Braves: Freddie Freeman Finally Getting National Attention for MVP

The leader of the Atlanta Braves is starting to get the recognition he deserves for how steady he’s been for the team in 2020.

Freddie Freeman is loved by almost everyone. Even fans who hate the Atlanta Braves love Freddie Freeman — I see it in the comments all the time on Twitter.

But despite the respect and love that he gets from his peers, he’s still always been one of the most underrated players in all of baseball.

With back-to-back All-Star appearances in 2018 and 2019, he was finally starting to get the recognition he deserves for someone who has finished in the top eight of the MVP vote four times in his career.

I wrote just a couple of weeks ago how Freeman was quietly putting together an MVP campaign.

Welp, just a little over a week later, and the national media is now aboard the train.

Richard Justice of MLB.com wrote that Freddie may finally get that elusive MVP award. And Bill Shanks of Sports Illustrated also wrote that it could happen.

With just two weeks left in the regular season, one could certainly make the argument that Freddie is the leader for the NL MVP award.

In addition to the numbers DOB mentions in that tweet, Freeman is also second in the NL in WAR at 2.8, just behind Fernando Tatis Jr. at 2.9.

And you have to keep in mind that includes defensive WAR, which is not kind to first baseman.

If you just look at offensive WAR on FanGraphs, Freeman is the leader by a wide margin at 25 with Tatis being the closest at 18.4.

The schedule the rest of the way is very favorable for Freeman and the Braves as they face the Mets, Marlins, and Red Sox.

And it looks like the Braves will avoid Jacob deGrom in their series with the Mets.

Miami’s starters have been pretty good, but their bullpen is not great. Meanwhile, the Red Sox pitching staff is just a mess in general.

Freddie is hitting .431 with a  1.391 OPS in September to go along with 6 home runs and 25 RBI. He’s also walked 10 times and struck out just 5 times.

After having an 18-game hit streak snapped on September 5, he’s currently riding a 10-game streak and he’s had multiple hits in seven of his last eight games.

The Braves first baseman is red hot and I’m hoping he finally gets that MVP that he deserves, and I’m hoping he finally gets the national recognition that is warranted.