Editorials

Dodgers News: Kershaw, Puig, Gonzalez Among NL MVP Favorites

Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

With baseball season around the corner, the Los Angeles Dodgers are considered one of the favorites to reach the World Series.

In terms of odds, the Dodgers were the second-ranked team behind the Washington Nationals with odds of 17/2. Though these numbers hardly ever mean anything in terms of who actually wins in 2015, teams with the lower odds often are among the better teams. With players like Clayton Kershaw, Yasiel Puig and Adrian Gonzalez, it’s no surprise that the Dodgers are favorites.



According to Bovada Sports, those three mentioned are among the top-10 favorites for National League MVP:

Giancarlo Stanton
4/1
Andrew McCutchen
11/2
Jonathan Lucroy
6/1
Clayton Kershaw
7/1

Paul Goldschmidt
15/2
Troy Tulowitzki
10/1
Yasiel Puig
10/1

Bryce Harper
16/1
Joey Votto
16/1
Adrian Gonzalez
20/1

Kershaw is the reigning MVP, but expecting him to duplicate his numbers from last season is wishful thinking, even for him. Also, last season Stanton and McCutchen dealt with injuries that kept them out of games and gave Kershaw an upper hand in voting. If Puig can take a step forward in his development once again, then he can surely be in the discussion at the end of the season. Hitting coach Mark McGwire believes his outfielder will win a few before his career is over. Gonzalez finished seventh in voting last season after leading the league in RBIs. He’s never finished higher than fourth in his career.

Also, odds for NL Cy Young were released and the odds are what you would expect:

Clayton Kershaw
1/1

Max Scherzer
15/2
Stephen Strasburg
10/1
Madison Bumgarner
12/1
Adam Wainwright
16/1
Johnny Cueto
16/1
Jon Lester
20/1
Jordan Zimmerman
20/1
Cole Hamels
25/1
Jacob DeGrom
25/1
Matt Harvey
25/1
Zach Greinke
25/1

Oddsmakers are making it a near certainty that Kershaw will take home his fourth Cy Young award. Barring injury, it’s hard not to agree with their decision to make Kershaw a 1/1 favorite. Greinke comes in at the 11th spot, and if not for Kershaw in the same rotation, he would probably come in higher.

Though odds have no way of determining what will happen this season, it’s interesting to see so many Dodgers in the early mix.

Dodgers 2015 Spring Training – Zack Greinke

Vincent Samperio

Vince is currently the Associate Editor and Social Media Manager for Dodgers Nation. Hailing from San Pedro, CA and a student at Cal State Long Beach, Vince has previously written for the Daily 49er and LASF Magazine.

One Comment

  1. Jonathan Lucroy is legitimately one of the best players in MLB, let alone the NL. I’m surprised that the odds have him as the second favorite since most people who really appreciate his game tend to not be the MVP Voters.

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