Major League Baseball is filled with a number of young stars, but perhaps none currently shine brighter than Cody Bellinger of the Los Angeles Dodgers and Christian Yelich of the Milwaukee Brewers.
The last two National League MVPs are both coming off outstanding seasons in which they competed on the field and off it while building a solid friendship.
After both got off to torrid paces to the 2019 season, MLB began a “Yeli Vs. Belli” media campaign that lasted all throughout the season as they competed for the NL MVP Award, which Bellinger wound up winning after Yelich got injured and missed most of September.
The duo’s friendship continued into the offseason when Bellinger attended the California Strong Celebrity Softball game that Yelich co-hosted for charity.
Now that they are both in Arizona for Spring Training, it appears they are still hanging out and competing as they settled the MVP debate with a beer-chugging competition that required overtime, via ESPN:
The most recent NL MVPs, Christian Yelich and Cody Bellinger, went head-to-head in a beer chugging race that ended in a playoff 👀🍻 pic.twitter.com/gmIPZptCIh
— ESPN (@espn) March 6, 2020
Yelich may have taken home the 2018 MVP, but Bellinger has gotten the better of him since then. Not only did he edge him for MVP in 2019 and now this fun competition off the field, but he was also named the MVP of the 2018 NL Championship Series when the Dodgers defeated the Brewers in seven games.
While Yelich is a Southern California native, any dreams of joining Bellinger on the Dodgers were put to bed this week when he inked a nine-year extension to remain in Milwaukee.
Regardless though, having two young stars that are good friends is good for the sport of baseball, and both of their competitive natures should make for another fun MVP race in 2020.
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