SB Nation Baseball Awards: Matt Kemp Wins National League MVP Award

The final SB Nation Baseball Award, the National League MVP, was a tight race but the better player won the award:) Yes, Dodgers outfielder Matt Kemp won the award, outpacing Brewers outfielder Ryan Braun by just 12 points. Kemp garnered 21 first place votes, with Braun taking 7. 

What I found interesting is that the same voter, Gas Lamp Ball, who gave Clayton Kershaw a 5th place vote in the NL Cy Young award voting, gave Kemp a 5th place vote in the NL MVP award voting. WTF? Is this voter a Dodger hater? Well, actually they are, and they said as much here.

Kemp and Kershaw, that rolls off the tongue so easily, had perhaps the two best years of anyone in baseball, and they happened to play for the same team. 

I submitted the NL MVP award ballot for Fake Teams, and here is my ballot:

1. Matt Kemp, LAD

2. Ryan  Braun, MIL

3. Justin Upton, ARI

4. Prince Fielder, MIL

5. Troy Tulowitzki, COL

6. Albert Pujols, STL

7. Jose Reyes, NYM

8. Joey Votto, CIN

9. Shane Victorino, PHI

10. Mike Stanton, FLA

David Coleman from the Astros site, The Crawfish Boxes, tallied all the votes for SB Nation and should be thanked for his effort. But, on the summary sheet with all the voters selections, my Fielder vote was tallied as CECIL Fielder, and not PRINCE Fielder. I don't know if I typed it in that way when voting or he did, but I thought that was pretty funny.

It's very interestting that Roy Halladay and Clayton Kershaw both got plenty of support for NL MVP. Will we see a pitcher win MVP in our lifetime?

Also, I was surprised to see how far Albert Pujols had fallen in the voting here. I am curious how much support he has from the BBWAA.