MVP Award Voting--A Look at the Early Candidates

As the trade deadline approaches and will soon pass, the next hot topic in Major League Baseball approaches.  Very shortly, we will begin to take a closer look at the stats and standings to determine who will be crowned Most Valuable Player of each league.  Let's take a look at some of the early favorites.

In the American League, talk has to center around Josh Hamilton who has a great shot at winning the triple crown, let alone MVP.  Hamilton is hitting .305 and is on pace for close to 40 home runs and close to 160 RBI.  And really, who doesn't love a great comeback story?

While Hamilton continues to tear up the league, we can't forget about Alex Rodriguez.  Whether he's sleeping with Madonna or not, he is hitting .324 and is on pace for a little under 40 home runs and 100 RBI.  That doesn't quite match up with Hamilton, but as we've seen in the past, A-Rod can turn it on at any point and go on a rampage.

Now we shift to the NL where the race for the MVP is even closer.  Will the Phillies go back to back to back in MVP voting with three different players for the first time in history since '41, '42, and '43?  Well for that to happen their best bet would be Chase Utley who has cooled off in the past few weeks.  How about a name that hasn't come up in the MVP talks at all yet this year.  How about Ryan Howard?

Howard leads the NL in home runs and RBI and is on pace for close to 50 home runs and over 140 RBI.  Ladies and Gentleman, the next best candidate HR/RBI wise is on pace for just over 40 home runs and just over 100 RBI--Ryan Braun and nowadays that's not going to cut it.

Don't count Utley out though.  Utley is batting .287 on the year with 25 HR and 71 RBI.  If Utley can bump the average up a little closer to .300, that could push him over his teammate Ryan Howard in the voting.  Either way, unless something drastic happens in the next two weeks, look for a Philadelphia Phillie to win the MVP for the third straight year...but still no World Series trip.

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