Hello sports fans. I’m sure you are all having a wonderful day paying attention to another major American sporting event, but can I interject a little bit of news into your day that is baseball related? I promise, if you’ve caught some sort of (legal) gambling bug on filling out brackets, this will pique your interest.
We’ve been tracking the Bovada odds as they relate to the 2017 MLB season for much of the offseason now and how they pertain to the Rockies’ World Series odds as well as their projected win total. This has led to a certain level of optimism among Rockies fans, and with good reason. But now we switch our focus to the individual side of the game. Below you’ll see that Bovada has provided odds on no fewer than four Rockies’ players chances to win the National League Most Valuable Player award. You’ll also see Nolan Arenado, at 7/1 odds to win, finds himself near the top of the pack.
Bovada National League MVP Odds
| Player | Odds |
|---|---|
| Player | Odds |
| Kris Bryant | 11/4 |
| Bryce Harper | 3/1 |
| Nolan Arenado | 7/1 |
| Anthony Rizzo | 9/1 |
| Cory Seager | 12/1 |
| Freddie Freeman | 14/1 |
| Daniel Murphy | 22/1 |
| Paul Goldschmidt | 25/1 |
| Yoenis Cespedes | 33/1 |
| Clayton Kershaw | 33/1 |
| Andrew McCutchen | 33/1 |
| Buster Posey | 33/1 |
| Max Scherzer | 33/1 |
| Kyle Schwarber | 33/1 |
| Giancarlo Stanton | 33/1 |
| Joey Votto | 33/1 |
| Matt Carpenter | 50/1 |
| Adrian Gonzalez | 50/1 |
| Trea Turner | 50/1 |
| Starling Marte | 55/1 |
| Carlos Gonzalez | 66/1 |
| Charlie Blackmon | 100/1 |
| Ryan Braun | 100/1 |
| Adam Eaton | 100/1 |
| Maikel Franco | 100/1 |
| Matt Kemp | 100/1 |
| DJ LeMahieu | 100/1 |
| AJ Pollock | 100/1 |
| Addison Russell | 100/1 |
| Jonathan Villar | 100/1 |
| Christian Yelich | 100/1 |
Carlos Gonzalez is listed at 66/1 odds, while Charlie Blackmon and DJ LeMahieu both receive 100/1 odds. Nolan finished fifth in the 2016 NL MVP voting, while DJ LeMahieu finished 15th, and Charlie Blackmon finished 26th.
Once again, the caveat applies: this does not necessarily indicate a prediction or a projection (in the commonly used sense of the term) for the Major League Baseball season. These odds are indicative of where oddsmakers see their customers placing bets. Clearly they only publically release odds on a player if there have been enough people willing to place bets on said players.
Even with those caveats applied, this is still very interesting. Nolan is quickly moving into the upper echelon of great players and is now being recognized for it. Meanwhile, Cargo, DJ, and Charlie all are enough on the national radar that people are willing to drop down some currency on the outside chance that one of them has (another) career year.
Odds for the Cy Young Awards were also listed, but, alas, no Rockie—not even Jon Gray—even warranted a mention in the eyes of the oddsmakers.
But, as we well know, MVP doesn’t always go to the best player, just the best player among contending teams. The presence of four Rockies on this list seems to confirm the narrative that, at least in the eyes of Joe Gambler and Bovada, the Rockies are ready to start contending.
So, are you taking any of these bets? Which of these four would you be willing to put your money on? non-Rockies player would you most be willing to put your money on?