Christian Yelich is the defending MVP of the National League. Yelich comes into this season with a raised profile around the league. He already had the respect of every pitcher in baseball, but casual fans know who he is more than ever. That’s a cool thing for the Brewers. As I’ve mentioned before, Yelich is the new face of the franchise, and the first since Ryan Braun in the early 2010’s. There is nothing that leads you to believe Yelich will regress or have a bad season. That said, The Bill Michaels Show pointed out that his odds for MVP are higher than five other players in the National League. While these players might not be better than Yelich, Vegas set these for a specific reason.

According to BetOnline, here are the odds for the 2019 NL MVP:

Harper 4/1
Arenado 6/1
Goldschmidt 9/1
Bryant 12/1
Machado 12/1
Yelich 16/1

Do you agree that these players should be ahead of Yelich? – The @Bill_Michaels Show pic.twitter.com/0AyvMcQ3DP

— 105.7FM The FAN (@1057FMTheFan) March 6, 2019

Vegas is not going to put some of the biggest names in baseball with high odds where they could potentially lose money on it. With the current hype around Bryce Harper, Philadelphia fans are going to put a little cash down on Bryce to win MVP. He is a public play. Same goes for Paul Goldeschmidt. He joined the St. Louis Cardinals, one of the most public teams in baseball. Kris Bryant and Manny Machado fall in that category as well. It’s all about the idea of the public bet. The house does not want to lose money on guys that are going to be bet a lot because bettors are either fans of the team or they know the guys. Yelich doesn’t fall into this categeory. The only guy that feels off is Nolan Arenado considering where he plays and his popularity.

Is Yelich a good bet at 16-to-1? It’s not the worst, but a player hasn’t won back-to-back MVP trophies since 2008 and 2009 in the National League. It is good value to put a little scratch down. Arenado would likely be my bet or I would look for a long shot in this category.

Charlie.