For a few days, it smells Really baseball in the world of sport. Across the league, training camps are opening, and in a few days, the camps of the 30 MLB teams will be running at full capacity.
Remember that the first official day is scheduled for March 28, although there will be matches in Korea a week earlier. Roughly speaking, there is one month left before the start of the season.
More and more, therefore, the time has come for forecasts and projections for the coming campaign… and who says projections also means odds for the various individual honors, including the MVP.
And this week, theScore has published the odds for the various individual honors. What we notice is that two clubs dominate the MVP race: the Yankees in the American and the Dodgers in the National.
As for the Yankees, we are betting squarely on the two favorites for the MVP title, while Aaron Judge and Juan Soto come at the top of the list. We must then move to the West of the Americas to complete the top-5, while Corey Seager, Yordan Alvarez and Julio Rodriguez come in order.
And theoretically, with Kyle Tucker in sixth place, we can say that it is to complete the top-6.
On the other hand, if we move to seventh place, we find Vladimir Guerrero Jr., tied with four other players (including young Orioles stars Adley Rutschman and Gunnar Henderson). Then, behind them, we find Bo Bichette and… Mike Trout.
It's still pretty crazy to see how far Trout has fallen in these rankings. At the same time, is it realistic to believe that he will be able to play 162 games without getting injured?
On the National side, the top-4 is made up of three members of the Dodgers: in order, we find Mookie Betts, Shohei Ohtani and Freddie Freeman.
That said, the Dodgers do not have the favorite: that honor goes to the reigning MVP, Ronald Acuña Jr., who is ahead of the three Dodgers teammates.
At the Cy Young level, Gerrit Cole is the favorite in the American, followed very closely by Kevin Gausman. And in the National, it is Spencer Strider who deserves the honor, closely followed by Zack Wheeler.
Obviously, we're talking about a good lineup of candidates in both leagues, and quite honestly, seeing all this only makes my mouth water for the next campaign.
I can't wait to see who the heroes of this 2024 season will be… and the good news is that it is (really) upon us.
