In the National League people think that Nationals Right Fielder Bryce Harper is a lock for MVP, but Reds First basemen Joey Votto has been putting up impressive, no historic numbers this season.

First let’s look at the first half of the season for both Votto and Harper. During this time Harper was the clear favorite statistically with 26 home runs, 68 RBIs, .464 on base percentage and a .339 batting average. Compared to Votto’s 15 homers, 42 RBIs, .392 OBP and a .277 average. Harper has 11 more homers, 26 more RBIs, 172 points better OBP and a 62 point higher batting average. Even if you look at the advanced metrics all of Harper's stats are better than Votto’s except for the percentage strikeout percentage, where Votto has only struck out 1.5% less. Also at this time the Reds were 39-47 and in …show more content…
Opposed to the Nationals who were 48-39 in first place of NL east and looked like they were going to runaway with the east. At the time Max Scherzer was on fire before the breaking having almost thrown a no hitter on June 14 against the Mets, then almost throwing a perfect game his next start against the Pirates. The Reds were averaging 3.8 runs per game and while that seems like a enough runs to stay competitive they were also giving up 4.4 runs per game. Joey Votto accounted for 25% of the Reds 331 run scored during the first half half of the season, only all star third basemen Todd Frazier accounted for more of the Reds runs with 30%.Compared to the Nationals who were averaging 4.27 runs per game and only