DTBL News

Demigods outfielder Matt Kemp

Earlier today, the Baseball Writers Association of America did what they normally do and awarded the National League MVP to the best player from one of the best teams rather than giving it to a player on a mediocre team with possibly the better overall statistics.  Meanwhile, DTBL members did what they normally do and voted stats over team placement.  Champion Jackalope outfielder Ryan Braun won the NL MVP, but Demigods outfielder Matt Kemp is the 2011 DTBL Most Valuable Player.

In 2011, Matt Kemp was the textbook definition of a five category star.  He was among the league leaders in all five categories.  He led the league with 126 runs batted in.  His .324 batting average ranked seventh, 39 home runs was third, fourth in runs scored with 115 and was third in stolen bases with 40.  He was only one home run shy of reaching the esteemed 40/40 Club (home runs and stolen bases).

Probably the most under-reported story line of the ’11 season was Kemp’s attempt to become the first MLB triple crown winner in 44 years.  I’m not sure exactly why that was the case.  It was probably a combination of the Dodgers irrelevance, the thrilling late season playoff races, and my own personal theory:  the advancement of sabermetrics in baseball.  The three triple crown categories just don’t hold the same significance they once did, especially batting average.  Whatever the reason, Kemp wound up falling a little short as Braun edged him out for the NL batting title.  He was not particularly close to winning the DTBL triple crown though with several AL batters, in addition to Braun, having higher averages.

The Demigods were one of the league’s pleasant surprises this year, jumping from last place in 2010 to a fifth place finish.  In particular, their offense was light years better than last year’s squad.  They finished with 43 batting points, which was second behind only the Naturals.  Kemp was clearly the main reason for that.  He led the team in all five categories (tied with Ichiro in stolen bases).  A first round pick back in 2008, Kemp has been a significant fixture in the Demigods’ lineup the last four seasons.  But he easily exceeded career highs in every category this year.

The MVP voting was very interesting.  Even though there were a lot of compelling candidates, Kemp won the award fairly easily.  He received eight first place votes, one second and one fourth, for a total of 90 points.  NL MVP Braun came in second with a single first place vote and 63 points.  Kemp and Braun were the only two players to appear on all ten ballots.  Finishing third was Darkhorses outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury with 47 points.  Then there was a bit of a gap.  Choppers outfielder Curtis Granderson came in fourth.  He received the final first place vote, but only appeared on half the ballots and accumulated 20 points.  Naturals first baseman Miguel Cabrera came in fifth, and finally, Rookie of the Year winner and Choppers outfielder Jose Bautista finished sixth.

Click here to view the full voting results.

As alluded to earlier, DTBL MVP usually seems to take on a different meaning than AL and NL MVP.  The baseball writers clearly put a premium on the success (or lack there of) of a player’s team.  However, team success rarely seems to matter in the DTBL vote.  This is very apparent by the opposite results of the NL MVP and DTBL MVP votes, despite the fact that Braun played for the DTBL Champions.  Personally, I think it makes sense for the DTBL award to be all about the stats.  After all, that’s what fantasy baseball is all about.  Meanwhile, another MLB MVP debate popped up with Justin Verlander winning the AL MVP.  Obviously, that debate doesn’t occur in this league since we don’t make pitchers eligible for the MVP award.  It’s actually kind of interesting because pitchers are really more valuable in fantasy baseball than they are in the real game since they account for exactly half of the league’s points, despite fewer pitchers than batters appearing on active rosters at any given time.  An argument could be made that the DTBL Cy Young winner is really more valuable than the DTBL MVP in most seasons.  But the main reason why I don’t make pitchers eligible for the MVP is because they have their own award.  Perhaps the MVP should be called something else to stop this debate (the Babe Ruth Award?).  Anyway, I digress…. I just found these MVP discussions to be especially interesting this year.

Roster cuts will be due very soon, so you might want to start figuring out who you are going to keep.  In the mean time, have a Happy Thanksgiving!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 22nd, 2011 at 8:53 pm and is filed under Awards, Demigods. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.