MVP mix-up
Writer votes for Cubs reliever by accident for coveted award
Ryan Tepera?
Baseball fans love to argue over who should win big awards. But there likely was no debate about themost surprising name on the list of players getting NLMVPvotes Thursday.
That was Tepera, the Cubs reliever who was 0-1 with a 3.92 ERA during the virus-shortened season.
The 33-year-old righty received a single 10th-place vote for one point, leaving him tied for 18th in the NL balloting, far behind winner Freddie Freeman. Still, that’s more support than the likes of Bryce Harper, Jacob deGrom and Nolan Arenado drew as they got shut out.
Tepera struck out 31 in20 2⁄ innings
3 over 21 games, and pitched in the playoffs for the Cubs. A valuable piece of Chicago’s bullpen, for sure, butMVP worthy?
Turns out there was a simple explanation for the vote. It was a mix-up — one that didn’t affect the results in anyway.
“I meant to hit Trea Turner and thought I had,” longtime St. Louis Post-Dispatch writer Rick Hummel said.
Hummel had Turner’s Nationals teammate Juan Soto eighth on his ballot.
Noworries, Tepera tweeted. “Oneman’smistake is anotherman’s claim to an NL MVP vote. Thanks Rick! Honored by the vote,” the pitcher posted Friday.
Fondly called “The Commish” by his peers, Hummel in 2006 won the Baseball Writers’ Association of America’s award for excellence that is presented during the Hall of Fame’s induction ceremonies.
“I’m sure the Tepera family is delighted, but there’s no way I would have voted for him. Itwas an accident,” Hummel told NBC Sports Chicago’s GordonWittenmyer. “I fully intended to vote forTreaTurner [10th]. In fact, I remember wrestling with putting two guys in from a last place team.”
Hummel said he intended to click on Turner’s name on a drop-down list, but figures he accidentally clicked Tepera. Turner, theWashington shortstop, finished all alone in seventh place, far behind Braves’ Marcell Ozuna in sixth place, meaning the accidental vote did not change much.
“I should have double-checked it,” Hummel said. “Especially for somebody voting 40 years on this, that would be a stunning development. People would think I’ve lost my marbles.
“Trea Turner should have one more point. He’s a good player.”
Freeman easily won the NL MVP. award Thursday, topping off a trying year that saw him become so ill with COVID-19heprayed“please don’t take me.”
Freeman got 28 of the 30 first-place votes in balloting by members of the
Baseball Writers’ Association of America. Dodgers outfielder Mookie Betts got the other two firsts to finish second, and San Diego third baseman MannyMachadowas third.
In a season affected from spring training to the World Series by the pandemic, perhaps it was fitting the final major award of the year went to someone infected by the coronavirus.
Three weeks before the delayed opening day in late July, Freeman’s body temperature spiked at 104.5 degrees and he lost his sense of taste and smell. At one point, he recalled earlier, he said a little prayer because “I wasn’t ready.”
“It impacted me pretty hard,” he said.
Freeman said it took him a couple weeks into the season to find his footing. He tried to conserve his energy, too — he skipped the daily routine of batting practice on the field andcutdownhowmuchhehoppedoff first base while holding on runners.
The 31-year-old Freeman soon found his stride, batting .341 with 13 home runs and 53 RBIs while playing all 60 games.
A powerful lefty batter with the ability to spray the ball all over the field, he led the majors with 23 doubles and 51 runs. Boosted by the four-time All-Star, the Braves won the NL East for the third straight season and came within one win of reaching theWorld Series for the first time since 1999.
Freemanis the sixth different player in Braves franchise history to be the NLMVP. Chipper Jonesmost recently took the honor in 1999.