NL MVP 2011: Selection of Brewers' Ryan Braun Was the Right Move

This has been the toughest National League MVP race to decide in years.

The Los Angeles Dodgers' Matt Kemp finished the 2011 season with a .324 average, 126 RBI, 115 runs and 40 stolen bases. He also hit .335 with runners in scoring position with 13 home runs.

The Milwaukee Brewers' Ryan Braun finished with a .332 average, 111 RBI, 109 runs and 33 stolen bases. He hit .351 with runners in scoring position.

There was no loser in this race. Each player could have made a convincing case for the MVP award.

But, in the end, there has to be a winner, and Braun took home the award on Tuesday, collecting 388 points to Kemp's 332 and 20 first-place votes to Kemp's 10.

The difference that separated Braun and Kemp for me was that Braun was in a pennant race on a team widely not expected to win the division before the season, and Kemp was on a team that wasn't playing for anything down the stretch.

It may seem unfair, because Kemp had no control over his Dodgers teammates, but the fact of the matter is it's an entirely different ballgame when you're playing for the pennant.

There's more pressure, opponents are determined to bring you down and you basically have the whole nation watching you.

The Brewers won 96 games in 2011. Few people had them finishing even second in the NL Central, with most handing the division to the Cincinnati Reds or eventual champion St. Louis Cardinals.

I admire Kemp for what he did last season. He was coming off an utter disappointment in 2010 that could have easily derailed him after so much promise early on, and he was playing on a franchise littered with distractions on and off the field.

But Braun deservedly won the NL MVP award, and he makes a stronger case in the end.