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It's a bit of an anti-climactic finish for us American League fans, but the SBN Baseball Awards conclude today with the announcement of our National League MVP: Matt Kemp!
| Num | Name | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th | 8th | 9th | 10th | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Matt Kemp | 21 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 269 | ||||||
| 2 | Ryan Braun | 7 | 19 | 2 | 257 | |||||||
| 3 | Joey Votto | 8 | 7 | 6 | 3 | 4 | 176 | |||||
| 4 | Justin Upton | 1 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 140 | ||
| 5 | Prince Fielder | 2 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 119 | |
| 6 | Troy Tulowitzki | 3 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 91 | |||
| 7 | Jose Reyes | 1 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 86 | |||
| 8 | Roy Halladay | 1 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 85 | |||
| 9 | Clayton Kershaw | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 56 | |||
| 10 | Albert Pujols | 1 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 51 | |||
| 11 | Lance Berkman | 1 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 44 | ||||
| 12 | Shane Victorino | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 41 | |||
| 13 | Cliff Lee | 3 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 33 | ||||||
| 14 | Andrew McCutcheon | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 26 | |||||
| 15 | Pablo Sandoval | 2 | 1 | 1 | 19 | |||||||
| 16 | Brandon Phillips | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 17 | ||||||
| 17 | Matt Holliday | 2 | 1 | 12 | ||||||||
| 18 | Mike Morse | 1 | 2 | 5 | ||||||||
| 19 | Carlos Beltran | 1 | 4 | |||||||||
| 20 | Mike Stanton | 1 | 2 | 4 | ||||||||
| 21 | Ryan Roberts | 2 | 2 | |||||||||
| 22 | Ian Kennedy | 1 | 1 | |||||||||
| 23 | Hunter Pence | 1 | 1 | |||||||||
| 24 | Raul Ibanez | 1 | 1 |
As with Jose Bautista, Matt Kemp's selection shouldn't be terribly surprising. One homer away from the all-exclusive 40-40 club, Kemp's return to (and rise above) form mirrors that of Jacoby Ellsbury. One year removed from a terribly disappointing season, Kemp came out on fire and never really looked back. A line of .324/.399/.586 was only minimally damaged by Kemp's defense--fringe-average as usual, but not disastrous as last year. It may not have been a very good year for the Dodgers, but they were certainly reminded that they do, in fact, have a franchise star in Kemp.
Otherwise, it seems like a fairly unremarkable ballot (which is, in itself, a bit remarkable given how these things tend to go). The important names are all up there, with the pitchers taking their usual significant (if perhaps undeserved) hit for not playing every game. Braun and Kemp are nigh-indistinguishable at the top, but when it comes down to it only one could reasonably leave with the award. If this is how the dice fall next week, then there should be few complaints all-around.