Christian Yelich is not the MVP for the 2019 season. That belongs to Cody Bellinger of the Los Angeles Dodgers. We have a fun rivalry moving forward in the National League. Bellinger versus Yelich will be an actual thing next season. The expectation should be that ESPN will probably put Dodgers-Brewers on Sunday Night Baseball. And probably find themselves a part of the FOX broadcast too. Beli versus Yeli became a thing in the second half of the season. These are all reasons why Bellinger won MVP. This sounds weird, but it matters to baseball writers. The growth of baseball is important and if baseball wants to grow to promote Bellinger to MVP-level is important for that development.

It is not a big deal that Yelich didn’t win MVP, but this shines a light as to why Bellinger won the award over Yelich. Dodgers were the best team in baseball during the regular season. Bellinger played a large part in their success this season. Now, Los Angeles struggled in the postseason with a subpar performance from Bellinger, but this is not the postseason award. He is a key player in Los Angeles’ success. In all of baseball, the Los Angeles outfielder carried the highest WAR with nine wins above replacement. Yelich finished at 7.1. For comparison, Yelich was 7.6 in 2018 and the best National League hitter that year. There were baseball reasons to put Bellinger over Yelich, but there is a need to be a deep dive more than just the vanity numbers.

This is great for baseball though. Yelich and Bellinger’s’ rivalry’ is a great thing for baseball. They like each other and there is mutual respect yet baseball can build a rivalry towards these guys. But baseball is going to milk the shit out of this next season and beyond. The best-case scenario for the league is Yelich to win another MVP next season.

There’s no need to be outraged that Yelich didn’t win. This happens with a close race from time to time. Bellinger was a worthy adversary and a fresh face for the voters.

Charlie.