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Paul Goldschmidt finishes third in National League MVP voting

Because #DINGERZ

By Jim McLennan
MLB: NL Wildcard-Colorado Rockies at Arizona Diamondbacks Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

Paul Goldschmidt finished third in the National League MVP voting, behind both Giancarlo Stanton of the Miami Marlins, and Joey Votto of the Cincinnati Reds. Stanton edged Votto by just two points overall, 302-300, both men getting 10 of the available 30 first-place votes. Goldschmidt picked up four, and got 239 points, finishing ten ahead of the Rockies’ Nolan Arenado.

You’ve got to feel for Goldschmidt. In 2013 and 2015, he finished second to Andrew McCutchen and Bryce Harper respectively, his candidacy likely hurt by the Diamondbacks’ inability to make the playoffs in those two seasons. In 2017, they finally made it. But Goldschmidt still lost the MVP award, finishing behind a player whose team finished 20 games back, and under .500, and one on a last-place team. Admittedly, it’s hard to claim he was too hard done by: both Stanton and Votto had incredible years. But, dammit, if ever a player deserved to be MVP just ONCE, it would be Goldschmidt over the last five seasons.

Here are the top 10 position players in the National League by bWAR over that time [in case you’re wondering, fWAR has Goldschmidt and Joey Votto #1 and #2 as well]

NL MVPs 2013-2017

Rk Player bWAR PA AB R H HR RBI BB SO SB CS BA OBP SLG OPS
Rk Player bWAR PA AB R H HR RBI BB SO SB CS BA OBP SLG OPS
1 Paul Goldschmidt 31.0 3254 2712 504 824 148 519 485 703 95 25 .304 .410 .543 .953
2 Joey Votto 27.6 3077 2461 435 764 124 373 567 525 31 9 .310 .441 .528 .969
3 Nolan Arenado 27.4 3022 2758 420 800 148 506 212 449 11 11 .290 .340 .534 .875
4 Buster Posey 25.0 3005 2657 351 813 82 403 288 325 16 4 .306 .375 .461 .836
5 Anthony Rizzo 24.2 3374 2871 447 780 150 477 392 546 41 24 .272 .374 .501 .875
6 Freddie Freeman 22.9 3025 2603 430 779 121 415 366 630 21 11 .299 .391 .517 .908
7 Giancarlo Stanton 22.7 2622 2253 377 602 174 440 337 708 20 5 .267 .366 .555 .921
8 Starling Marte 22.1 2612 2382 359 690 60 249 128 559 169 52 .290 .347 .439 .786
9 Andrew McCutchen 21.1 3332 2865 452 834 121 430 402 608 73 30 .291 .383 .490 .873
10 Bryce Harper 21.0 2665 2223 409 641 128 362 399 545 44 22 .288 .397 .525 .920

Then again, perhaps second place is the right spot for someone as self-effacing and under the radar as Goldschmidt. You certainly wouldn’t think that he had been the best position player in the league since 2013, going by the amount of coverage, and I suspect Paul is entirely happy with that. An MVP award would likely also increase what he would be worth in regards to negotiating a contract extension, so there is a silver lining to this. He’ll always be the MVP of our hearts, anyway...

Further down the results, J.D. Martinez finished 14th, getting six mentions, with a high spot of 8th place. Archie Bradley and Zack Greinke finished tied for 20th, each being listed in 10th position on a single ballot. Here are full details of the voting from the BBWAA.

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