Do The Colorado Rockies Have An MVP? Making Nolan Arenado’s Case

Sep 29, 2015; Phoenix, AZ, USA; Colorado Rockies third baseman N. Arenado (28) throws to first base for an out in the fifth inning against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field. Mandatory Credit: Matt Kartozian-USA TODAY Sports

Let’s be realistic about numbers

There’s less than a week left in the season, so it’s not like Arenado can hit ten more home runs (actually, wait a second…). His MVP resume is more or less complete, as is every other candidate’s, but let’s get real about numbers: for Nolan to have any shot to win the MVP, he ought to lead the league in home runs and RBIs.

He’s already not going to win the batting title (his batting average will actually work against him in the MVP race), so it’d be really important for him to win the other two Triple Crown categories for him to have any shot at this thing.

[ Related: Time’s up for Colorado Rockies’ Kyle Parker ]

Hey, listen, stat heads and sabermetricians, both amateur and professional: I get it. I get that RBIs don’t tell a very good story of how productive a player is, but rather the good fortune he may or may not get as far as runners on base when he comes to the plate.

I totally agree that a player’s productivity is based on more than just batting average, and even now as simple stats like OPS find themselves in mainstream use more often, there is still work to be done.

I’m on your side, I’m with you, and I wish that MVP voting were partially based on deeper sabermetrics than some of the superficial, traditional statistics.

But let’s be real about how reality works. If Nolan doesn’t lead the National League in (probably both) homers and runs batted in, he doesn’t have a chance with the voters.

Next: The bad team argument