2016 was a year of offensive resurgence. There were over 3,000 home runs hit in the DTBL, with the highest league wide total since 2001, which was the heart of the steroid era. The cumulative batting PAR (which will be adjusted this winter) reached an all-time high for years I’ve calculated (2009-present). Many players contributed to this surge, but nobody more so than Kings outfiedier Mookie Betts. The second year player led the Kings to another DTBL Championship. In a surprisingly decisive vote, Betts has won the 2016 DTBL Most Valuable Player award.
Betts led his championship squad in almost every offensive category. Only his 31 home runs weren’t enough to lead the Kings. He hit .318 with 113 RBI, 122 runs and 26 stolen bases. He was a true five category performer. His run total was second in the league, just one behind Mike Trout. He finished on the leaderboard in batting average, RBI and stolen bases as well. He edged out Trout for highest batting PAR, finishing at 10.9. That is the highest total calculated to date (again, PAR numbers only go back as far as 2009), although this will likely be recalculated down a bit this winter. But no matter how you slice it, Betts had one of the best seasons in recent DTBL history.
The Kings selected Betts with the fifth pick in the 2015 Draft. That was a strong draft class, but so far, Betts appears to be the cream of the crop, at least among offensive players. He had a solid rookie campaign, accumulating 18 home runs and stolen bases and finished eighth in the ROY vote a year ago. But he made huge strides this season in every category. In his two year career, he is a .305 hitter with 49 home runs and 44 stolen bases.
If you are surprised that Betts won this award despite finishing behind Trout in the AL MVP vote, the explanation is pretty simple. Trout’s advantage over Betts in that vote was primarily due to skills that don’t apply to fantasy baseball, particularly plate discipline and position scarcity (CF vs. RF). Both are elite five tool players, however.
In a bit of a surprise, this vote was not particularly close. Betts received nine of the ten first place votes, along with a third, for a total of 95 points. The Mavericks’ Trout received a single first place vote and was on all ten ballots, but those votes were scattered. He finished with 59 points, which was actually closer to third and fourth place than first. In addition to Betts and Trout, Demigods second baseman Jose Altuve was also on all ten ballots. Altuve looked like the favorite for this award at times this season, but faded a bit down the stretch. He came in third place with 38 points. Right behind him is Naturals third baseman Nolan Arenado who accumulated 35 points. Arenado lacked the stolen bases of the three who finished ahead of him, but made up for it with power. Finishing fifth is the NL MVP and DTBL Rookie of the Year, Cougars third baseman Kris Bryant. Bryant’s MVP profile wasn’t quite as strong in fantasy as it was in real baseball, which explains him finishing well behind four others.
Click here to view the full MVP voting results.
One final tidbit: this is the second straight year that both the MVP and Cy Young awards have been won by members of the championship team. It is not a surprise that the best performers were members of the best teams. But this year, you can definitely point to the contributions of Betts and Max Scherzer as primary factors in the Kings winning the title.
There will be more content this off-season, but in the meantime, enjoy the rest of Thanksgiving weekend and have a great winter!