MLB Awards Watch: Top Five NL MVP Candidates Through July

In CttP’s monthly look at candidates for MLB awards, two Cubs, a National and a Dodger are the leaders to take home the National League Most Valuable Player award.

After the craziness that was the MLB trade deadline, the playoff picture has become clearer as teams such as the New York Yankees have dropped out of the playoff race to focus on the future.

The races for Most Valuable Player are also becoming clearer, but only slightly. Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw is still out of contention since he hasn’t pitched in more than a month and St. Louis Cardinals infielder Matt Carpenter will have to play catch-up after missing a month due to injury. Reigning MVP Bryce Harper, one of two members of the Washington Nationals in our top five at the All-Star break, has been mired in a 7-for-50 slump over his past 15 games and has fallen out contention.

Harper’s teammate—sorry, no spoilers—is still in contention for the award, as are the two best players on the Chicago Cubs, the best team in baseball. The most valuable player on the Dodgers not named Kershaw is almost guaranteed one piece of hardware—the NL Rookie of the Year—but also is making the case to be the second player since 2000 to win both the ROY and MVP in the same season.

Those four players, plus a heavy-hitting list of dark horse candidates, create a crowded field in pursuit of the NL MVP award. Is a Cub going to win the MVP for the first time since Sammy Sosa in 1998? Could a pitcher not named Kershaw win the MVP? Could a late playoff push spur one of the dark horses to the top of the list? Keep reading to find out.

Next: The first Cub