Chicago Cubs: Did Javier Baez lose the MVP or did Christian Yelich win it?

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With just weeks left in the season, Chicago Cubs star Javier Baez stood poised to win an MVP award. Instead, Christian Yelich stormed past him down the stretch.

Javier Baez had an outstanding regular season for the Chicago Cubs, setting career-highs in nearly every offensive category. On the year he led the National League with 111 runs batted in, while hitting 34 home runs. He posted a .290 batting average and led the Cubs with 101 runs, 40 doubles and nine triples. The All-Star middle infielder also posted a 5.5 WAR – good for the fifth-best in the NL.

That’s just what Baez brings to the table offensively. Where he makes maybe an even bigger impact is with his glove, performing highlights all over the field. This season he appeared in 104 games at second base, 64 games at shortstop and 22 games at third base. On the year he had a fielding percentage of .974, making just 17 errors all season.

Plain and simple, Baez was the Cubs’ do-it-all superstar this season and it’s hard to imagine where they’d be without him. He carried this team on his back while Kris Bryant dealt with injuries, Willson Contreras struggled to find his groove and Addison Russell dealt with off-field issues. The one constant this season for the Cubs has been Baez.

Chicago Cubs: El Mago not looking very MVP-like

With one week left to play in the season I think Baez was the clear-cut favorite for the NL MVP. If I had a vote, which of course I don’t, I would have voted for him. He had a chance to widen the margin even more and pad his stats but flat-out failed to do so.

In his final eight games of the season Baez hit just .250 with just eight hits. Baez failed to go deep in any of those games and only drove in one run. On top of that, the young infielder was swinging and missing at a much higher clip, striking out 11 times.

When the Cubs played the Milwaukee Brewers on Monday for a chance to win the division outright, Baez failed to deliver. In the game, Baez went 1-for-4 at the plate with two strikeouts. The Puerto Rican native had a chance to do some damage in the sixth inning with two outs and two runners on base in a 1-1 tie, but he struck out swinging to end the inning.

Baez had his chance to wrap up the MVP

While you want him to be aggressive, Baez also swung at a 3-0 pitch that was probably ball four. He hit a harmless pop-up shallow left field to end the fourth inning. Not to say the game would have unfolded the same way, but Anthony Rizzo then led off the Cubs fifth inning with a home run. Maybe that could have been a two-run homer as opposed to a solo shot and maybe the game unfolds differently from there.

Those were two bad moments in a crucial game in what was a really a rough week for the potential MVP candidate. I think due to the rough slump Baez went through he cost himself a shot at taking home some hardware this offseason. If Baez had come through in a few key situations and helped the Cubs clinch the division I think he would still be the frontrunner for the MVP.

(Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images) /

Chicago Cubs: On opposite ends of the spectrum: Christian Yelich is on fire

While Baez was busy slumping, Christian Yelich was red-hot for the Brewers down the stretch. Over his last seven games of the season Yelich hit .429 with four long balls and 14 RBI. While he wasn’t receiving intentional walks, pitchers decided they wanted no part of him as Yelich also drew 11 walks. During that stretch Yelich posted a .607 on-base percentage and a 1.235 slugging percentage.

Yelich single-handedly won the Brewers some games amidst their eight-game winning streak to close out the season. Most notably Yelich hit two home runs and drove in three runs in the Brewers 6-5 win over the Detroit Tigers on Saturday.

In the Brewers victory over the Cubs on Monday, Yelich went 3-for-4 at the plate with one RBI. He got the scoring started in the third inning when he singled back up the middle to drive in Orlando Arcia. He had a chance to do even more damage and something much more historic in the eighth inning but he struck out swinging.

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Yelich was already leading the NL with a .326 batting average but trailed Baez in RBI and Nolan Arenado in home runs. Yelich entered his at-bat in the eighth inning with 110 RBI, one behind Baez, and 36 home runs, one behind Arenado. With two runners on base, had Yelich hit a home run, he would have been the first NL Triple Crown winner since Joe Medwick in 1937.

Despite coming up short of the Triple Crown, Yelich will likely still come away with some hardware in the form of an MVP trophy. He posted a 7.4 WAR which is by far the highest in the NL. Anthony Rendon is the next closest with a 6.1 WAR.

This has been a breakout, career-year for Yelich and he completely changed the dynamic for the Brewers. After acquiring the outfielder in the offseason from the Miami Marlins he turned the Brewers into legitimate playoff contenders and, arguably, World Series favorites in the NL.

(Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images) /

Chicago Cubs: In comparison: Baez vs Yelich

Based on the way Yelich closed out the season the race for MVP really isn’t all that close. Yelich nearly put together a historic season, the likes of which we haven’t seen in 81 years.

Not to mention Yelich leads Baez in all offensive categories with the exception of RBI. Yelich even managed to put up better numbers despite being on the disabled list early in year and playing in 13 fewer games than the Cubs’ star. Yelich also has a higher WAR than Baez by two whole points.

Next. This season has been full of 'what-if' moments for the Cubs. dark

Even though Baez won’t win the MVP this season he should be proud of the year he has had. We’ve been waiting to see his true potential since he was drafted and we finally caught a glimpse this season. If he keeps maturing and continues to improve there’s no doubt there could be an MVP in his future.

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