Just like with National League Outstanding Player voting in the 2019 Players Choice Awards, Los Angeles Dodgers All-Star Cody Bellinger, Milwaukee Brewers right fielder Christian Yelich and Washington Nationals third baseman Anthony Rendon were named finalists for MVP.
Rendon was voted by his peers as the league’s Outstanding Player this season, and with Yelich considered in some circles the favorite for MVP, Bellinger could be left on the outside looking in despite a historic season.
While Yelich, the reigning NL MVP, had established himself as one of the game’s top players, the 2019 season was a bit of a coming on party for Bellinger and Rendon. Bellinger bounced back from a bit of an underwhelming 2018 campaign, while Rendon put himself in the national spotlight.
Yelich nonetheless spoke highly of his fellow MVP finalists during an interview on MLB Network:
“They can do it all. You saw what Rendon could do throughout the playoffs. He led that team to a World Series, and I think he’s been one of the more underrated guys in the game for a while. He’s been a solid player for many years. He finally had that really, really good season.
And Cody can do it all as well. He’s just fun to watch. I know we had that whole Yeli-Belli commercial earlier this year that got played 20 times a day. It was cool, man. He had a great year, too. I saw he just won the Gold Glove. It’s well deserved for everybody; we’ll see who comes out on top.”
Bellinger and Yelich established a friendship prior to this year but it grew stronger as they regularly were linked to one another throughout the season. Bellinger jumped out as the early MVP favorite but a slump in the second half opened the door for Yelich.
Rendon’s play that helped the Nationals overcome a 19-31 start to the season and earn a berth in the Wild Card Game added to his reputation. But the Nationals and Brewers meeting for a chance to advance to the NL Division Series didn’t pit the two MVP candidates against one another, because Yelich had already sustained a season-ending knee fracture.
He missed the final two weeks of the season, and now time will tell if Yelich accumulated enough of an advantage to repeat as MVP.
If Bellinger is to fall short in voting, he will still have a Gold Glove and two Fielding Bible Awards to fall back on.
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