He's now either been the American League Most Valuable Player or runner-up in six of his seven full seasons -- winning the award twice and finishing second four times. The next group starts with veteran D-backs ace Zack Greinke, a four-time All-Star and two-time top-five NL Cy Young Award finisher in the last five seasons. The top of the next group brings a pair of old college teammates and rivals in Trevor Bauer and Gerrit Cole, who rose into the upper echelon of AL pitchers with stellar 2018 seasons. He's followed by a pair of out-of-nowhere sluggers in Jesús Aguilar and Max Muncy, who crushed 35 homers apiece in '18. There's also a lot of blue, orange, green and yellow in this group -- the Mets have four players (Diaz and his fellow trade addition Robinson Canó, plus up-and-coming outfielders Brandon Nimmo and Michael Conforto), and the A's have a pair of sluggers in reigning MLB home run king Khris Davis and first baseman Matt Olson. He's become a perennial National League MVP candidate with three straight top-five finishes, and he's also on a run of four straight All-Star nods, four straight Silver Sluggers and six straight NL Gold Gloves.
Scherzer's runner-up finish in the NL in 2018 extended his run of top-five finishes to six straight seasons, and he's also been an All-Star all six of those years, plus a top-10 NL MVP finisher in the last three. Yelich was a first-time All-Star and second-time Silver Slugger, and he's won an NL Gold Glove Award once before. In his four full seasons, Betts is a three-time All-Star, three-time AL Gold Glove Award winner, two-time Silver Slugger Award winner and now a World Series champion. Joining him in the 20-30 range are the next group of aces -- including reigning AL Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell, two-time winner Corey Kluber and three-time NL Cy Young Award winner Clayton Kershaw. A three-time Cy Young Award winner and one of MLB’s ultimate competitors, Scherzer finally captured his long-awaited World Series title with the Nationals in 2019. This year marks the last of the landmark free-agent deal -- one of the most productive in history -- that Scherzer signed with Washington in January 2015, meaning he is set to become a free agent again after the ‘21 season if he and the Nats do not agree to an extension. In the next tier of players come the megastars who signed record-setting free-agent contracts during Spring Training: 슬롯 Manny Machado and Bryce Harper.
A pair of dominant AL aces in Chris Sale and Justin Verlander, and a deep crop of NL first basemen in Goldschmidt, Freeman and Votto round out the MLB Network Top 20. This group includes four former MVP Award winners: Stanton (2017 NL), Harper (2015 NL), Votto (2010 NL) and Verlander (2011 AL). The 2017 AL MVP (and World Series champion) has won three batting titles, and he's led the league in hits four times and stolen bases twice. Betts’ all-around game is so polished that his hitting might not be the biggest takeaway from his excellent debut in Dodger blue; indeed, he still found ways to take over games with his legs and his glove when his bat slumped during Los Angeles’ World Series march. Phil Blackmar had solo possession of the lead before hitting his tee shot into the water on the 71st hole resulting in a double bogey. Note: If you specify values for the list and listType parameters, the IFrame embed URL does not need to specify a video
Ernie lives in Austin, Texas, with his family, a time-traveling DeLorean, and a large collection of classic video games. While Machado struggled (at least, by his standards) in his San Diego debut, he surged back as an NL MVP Award candidate in 2020, bashing 16 homers and posting a .950 OPS in 60 games for a thrilling Padres club that made its first postseason appearance in 14 years. The newest face of baseball fresh off a new 14-year, $340 million deal makes his top 10 debut, with the sky representing the limit for San Diego’s cornerstone player. Greinke, who arrived in Houston at the 2019 July Trade Deadline via a swap from the D-backs (the team that signed him to this deal), was quietly excellent last year in Verlander’s absence. Verlander signed this two-year extension with the Astros prior to the 2019 season, tacking on two more years after his prior deal. This is the second time Betts has finished as the runner-up to Trout here; he placed second before the 2019 season, too, after his transcendent ‘18 AL MVP Award campaign. Last season marked only the second time in the past nine years that Trout finished outside of the top two in American League MVP Award voting.