Ryan Braun 2011 NL MVP: Power Ranking the Last 15 NL MVP Seasons

This season was a great season with many strong candidates for MVP.  Matt Kemp was 15 batting percentage points from winning the Triple Crown and two spots away from a batting crown.  Ryan Braun put up strong numbers and had undeniable influence on the Milwaukee Brewers and was flaming hot after the All-Star break.  In the end, Ryan Braun came out on top and was named 2011 National League MVP.

While it seems hard for some to fathom that he actually had a “better” year than Kemp this year, he certainly had a MVP caliber year and was deserving of the award given the impact he had on a team that won the NL Central Division edging out the eventual World Series champion Cardinals.

While Braun’s numbers are MVP caliber however, it is interesting to compare them to MVP recipient’s numbers of years past.  Given the fact that Albert Pujols and Barry Bonds played in the National League within the last 10-15 years, it is very easy to put into perspective possibly how mediocre Braun’s numbers were in comparison to other past MVP performances.

It is very difficult to put into perspective all that has transpired in baseball over the course of the last couple decades, including the “steroid era” and its aftermath, but I am going to attempt to power rank the last 15 years MVP seasons.

15. Jimmy Rollins 2007

Jimmy Rollins had a great year in 2007.  He clearly had an impact on a team that was able to win the NL East by a narrow margin over the New York Mets.   Rollins is definitely one of those players that makes impact a bigger impact on his team’s success than his stats reveal, but there is no question that when stacked up against other MVP performances of the last decade and a half, it rates pretty low.

J-Roll batted .296 with 30 home runs, 94 RBI and 41 stolen bases.  His secondary numbers were not terribly impressive for an MVP, but he was unique in the fact that he had 20 triples in ’07. Hard to say a triple is a big difference maker, but that’s very impressive!

14. Ryan Braun 2011

Ryan Braun was very impressive in 2011.  He edged out a player that came as close to accomplishing the elusive Triple Crown as any player has decades, and he led a special Milwaukee Brewer team to the NLCS before losing to the eventual champions.  Like Jimmy Rollins ’07 his stats definitely do not stack up with some of the other MVP performances in this group, but his impact during the pennant race and his ability to stay hot for pretty much the whole second half was awfully impressive.

 Braun finished second in the batting race at .332 and added 33 HR and 111 RBI.  His on base percentage was just short of .400 (.397), slugging just short of .600 (.597), and his OPS a tic short of the special 1.000 number.  As a power hitter who can go deep on you at any point, he showed his versatility by adding 33 steals to his profile this year.  Braun should apologize to no one for being named this year’s NL MVP.

13. Jeff Kent 2000

Jeff Kent is one of the more obscure and forgettable players of this group of MVPs in the last 15 years, but he had quite a year at the turn of the century.   His best season occurred right in the middle of the “steroid era”.  We will never know who was “tainted” and who wasn’t, but Jeff Kent’s name has not come up in any of the steroid accusations to this point. 

Nevertheless, whether he was clean or not, you can’t argue with the numbers he posted in the first season of this new century.  He batted .334 with 33 HR and 125 RBI, somehow upstaging his superhuman and controversial teammate Barry Bonds.  He had a very good on-base percentage of .424, fell just short of .600 slugging at .596 and eclipsed 1.000 OPS (1.021).  He added an impressive 114 runs and 126 walks.  This performance helped lead the Giants to a NL West title and a No. 1 seed in the NL playoffs

12. Joey Votto 2010

Joey Votto burst out onto the scene with a great season worthy of MVP in 2010.  He’s one of the more obscure winners, but there is no questioning his talent and future in this game.  He can flat out rake!  He was a huge part of the Cincinnati Reds resurgence in 2010 leading to a playoff birth and a NL Central championship with a record of 91-71.

Votto was in Triple Crown contention with a .324 avg, 37 HR, and 113 RBI.  His on-base percentage was an impressive .424, slugging was at .600, and his OPS eclipsed 1.000, coming in at 1.024.  Votto had been good before 2010, but this season raised him to a level of elite players in the major leagues. 

11. Albert Pujols 2005

Get used to this name.  Not only will he go down as one of the all-time greats the game has ever seen, but also he put together several MVP seasons.  This season probably qualifies as his least impressive.

