Vegas tabs Trout, Bryant as 2017 MVP favorites
With less than two weeks to go until Opening Day, the two reigning Most Valuable Players - Los Angeles Angels center fielder Mike Trout and Chicago Cubs third baseman Kris Bryant - are the favorites, over at Bovada and the Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook, to be named MVP in their respective leagues again in 2017.
Trout, either the MVP of the American League or first runner-up in each of the past five seasons, managed a .991 OPS with 29 homers and 30 stolen bases last year, and pays out at 5/2 if he wins his second straight (and third career) Most Valuable Player award in 2017, per the Westgate Superbook.
| Player (Team) | Odds (as of 3/20) |
|---|---|
| Mike Trout (LAA) | 5/2 |
| Manny Machado (BAL) | 4/1 |
| Mookie Betts (BOS) | 4/1 |
| Josh Donaldson (TOR) | 8/1 |
| Jose Altuve (HOU) | 8/1 |
Bryant, meanwhile, has the same odds as Trout following a monster season in which he led the NL in WAR (8.4), crushing 39 homers with a .939 OPS, and helped the Cubs snap their 108-year World Series drought.
| Player (Team) | Odds (as of 3/20) |
|---|---|
| Kris Bryant (CHC) | 5/2 |
| Bryce Harper (WAS) | 4/1 |
| Nolan Arenado (COL) | 4/1 |
| Corey Seager (LAD) | 6/1 |
| Yoenis Cespedes (NYM) | 10/1 |
Odds for the 2017 Cy Young awards are out, too, with newly acquired Boston Red Sox ace Chris Sale the late-March favorite, at 4/1, to take home the award in the American League for the first time in his career. (His new teammate, David Price, still has 10/1 odds despite an ongoing elbow issue that could sideline him until May).
| Player (Team) | Odds (as of 3/20) |
|---|---|
| Chris Sale (BOS) | 4/1 |
| Corey Kluber (CLE) | 5/1 |
| Cole Hamels (TEX) | 10/1 |
| Justin Verlander (DET) | 10/1 |
| David Price (BOS) | 10/1 |
In the National League, the unsurprising favorite for the 2017 Cy Young, at 8/5, is Los Angeles Dodgers star Clayton Kershaw, who's won the award three times in the last six years and is coming off a season in which he crafted a career-best 1.69 ERA with a 15.64 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 21 starts.
| Player (Team) | Odds (as of 3/20) |
|---|---|
| Clayton Kershaw (LAD) | 8/5 |
| Max Scherzer (WAS) | 5/1 |
| Noah Syndergaard (NYM) | 8/1 |
| Jon Lester (CHC) | 8/1 |
| Madison Bumgarner (SFG) | 8/1 |
(Odds courtesy: Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook)