Giancarlo Stanton of the Marlins edged Joey Votto of the Reds to win the National League MVP in one of the tightest races ever. The two-point margin was the third closest in NL MVP balloting and the fourth overall.
There was a tie in the NL in 1979 when first basemen Keith Hernandez of the Cardinals and Willie Stargell of the Pirates each received 216 points.
There have been two one-point margins, one in each league. In 1944, Cardinals shortstop Marty Marion won over Cubs outfielder Bill Nicholson, 190-189. The closest American League vote was in 1947 when Yankees center fielder Joe DiMaggio edged Red Sox left fielder Ted Williams, 202-201.
Stanton, the runner-up to Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw in the 2014 balloting, is the first Marlins player to win the MVP Award.
This is the 12th time a right fielder has won the NL award. The others were the Cardinals’ Stan Musial in 1943 and ’48, the Phillies’ Chuck Klein in 1932, the Braves’ Henry Aaron in 1957, the Reds’ Frank Robinson in 1961, the Pirates’ Roberto Clemente in 1966, the Pirates’ Dave Parker in 1978, the Cubs’ Andre Dawson in 1987, the Rockies’ Larry Walker in 1997, the Cubs’ Sammy Sosa in 1998 and the Nationals’ Bryce Harper in 2015. A right fielder has won in the AL 10 times.
It marked the fifth time in the NL and 11th time overall that a player with 50 or more home runs during the season was named MVP. Stanton led the majors with 59 homers. The others in the NL: Giants center fielder Willie Mays (52) in 1965, Reds left fielder George Foster (52) in 1977, Cubs right fielder Sammy Sosa (66) in 1998 and Giants left fielder Barry Bonds (73) in 2001. AL sluggers to do so were first baseman Jimmie Foxx with the Athletics in 1932 (58) and the Red Sox in 1938 (50), Yankees center fielder Mickey Mantle in 1956 (52) Yankees right fielder Roger Maris (61) in 1961 and Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez (54) in 2013.
A Reds player has won the MVP Award 12 times, most recently in 2010 by Votto, whose runner-up finish this year marked the sixth time a Cincinnati player finished second. The others: pitcher Ewell Blackwell in 1947, first baseman Ted Kluszewski in 1954, right fielder Pete Rose in 1968, left fielder George Foster in 1976 and right fielder Dave Parker in 1985.
Stanton, Votto, Goldschmidt, Arenado and Blackmon were listed on every ballot.
Ballots from two writers in each league city prior to postseason play are tabulated on a system that rewards 14 points for first place, nine for second, eight for third on down to one for 10th.
2017 NL MVP
| Player, Team | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th | 8th | 9th | 10th | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Giancarlo Stanton, Marlins | 10 | 10 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 302 | ||||
| Joey Votto, Reds | 10 | 9 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 300 | |||||
| Paul Goldschmidt, Diamondbacks | 4 | 5 | 4 | 9 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 239 | |||
| Nolan Arenado, Rockies | 2 | 3 | 8 | 11 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 229 | |||
| Charlie Blackmon, Rockies | 3 | 3 | 7 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 205 | |
| Anthony Rendon, Nationals | 1 | 1 | 6 | 10 | 7 | 4 | 141 | ||||
| Kris Bryant, Cubs | 1 | 1 | 5 | 8 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 132 | ||
| Justin Turner, Dodgers | 3 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 43 | ||||||
| Cody Bellinger, Dodgers | 2 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 1 | 38 | |||||
| Max Scherzer, Nationals | 1 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 34 | |||||
| Tommy Pham, Cardinals | 1 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 24 | ||||||
| Bryce Harper, Nationals | 2 | 3 | 2 | 21 | |||||||
| Anthony Rizzo, Cubs | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 17 | ||||||
| J.D. Martinez, Diamondbacks | 1 | 3 | 2 | 11 | |||||||
| Kenley Jansen, Dodgers | 1 | 1 | 8 | ||||||||
| Marcell Ozuna, Marlins | 2 | 4 | 8 | ||||||||
| Clayton Kershaw, Dodgers | 1 | 1 | 6 | ||||||||
| Corey Seager, Dodgers | 2 | 6 | |||||||||
| Daniel Murphy, Nationals | 1 | 1 | 3 | ||||||||
| Archie Bradley, Diamondbacks | 1 | 1 | |||||||||
| Zack Greinke, Diamondbacks | 1 | 1 | |||||||||
| Ryan Zimmerman, Nationals | 1 | 1 |