Albert nabbed his first MVP trophy by way of a .330 avg, 41 HR, 117 RBI and a .430 on-base percentage.  He slugged out an impressive .609 slugging percentage and a 1.039 OPS.  One of the most surprising totals he amassed that year was his 124 runs scored.  That’s pretty solid for a big guy like Albert.  St. Louis had the best record in baseball, despite losing in the NLCS.  They won 100 games.

10. Chipper Jones 1999

Many probably forget how good Chipper was for a long time in Atlanta.  His best year was in 1999.  He batted .319 with 45 HR and 110 RBI with an impressive .441 on-base percentage.  His slugging percentage was well above .600 at .633 and his OPS at 1.079.  Those are numbers that I think many in 2011, would be surprised to see especially when comparing to the recent performances of Rollins, Braun and Votto.  Chipper also scored 116 runs and stole 25 bases.

Despite the fact that the Braves were unable to take home the World Series title, they did make an appearance against the dynastic Yankees in the Fall Classic and held the best regular season record of 103-59.

9. Albert Pujols 2008

Albert Pujols’s second appearance on this list was his strong 2008 season in which he batted a gaudy .357 to go along with 37 HR and 116 RBI.  His on-base percentage was .462 and his slugging percentage was .653.  His OPS as a result was 1.115.  All of those stats, especially in comparison to the pretty impressive MVP seasons of 2010 and 2011, are unbelievable.  Pujols added 104 walks to his resume.

Ironically, the Cardinals did not make the playoffs in 2008 and were not even close for that matter.  However, Pujols stats were so strong and he was in Triple Crown contention that he was able to edge out Ryan Howard who led the league in HR and RBI and Chipper Jones who led the league in batting.  This race has some resemblance to this season’s results except in reverse.  Nevertheless, Pujols stats more than deserved an MVP distinction.

8. Barry Bonds 2003

Now we have entered darkness.  Some readers may roll their eyes when they see this guy’s name, but you better get used to it, because he kind of owned the MVP trophy for a long time.

2003 probably was the weakest of his unbelievable MVP seasons.  Many people have their opinions on how he obtained these numbers, but speculation aside, Barry Bonds posted some of the most impressive statistical seasons that the game has ever seen. 

In ’03, Bonds batted .341 with 45 HR and 90 RBI.  His on-base percentage was .529, slugging percentage was .749, and his OPS was 1.278.  Throw in 111 runs and the 145 walks he took as a result of the damage he had done in the first few years of this decade, and you have a season that dwarfs the postings that we have discussed thus far.

 In 2003, the Giants finished with 100 wins and made a playoff appearance but were upset by the Florida Marlins en route to their second World Championship. 

7. Sammy Sosa 1998

Mark McGwire is most remembered for his magical 1998 season in which he broke Roger Maris’s hallowed single season HR record.  However, most probably forget that Sammy Sosa won the MVP that year.  In 1998, Sosa had the first of his MLB record three 60 Home Run seasons. 

He batted .308, but added 66 HR and 158 RBI, which is by far the most in the last 15 years.  His secondary states were not as impressive in comparison to Pujols and Bonds, but he still put up a very good .377 on-base percentage, .647 slugging percentage, and a 1.024 OPS.  He added an impressive 134 runs to his resume. 

Given the fact that the Cubs had a pretty good season and made the playoffs as a wild card and he had such a great all-around year, this season was indeed very special.   66 HR and 158 RBI in one year may never be matched or eclipsed in the same season by one player ever again. 

6. Barry Bonds 2001

2001 was a very special year for Barry Bonds.  It may not have been his best all-around year, but he did manage to set single-season home run record that had been set by Mark McGwire just three years before.  This record still stands and given the changes that have been made to the game likely will remain. 

Barry hit .328 to go along with his unworldly 73 HR and 137 RBI.  He had an unbelievable on-base percentage of .515 and a slugging percentage of .863.  No other player in this era has come anywhere close to that type of slugging mark.  His OPS was 1.378.  Lastly despite the fact that he did so much damage with the bat, he still managed to walk 177 times and score 129 runs. 

These stats are just hard to fathom when you compare them to almost any other year in the last 15 years.  There is much speculation about how Bonds accomplished these feats, but all we can do is look at the numbers he posted, and boy were they phenomenal. 

