Nolan Arenado MVP Discussion Boils Down to Wins, Coors Field

While many Colorado Rockies fans scratch their heads why Nolan Arenado isn’t in the conversation for National League Most Valuable Player, Arenado thinks he knows two reasons.

Despite leading the National League with 41 homers and all of Major League Baseball with 133 RBI, Arenado finds himself on the outside looking in when it comes to the 2016 NL MVP balloting. Kris Bryant of the Chicago Cubs, Washington’s Daniel Murphy and Corey Seager of the Los Angeles Dodgers were named as finalists for the award. The winner will be named on Thursday, November 17.

So why not Arenado? After all, he has gathered plenty of individual hardware, capturing four consecutive Gold Gloves, two straight Silver Sluggers, two consecutive Fielding Bible awards and back-to-back Wilson Defensive Player of the Year awards at third base. Yet when it comes to the MVP award, Colorado’s All-Star third baseman is on the outside looking in. Arenado thinks it boils down to two simple reasons: Winning and playing at Coors Field for 81 games.

“I think people hold some stuff against us and, you know, I guess that’s just the way it goes. But at the end of the day, it’s all good,” Arenado told MLB Network in a recent interview. “The ball, it’s a good place to hit. That is the truth. But yeah, I guess there’s a little something there. And also, we didn’t win, and I think that had a lot to do with it also. You’ve got to win.”

Arenado hit .312 at home this season with 25 homers and 85 RBI. On the road, he posted a .277 average with 16 homers and 48 RBI. Yes, the numbers lean in the favor of Coors Field in 2016. However, last season, Arenado actually hit more homers away from LoDo (22) than in Denver (20) when he tied for the NL lead with 42 homers.

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Numbers and statistics can be split any way imaginable. One thing that can’t, however, is the number of wins a team compiles in a season. The 75 wins posted by the 2016 Rockies were the most the team has logged since Arenado came into the league in April of 2013. Arenado knows that has to change for perceptions to change.

“I guess to do something, to get recognition, you’ve got to win games and we didn’t do that,” Arenado said. “And that hasn’t happened in Colorado for a long time, and we’re trying to get back to those ways, and then maybe people will change their point of view. But the three MVP finalists were all in the playoffs and they all played really well, so you have to give those guys credit. They did a great job.”

So the big question becomes this … if the Colorado Rockies take the proverbial “next step” this season and make it into the postseason, will Arenado earn more recognition around the country? Of course, there are a lot of assumptions that go with that statement, including Arenado’s health and his continued bashing of the baseball at such amazing rates.

Still, it begs the question of how much winning plays into the “V” in MVP. Bryant helped the Cubs win their first World Series since 1908 and is the odd-on favorite to win the MVP award. He had fewer homers (39) and RBI (102) than Arenado this season … and Nolan has already been named the Silver Slugger at third base.

Next: A Pair of Free Agents Who Could Help Colorado's Bullpen

I talked about the budding rivalry between Bryant and Arenado in this article. There will be plenty more discussions surrounding All-Star Games and postseason awards involving these two fine players in years to come. However, if the wins start coming in Colorado as well, the discussion on who’s the real MVP (sorry, Kevin Durant) on every level could become very interesting very quickly.

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