I hate to admit that this feels somewhat overshadowed by all of the collective bargaining ridiculousness which has dropped over the last hour (and I’ll get to that separately), but as we basically expected, Ryan Braun has defeated Matt Kemp for the MVP Award. I stand by my feeling that this is basically because Milwaukee made the playoffs and the Dodgers did not, thus somehow making Braun a more “valuable” player, but let’s not forget that Braun did have a fantastic season and actually did top Kemp in wOBA. He’s a worthy winner, and this doesn’t diminish Kemp’s season by even a little in my eyes.

Here’s the top ten results:
1. Ryan Braun 388 (20)
2. Matt Kemp 332 (10)
3. Prince Fielder 229 (1)
4. Justin Upton 214 (1)
5. Albert Pujols 166
6. Joey Votto 135
7. Lance Berkman 118
8. Troy Tulowitzki 69
9. Roy Halladay 52
10. Ryan Howard

With the exception of Fielder over Upton, the top eight seem fine to me, with little to complain about. That said, I have to laugh at the idea that Halladay got more MVP support than Clayton Kershaw… despite losing to Kershaw in the Cy Young balloting. Kershaw finished 12, though at least one voter picked him as high as fifth. Also, Ryan Howard getting any support at all is ludicrous, with one writer choosing him fourth, but even I won’t spend too much time whining about the tenth-place finisher on a flawed ballot.

Congratulations to both Braun and Kemp. Now let’s work on finding out who those six writers were who didn’t choose Kemp first or second, shall we?