Okay, we're getting to the final award released by the voters, the Most Valuable Player in the National League.
What's interesting is if you look at the voting, it shouldn't be close. Matt Kemp by far garnered the most votes for first place, but Ryan Braun, despite being second on the most ballots, nearly caught him in total points.
| Num | Name | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th | 8th | 9th | 10th | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Matt Kemp | 21 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 269 | ||||||
| 2 | Ryan Braun | 7 | 19 | 2 | 257 | |||||||
| 3 | Joey Votto | 8 | 7 | 6 | 3 | 4 | 176 | |||||
| 4 | Justin Upton | 1 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 140 | ||
| 5 | Prince Fielder | 2 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 119 | |
| 6 | Troy Tulowitzki | 3 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 91 | |||
| 7 | Jose Reyes | 1 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 86 | |||
| 8 | Roy Halladay | 1 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 85 | |||
| 9 | Clayton Kershaw | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 56 | |||
| 10 | Albert Pujols | 1 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 51 | |||
| 11 | Lance Berkman | 1 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 44 | ||||
| 12 | Shane Victorino | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 41 | |||
| 13 | Cliff Lee | 3 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 33 | ||||||
| 14 | Andrew McCutcheon | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 26 | |||||
| 15 | Pablo Sandoval | 2 | 1 | 1 | 19 | |||||||
| 16 | Brandon Phillips | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 17 | ||||||
| 17 | Matt Holliday | 2 | 1 | 12 | ||||||||
| 18 | Mike Morse | 1 | 2 | 5 | ||||||||
| 19 | Carlos Beltran | 1 | 4 | |||||||||
| 20 | Mike Stanton | 1 | 2 | 4 | ||||||||
| 21 | Ryan Roberts | 2 | 2 | |||||||||
| 22 | Ian Kennedy | 1 | 1 | |||||||||
| 23 | Hunter Pence | 1 | 1 | |||||||||
| 24 | Raul Ibanez | 1 | 1 |
Here are Tim and my ballots:
David - Matt Kemp, Ryan Braun, Justin Upton, Troy Tulowitzki, Joey Votto, Brandon Phillips, Jose Reyes, Andrew McCutcheon, Lance Berkman, Hunter Pence
Tim - Matt Kemp, Ryan Braun, Justin Upton, Joey Votto, Andrew McCutchen, Troy Tulowitzki, Prince Fielder, Brandon Phillips, Shane Victorino, Jose Reyes
Yet again, my homerism got the best of me, as I threw a vote to Hunter Pence and that was the only one he got. Still think that was more defensible than whoever voted for Raul Ibanez and Ryan Roberts. Or, for that matter, it's more defensible than whoever gave Carlos Beltran a seventh place vote.
The top of my ballot was exactly the same as Tim's, but an interesting thing kept Joey Votto in third overall. While Upton garnered just as much top consideration, his supporters spread out the votes between second and seventh, while Votto was concentrated from third to fifth.
I'll always value defensive position in the equation, which is why Tulo, Phillips and Reyes showed up high on my list. I'm also glad I wasn't the only person voting for Berkman, though some of the voters went a little crazy with him.
Overall, it's a good list. Are you surprised it was Kemp? Do you think he'll win the BBWAA voting later this month?