Chicago Cubs: Sammy Sosa had no business winning 1998 NL MVP

Turning in one of the best single-season performances in Chicago Cubs history in 1998, Sammy Sosa received NL MVP honors. But he didn’t deserve them.

Probably my favorite part of being a fan of the Chicago Cubs – and baseball, as a whole – in today’s world is the constantly evolving way we look at the game. I’m only 28 and there have been momentuous shifts in how we, as fans, evaluate and judge the performance of our favorite players.

I’m a big reader. I’m currently attempting to read 52 books this year (I’ve admittedly fallen off the pace a bit this summer, at just 30 of 52 nearing the end of August) – and a pretty good chunk of my reading list included baseball books.

My latest selection, Ahead of the Curve: Inside the Baseball Revolution by Brian Kenny, is one of my favorites. Why? Because it seriously challenged some long-standing beliefs for me – including how I viewed the 1998 campaign that, as we all know, ended in Cubs outfielder Sammy Sosa winning the National League MVP.

Sosa finished the year with 66 home runs – breaking Roger Maris‘ previous single-season record of 61. Of course, St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Mark McGwire did even more – blasting 70 long-balls on the year. But that didn’t matter to the BBWAA – Slammin’ Sammy received 30 of 32 first-place votes, earning the first and only Most Valuable Player honors of his career.

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Aside from 2016, it’s hard to recall a single season that witnessed Cubs history in the same way as 1998. Sosa played an integral role in the now-infamous Home Run Chase with McGwire and Ken Griffey Jr., Kerry Wood made his debut and tied a big league record, striking out 20 batters in early May and Chicago made it to the postseason for the first time since 1989.

Make no mistake – Sosa played a huge role in the Cubs making it back to the postseason. It’s hard to imagine that team without his presence solidifying the heart of the order. He led the league, driving in 158 runs. That figure has been eclipsed just twice since 1998 – with Sosa accounting for one of them in 2001, when he plated 160 runs. The other? Manny Ramirez‘s 165-RBI 1999 campaign.

He also paced the National League in runs (134) and total bases (416), ranking second in the league with a .647 slugging percentage, fourth in both OPS (1.024) and OPS+ (160), fifth in hits (198) and ninth in games played, appearing in all but three of the Cubs’ contests.

Calling Sosa’s 1998 performance anything but historic would be foolhardy – and I’m well aware of that fact. The only problem? McGwire turned in a season that was even more historic – and you the numbers bear that out pretty clearly.

Chicago Cubs: By almost every measure, McGwire outperformed Sosa

Before I delve into Mark McGwire’s 1998 season, you need to know this: I value on-base percentage over batting average and while RBI totals look good on the back of a baseball card, I think there are better ways to measure a player’s impact.

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While Sosa led the league in runs, total bases and runs batted in, the slugging Cardinals first baseman cleaned up in most of the other offensive categories. He led the National League in on-base percentage (.470), slugging percentage (.752), OPS (1.222), home runs (70), walks (162), OPS+ (216) and WPA (9.6).

He also finished second in runs, RBI and total bases – to Sosa. If not for those three categories, he’d have dominated almost every significant offensive statistic. So what gives? How did the Cardinals outfielder not only miss out on NL MVP honors – but lose in a landslide to Sosa, who, again, collected 98 percent of first-place votes?

If you take the time to read Kenny’s book (which I strongly suggest you do), he offers up several reasons – a couple of which I’ll touch on here. First, the BBWAA is an antiquated body that has no business deciding who’s the most valuable player in each league (that rings more true now than it did in 1998 given the sheer scope of the information now available to writers). Most of these individuals saw a staggering 66 home runs and 158 runs batted on a guy who led his team to October for the first time in nearly a decade. What does all that add up to? A Most Valuable Player.