5. Ryan Howard 2006

Ryan Howard had a great year in 2006.  This was almost like a coming out party for him.  Looking back Ryan Howard has been one of the last power hitters to put up power stats similar to the late 90s and early 2000s. 

The Phillies had not quite arrived as the perennial contender they are today, as they finished 12 games out of first place behind the NY Mets.  Despite that fact, Ryan Howard’s stats were so convincing that there was no way he could be overlooked for MVP.  Howard hit .313, which is pretty good for him, and hit 58 HR and 149 RBI.  When comparing to the type of stats that have been put up in the last 5 years since this accomplishment, Howard stands out in terms of great single season power numbers.

Howard had a .425 on-base percentage, .659 slugging percentage and a 1.084 OPS.  He walked 118 times, and scored 104 runs.  Just an outstanding season by a player that was unestablished as a star up until this point. 

4. Albert Pujols 2009

This particular season was Albert’s greatest.  While the majority of the seasons posted since 2006 have been easy on the imagination, Albert put up the best year of his illustrious career.  It seemed as if Albert was angry, or he felt doubted and that propelled him to completely light the world on fire.

In 2009, he hit .327, hit 47 HR and knocked in 135 RBI.  He had a .443 on-base percentage, .658 slugging percentage, and 1.110 OPS.  He also added 115 walks and 124 runs.  Albert had a very dominant season that stands out when comparing to other MVP seasons in recent history and he led the Cardinals to a NL Central division title. 

3. Larry Walker 1997

Larry Walker surprisingly put up one of the most impressive statistical seasons that anyone has ever put up.  I remember Larry Walker being very good, but I certainly did not remember that he put up a season like this.  

Larry Walker hit.366 and added 49 HR and 130 RBI to that outstanding average.  If you think that was a fluke, Larry followed this performance up by batting .379 in 1999. 

Larry Walker was no joke.  He had a .452 on-base percentage, a .720 slugging percentage, which was almost Bonds-like, and a 1.172 OPS.  He scored an incredible 143 runs, connected on 208 hits, and was even sleek enough to grab 33 steals!  Larry Walker deserves fully to be high up on this list, as only only a couple players that have played the game since 1997 can match this performance. 

2. Barry Bonds 2002

The year after breaking the single-season home run record, Barry Bonds bounced back by leading the Giants to a World Series berth and within one game of a World Series Championship.

He batted an incredible .370 with 46 HR 110 RBI and had an amazing .582 on-base percentage, .799 slugging percentage, and a gross OPS of 1.381, which was a tad better than his impressive mark the year before.  Bonds won the batting title by 32 points over Larry Walker!

Also, as a result of his record-breaking success the year before, Bonds walked 198 times!  That might be the most impressive stat that he posted in 2002.  Teams refused to pitch to him and were very content with walking him repeatedly.  Nevertheless, despite all of those walks, he still was able to be highly productive in his limited opportunities to swing the bat.  Furthermore, he did not allow himself to get impatient with the fact that he got so few opportunities to be aggressive as a hitter.  Bonds struck out just 47 times in 2002.  That’s unreal!  Throw in 112 runs and you have a year that could rival any year in recent memory.

1. Barry Bonds 2004

We have discussed Bonds quite a bit to this point.   All of his MVP seasons in San Francisco were impressive, but no year was quite like this one.  In his fourth of four consecutive seasons as NL MVP, he batted .362 with 45 HR and 101 RBI.  For a slugger of his caliber to bat well over .350 and win a batting title while getting barely any opportunities to swing at good pitches is unreal. 

Bonds walked an astounding 232 times and only struck out 41 times!  I find it hard to deny Bonds of one bit of the accolades he has received to this point tainted or not tainted.  Even if Barry Bonds did take steroids, do you really think that the steroids allowed him to be A) so selective with the pitches he got and not get impatient and try to force the action?  B) Allow him to spray the ball around the field so efficiently if and when he actually did see a pitch he could do something with.  He did not swing for the fences every play, and he was completely fine with giving his teammates opportunities to drive him in.  As a result he scored 129 runs.

He ended up the season with an on-base percentage of .609, yes .609, a slugging percentage of .812, and an OPS of 1.421.  These stats are video game like.  There is no MVP candidate over the last 15 years or maybe ever that can trump the type of season that Bonds put up in 2004.