Sympathy is a powerful thing.
Giancarlo Stanton, the Miami Marlins poster boy with the movie-star looks, glittery smile and enough thunder in his bat to make Mighty Casey look like a slap-hitting second baseman, has that on his side in this year’s National League MVP race.
Sympathy. It yanks on heartstrings and makes people do things they probably should not. In this case, that could mean casting votes for Stanton after his career-best season ended last Thursday when he was drilled in the face by a fastball in Milwaukee.
The aftermath is still gruesome nearly a week later even though the progress is promising, and the Marlins await word on if Stanton can actually return this season.
Stanton’s recovery is good news for him and the Marlins, but the injury itself, which will likely keep him off the field for the rest of the season, should pretty much end his MVP campaign.
It might be difficult for some to separate sympathy from an open mind, and that could lean some of the undecided voters toward Stanton’s case. What makes that ridiculous, besides the fact that sympathy has nothing to do with this race, is Stanton probably was not the league’s MVP before injury, based on the Bovada odds.
Despite Stanton’s incredible year—he still leads the league in home runs (37), walks (94), slugging percentage (.555) and OPS (.950)—Los Angeles Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw is having a historic season, which we have chronicled in this space before. Since Stanton’s injury, Kershaw has extended his lead in the Wins Above Replacement category at Baseball-Reference.com and FanGraphs.com.
Whether one believes a pitcher can or cannot ever be as valuable as a position player—a crazy (wrong) debate in itself—what Stanton’s injury has done is left the vote wide open. If you don’t think Kershaw should win the award because he plays only every fifth game, and if Stanton was your pick before his injury, it is time to rethink things.
Pittsburgh Pirates superstar center fielder Andrew McCutchen is now the man to give Kershaw a real run for the MVP Award. McCutchen won the award last season, and it is arguable he is having a better year in 2014, as he leads the league with a .399 on-base percentage, 161 OPS-plus and 162 weighted runs created plus.
Helping McCutchen’s case is a strong stretch run after returning from a rib injury last month. Since Aug. 22, he has hit .333/.371/.567 with a .938 OPS and six homers. The Pirates are 14-8 in that time and have gone from 2.5 games out in the race for the second wild-card spot to 1.5 games up in it entering Tuesday.
This run, along with Stanton’s injury and the belief by some that a pitcher cannot be a team’s most valuable player, makes McCutchen a serious threat to repeat the NL honor for the first time since Albert Pujols did it in 2008 and 2009.
It'll be pretty funny when Andrew McCutchen wins NL MVP again.
— Sean Gentille (@seangentille) September 12, 2014
One of Stanton’s great advantages in this argument was that he had not missed time this season because of an injury, as Kershaw did in April and McCutchen in August. That argument disappeared as Stanton lay on the ground near Miller Park’s home plate, blood spilling from his face and the baseball world watching in shock and fear of how badly it might end.
Stanton, in order to make his candidacy the top one, needed a strong finish. Even though he had four home runs and three doubles in 10 September games, he was hitting .231 with a .318 OBP in the final month.
Maybe it is possible Stanton could return this season, and if he does, that is great. It is good for a fanbase that has struggled to marry itself to one of the franchise’s recent superstars, and it will be good for Stanton to prove to himself he can still dig into the box against an inside fastball in a major league game before going away for the winter.
What Stanton’s possible return should not do is cement his case as the league MVP. He was not the best player before the injury, and the gap has since increased while McCutchen has strengthened his resume.
In order to upend a historic season by Kershaw, Stanton needed to stay healthy and productive in the final month. It would have given those unwilling to vote for a pitcher for MVP a sturdier leg to lean on and Stanton a good final whack to change any minds not leaning his way.
That hasn’t happened, and the race is looking like it should have a clear winner by now. Then again, right or wrong, sympathy could be as powerful as any dominant performance.
Anthony Witrado covers Major League Baseball for Bleacher Report. He spent the previous three seasons as the national baseball columnist at Sporting News, and four years before that as the Brewers beat writer for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Follow Anthony on Twitter @awitrado and talk baseball here.
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