base. He wasn’t moved to the outfield until 2014, when he got called to the MLB.
Red Sox legend Dave Roberts, now the Dodgers manager, has given the fans what they want: putting Mookie back in the infield. With Betts’ ability to play five positions, counting him out of the race will be tough until it’s all said and done.
The MVP race is led by the two best players on the two best teams in the National League, and they are gearing up for a four-game set this weekend. It will be the best baseball played at this point in the season and gives us insight into what will most likely be the NLCS matchup.
