{"id":13249,"date":"2024-11-28T07:24:36","date_gmt":"2024-11-28T07:24:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=13249"},"modified":"2024-11-28T07:24:36","modified_gmt":"2024-11-28T07:24:36","slug":"francisco-lindor-joins-a-select-club-with-an-mvp-caliber-season-in-the-shadow-of-an-all-timer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=13249","title":{"rendered":"Francisco Lindor Joins A Select Club With An MVP-Caliber Season In The Shadow Of An All-Timer"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Francisco<\/figure>\n

Shohei Ohtani didn\u2019t double during the NL Championship Series and stopped at second base just five times during the Dodgers\u2019 six-game triumph over the Mets. So chances are Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor did not get to good-naturedly admonish Ohtani for overshadowing the best season of his career, a la Cecil Cooper with George Brett more than 44 years earlier.<\/p>\n

Brett\u2019s pursuit of a .400 season peaked on Aug. 26, 1980, when he went 5-for-5 for the Royals in a 7-6 win over the Brewers in Milwaukee. The outburst lifted Brett\u2019s average from .398 to .407, a mark no qualified batter has reached that late in a season since.<\/p>\n

But \u201cjust\u201d one of Brett\u2019s hits went for extra bases, which meant he had lots of time to catch up with Brewers first baseman Cecil Cooper, who was in the midst of a a stretch of seven straight .300 seasons and enjoying a career-best year.<\/p>\n

But Cooper\u2019s 2-for-5 effort that Tuesday night kept his average to .356 \u2014 and left him 51 points behind Brett in an AL batting race that Brett had long turned into the baseball version of the 1973 Belmont Stakes.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy last hit was a single and Cecil\u2019s playing first base and Cecil\u2019s hitting .340, .350 at the time,\u201d Brett said during an interview in late September. \u201cAnd I got that fifth and I\u2019m standing on first base. He says \u2018(Jiminy Christmas), at least give me a chance, will ya?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Brett laughed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll never forget that one,\u201d Brett said.<\/p>\n

Lindor officially joined Cooper and numerous other stars in the great-but-not-great-enough club last Thursday, when Ohtani unanimously won the NL MVP award.<\/p>\n

The result wasn\u2019t a surprise, though there was a window in August and September in which it appeared Lindor, a Gold Glove-caliber shortstop even if he wasn\u2019t a Gold Glove finalist this season, might make a run at Ohtani, who played the entire season at designated hitter.<\/p>\n

At the least, Lindor\u2019s all-around skills as he helped the Mets overcome a slow start and reach the playoffs opened up the old debate about whether the MVP should actually be renamed the MOP (Most Outstanding Player).<\/p>\n

\u201cI would (say) \u2018OK, what would happen to the Mets if you took Lindor off their team?\u2019\u201d Brett said. \u201cAnd if you take Ohtani off their team, where would they finish? And then I would vote for whoever I thought was more valuable to that team winning the division or getting to the playoffs. To me, that\u2019s what the most valuable player is.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey could have a most outstanding player, they could have the best year, but most valuable to their team? And I think that gets overlooked. You take Ohtani away from the Dodgers, are they still going to win their division? You take Lindor away from the Mets, are they going to be here they are without him?\u201d<\/p>\n

Any chance Lindor had at catching Ohtani \u2014 or at least getting a first-place vote \u2014 disappeared form Sept. 14-26, when Lindor missed eight of nine games with a back injury. While the Mets went 6-3 in their games without Lindor, Ohtani hit an otherworldly .490 (!!!) with six homers, 22 RBIs and eight stolen bases in as many attempts over 12 games. On Sept. 19, Ohtani established the 50\/50 club by hitting three homers, stealing two bases and adding 10 RBIs in a 6-for-6 performance against the Marlins.<\/p>\n

\u201cFifty\/fifty doesn\u2019t come around very often,\u201d Brett said in the understatement of the year.<\/p>\n

Seasons like Lindor\u2019s, on the other hand, are fairly common. Lindor joins the likes of Mike Greenwell (1988 AL behind Jose Canseco), Tino Martinez (1997 AL behind Ken Griffey Jr), Bret Boone (2001 AL third, behind winner Ichiro Suzuki and Jason Giambi), Mark Teixeira (2009 AL behind Joe Mauer) and Daniel Murphy (2016 NL behind Kris Bryant) as stars whose best seasons were overshadowed by a unanimous or near-unanimous MVP winner.<\/p>\n

As for Cooper? He finished FIFTH in 1980 behind Brett, who got 17 of 26 first-place votes, as well as two more Hall of Famers (Reggie Jackson and Goose Gossage) and Brett\u2019s teammate Willie Wilson. Cooper, who hit .352 with an AL-high 122 RBIs and 335 total bases, didn\u2019t even get a first-place vote. The last one went to Yankees catcher Rick Cerone, who finished seventh.<\/p>\n

Cooper had two more top-5 MVP finishes, but Greenwell, Martinez, Boone, Teixeira and Murphy never came close to winning the MVP again. Now Lindor, 31, just has to hope he\u2019s got at least one more season like the one Paul Goldschmidt had in 2022, when the two-time NL MVP runner-up finally took home the prize by hitting .317 with 35 homers and 115 RBIs along with an NL-best .578 slugging percentage and .981 OPS for the Cardinals.<\/p>\n

Of course, it\u2019ll be a big help to Lindor \u2014 and everyone else in the NL \u2014 if Ohtani decides to give anyone else a chance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Shohei Ohtani didn\u2019t double during the NL Championship Series and stopped at second base just five times during the Dodgers\u2019 six-game triumph over the Mets.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":13250,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13249","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb"],"yoast_head":"\nFrancisco Lindor Joins A Select Club With An MVP-Caliber Season In The Shadow Of An All-Timer - NEWS USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=13249\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Francisco Lindor Joins A Select Club With An MVP-Caliber Season In The Shadow Of An All-Timer - 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