Atlanta Braves superstar first baseman Matt Olson would be the runaway NL MVP favorite if not for his otherworldly teammate Ronald Acuña Jr.
With 42 home runs and 107 runs batted in, Atlanta Braves first baseman Matt Olson, you would think he would be the frontrunner to win NL MVP going away, but here we are…
Olson leads all of baseball in two of the three Triple Crown offensive categories. Although he won't win the Triple Crown because a .274 batting average is only good, but not great, Olson will almost certainly be denied of league MVP honors, just because his Atlanta teammate is Ronald Acuña Jr. Acuna is hitting .335 with 27 home runs, 73 runs batted in and a Sammy Hagar 55! stolen bases.
Olson is pacing to set two franchise records in Atlanta offensively with 58 home runs and quite literally a f*****g gross of runs batted in. Do the Braves math and 100 + 44 is roughly equal to the amount of wins the 2023 Braves will have plus, their most favorite number of all time … for Hank.
Atlanta enters its three-game home series with the San Francisco Giants at 78-42 on the season. The Braves have the best record in baseball and a staggering 12.5-game lead in the NL East race.
Atlanta Braves 1B Matt Olson should be NL MVP if not for RF Ronald Acuña Jr.
While other teams in baseball have won over 70 games this season midway through August, Atlanta has been the best team in MLB for the better part of five months now. The Braves are the presumptive favorite to win the NL pennant and get back to the World Series. But before they do any of that, they must win the NL East outright and outpace everyone for home-field advantage.
While the pitching staff has been up and down for much of the season, the offense has been firing on all cylinders pretty much throughout for Atlanta. Acuña has not been in anything close to a slump so far this campaign, while Olson has not-so-quietly brought his batting average well above his career mark of .253. Being in the same lineup every day has brought out the very best in them.
So does Olson have a realistic shot of overtaking his teammate for NL MVP? I mean, if he keeps raking like this and Acuña cools off in September, potentially. The good news for Braves Country is one of them will probably end up winning NL MVP anyway. Former Braves star first baseman Freddie Freeman is thriving in Los Angeles, but the Braves have been the better team throughout.
Look for either Acuna or Olson to be the Braves' second NL MVP in four Major League seasons.