National League MVP Updated Odds and Analysis
A month into the season runs have been tough to come by but the players below have stepped up to the task and have become the early season front runners for the NL MVP title. Read NL MVP candidate odds and analysis by Sportsmemo MLB handicapper JM Sports! Stay up-to-date with the current odds from DraftKings!
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National League Players | NL MVP Odds Updated on Thursday, May 12 |
---|---|
Nolan Arenado | +600 |
Manny Machado | +600 |
Juan Soto | +650 |
Ronald Acuña Jr. | +1000 |
Freddie Freeman | +1200 |
Francisco Lindor | +1500 |
Interested in using these NL MVP odds to place a bet? DraftKings is offering a $1,000 Risk-Free Bet for first-time bettors in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Indiana, Colorado, Tennessee, Iowa, Michigan, Virginia, Washington DC, Wyoming, Mississippi, Arizona and Louisiana.
Nolan Arenado
We have a new leader atop the odds chart through DraftKings in the NL and his name is Nolan Arenado. Arenado was 6th in the chart at the end of April, but he has climbed from (+1600) to currently positioning himself tied for National League favorite at (+600).
He has continued his pace that he started the season with, he is right on pace to match his single season career high HR total, and if his batting average and OPS stay close to where they are at, he would break his career highs in both those stats as well!
Arenado is currently 15th in the MLB hitting .318, as one of just 22 (qualifying) batters that are currently hitting over .300 at this point in the season! He ranks 8th in the league in HR’s putting up 7 thus far, helping him position himself at 18th in the league in terms of runs produced, accounting for 31 runs for the Cardinals!
He ranks 71st in runs scored (14), but he has made up for that by driving in his teammates, ranking 4th in the majors in RBI’s, pushing 24 teammates across the plate! He is currently 5th in OPS this season (.985) and he is 3rd in the league in wins above replacement (+2.1) proving how vital he is to St. Louis.
Arenado, and his Cardinals team, is currently 2nd in the NL Central with a 16-13 record, 3 games back of the Milwaukee Brewers.
Manny Machado
Next on the list is a player that failed to crack the top-8 in the National League in the first release of this article at the end of April, but now Manny Machado has the 2nd best odds in the National League to walk away with the MVP title.
Machado has very quickly propelled himself to the top of basically every statistical category, thus skyrocketing his standings in the MVP odds, which currently sit at (+600), tied with Nolan Arenado.
He possesses the 2nd best batting average in the MLB, hitting an astounding .379 and ranking 8th with 7 home runs thus far!
He is the leagues leading run producer, scoring 27 runs himself (most in the MLB), while also driving in 22 RBI’s (9th in the MLB). Machado is 1 of just 3 qualifying batters in the MLB that has posted an OPS over 1.000, currently sitting 3rd in the league with a 1.085 OPS!
He is essentially the most valuable player to his team as he leads the league in WAR at +2.7! His San Diego Padres are currently 2nd in a dangerous NL West division, just 1.5 games behind the Dodgers and their 20-11 record is the 3rd best record in the entire National League.
Juan Soto
Currently sitting 3rd in the rankings is the 23 year old phenom that was the leader in the odds at the end of April, Juan Soto, who was once (+400) and now sits at (+650). This is an individual award for a reason and Juan Soto must be happy about that if he is looking to come home with this trophy.
The Nationals currently has the 3rd worst record in the entire MLB and they sit in last place in the NL East with a record of 10-21. Although, that doesn’t negate the production that Juan Soto has put up thus far in the season.
Soto is hitting .257, he currently ranks 18th in the league in HR’s, blasting 6 bombs, and he ranks 7th in the MLB in runs scored, crossing the plate 21 times, scoring nearly 17% of Washington’s runs. His OPS is impressive at .851, and sitting +1.4 WAR is another big reason that his name is still so high in the conversation.
Ronald Acuña Jr.
Even though Ronald Acuna Jr. has played just 10 games and had just 39 at-bats this season, his stats are mind-boggling and he still ranks 4th in the odds at (+1000).
He doesn’t qualify for the league rankings among batters seeing as he hasn’t hit the 3.1 PA/team game average, but none the less, he is still hitting .282! He may have just 2 HR’s on the year, but again he has only had 39 plate appearances and over 18% of his hits have been over the outfield fence.
Those numbers have helped lift his OPS to .878 and have still put him at +0.5 WAR early on in this season. He return is something that Atlanta had been anticipating and it couldn’t have come soon enough as the Braves find themselves 7 games behind the NL East leading Mets, and 14-17 is the worst record of any 2nd place team in the league.
Freddie Freeman
Some players are glad that this is an individual award and that their teammates don’t directly effect the outcome of the MVP voting, while others like Freddie Freeman have to think that the standing of their team does effect the results.
Freeman ranks 5th currently at (+1200) but he is getting work done for the Dodgers who currently hold the best record in the National League and the 2nd best record in the MLB (behind the Yankees).
While Freeman isn’t solely to thank for the success of Los Angeles, his stat line definitely isn’t negatively impacting the teams record. He is currently hitting .314 (18th in the league) and he ranks 30th in the league in run production, driving in 13 RBI’s (80th in the MLB) and scoring 19 runs himself (16th in the MLB)!
His offensive production has lifted his OPS to a whopping .913, and is 1 of just 19 players with an OPS over .900! Not to mention, even on a team that has the depth of the Dodgers, he ranks in the top 30 in the league in WAR, sitting at 28th with a +1.2 rating in wins above replacement.
Francisco Lindor
Rounding out the top 6 is the lone middle infielder and one of the most coveted middle infielders in the league in Francisco Lindor, hence the amount of money dropped on him by the Mets.
Although the off-season moves have already appeared to pay-off for the Mets, they are 21-10, 7 games up on the 2nd place Atlanta Braves in the NL East. Not toe mention, they hold the 2nd best record in the National League, and while they hold the 3rd best record in the MLB, they still have the 2nd best record in the state of New York.
While the moves have benefited the Mets, they have also apparently benefited Lindor seeing as he is currently (+1500) and finds himself in the top 6 in the odds in the National League to take home the MVP trophy at the end of the season.
He is currently hitting .246, with 5 HR’s (5th in the MLB among middle infielders) and he ranks in the top 25 in run production (25nd in the MLB) with 30 runs due to his bat. Lindor ranks 28th in runs scored (17) and holds the same ranking in RBI’s, driving in 18 teammates.
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