Throughout the World Series, we’ll be keeping an eye on the race to win the World Series MVP. After each game we’ll rank the top candidates for the award based on their performance and intangible worthiness for the big honor.
Well, it looks like this series might have been all for naught. With the World Series heading to Game 7, all MVP bets are off. What you’ve done earlier in the series matters, but not that much. This is the time for heroes to emerge and claim the MVP mantle. That could be a player who has had a strong series already playing an instrumental role on the way to Game 7 victory, but it could also be someone who has done nothing all series delivering a game-winning hit in the ninth inning to deliver the championship. Considering that, the field is wide open, but here are the players from each team that have positioned themselves the best to bring home the award.
1) Madison Bumgarner: His Game 5 performance is still the standout performance of this series. If the award is given out strictly for excellent statistics, Bumgarner is the runaway favorite. However, if he doesn’t get involved in this deciding game, it is going to be very hard from a narrative perspective to justify giving him the MVP. Fortunately for MadBum, a relief appearance seems highly likely and could end up serving as the cherry on top of his MVP resume.
2) Hunter Pence: Pence has been an offensive monster for the Giants this entire series. While they didn’t put a run on the board in Game 6, Pence still managed to pick up a hit in the form of the only extra-base hit that San Francisco got all night.
3) Salvador Perez: Perez added two more hits and a run scored in last night’s romp, improving his team-leading offensive stat line. He kept leading the way last night with a run scored and two more hits, including on that helped ignite their second inning explosion.
4) Lorenzo Cain: Cainhas made highlight reel catches in just about every game of this series and been a solid producer with the bat, but he hadn’t really had a big night through the first five games. That changed in Game 6 as he racked up two hits, two walks, a double, a run scored and a three RBIs. His two-run blooper opened up the scoring for the Royals in Game 6 and is a quintessential example of how he’s been doing all the small things to keep the Royals engine running.
5) Eric Hosmer: Hosmer had his biggest night of the Fall Classic in Game 6, improving his overall numbers to be among the team’s best. What’s probably more important though is that Hosmer is being portrayed as the heart of the Royals roster right now. The media wants to anoint him. All he needs to do is deliver a big moment in Game 7.
6) Pablo Sandoval: Sandoval has had a very good World Series both in terms of his stat line and coming through in clutch moments. He isn’t nearly on the same level as his two teammates listed above, but his accomplishments in this series thus far have him perfectly positioned to leapfrog the field if he emerges from Game 7 as the hero for San Francisco.
