Revisiting the 1993 NL MVP Voting

This is a continuation from last week’s post discussing the voting results of the 1993 American League MVP Award. This week, I will be reviewing the National League results. While Barry Bonds clearly ran away with the award, his third out of seven in his career, the most interesting findings come further down in the standings.

1. Barry Bonds, 372 points

Counting Stats: 129 R; 181 H; 46 HR (led MLB); 123 RBI (led NL); 29 SB; 126 BB; 365 TB (led MLB)

Batting Line: .336/.458 (led NL)/.677 (led MLB)/1.136 (led MLB) ; 206 OPS+ (led MLB)

bWAR: 9.9

Bonds won his third MVP award with leadership in both important counting stat categories and batting productivity. He put up even bigger numbers during the MVP campaigns late in his career, which have since been tainted by his patronage of the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative, a PED distributor.

2. Lenny Dykstra, 267 points

Counting Stats: 143 R (led MLB); 194 H (led NL); 19 HR; 66 RBI; 37 SB; 129 BB (led MLB); 307 TB

Batting Line: .305/.420/.482/.902; 144 OPS+

bWAR: 6.6

Dykstra led in a few counting stat categories but his power numbers paled in comparison to Bonds’s.

3. David Justice, 183 points

Counting Stats: 90 R; 158 H; 40 HR; 120 RBI; 78 BB; 301 TB

Batting Line: .270/.357/.515/.871; 131 OPS+

bWAR: 5.1

These numbers are very similar to Aaron Judge‘s 2021 results. Judge was more valuable, posting 6.0 bWAR and a 149 OPS+, but came in 4th in AL MVP voting.

4. Fred McGriff, 177.0 points

Counting Stats: 111 R; 162 H; 37 HR; 101 RBI; 76 BB; 306 TB

Batting Line: .291/.375/.549/.924; 144 OPS+

bWAR: 4.2

I think Crime Dog’s batting line was overall better than Justice’s. However, his fielding errors (17 to Justice’s 5) and partial season with a stinky San Diego Padres club likely downgraded his standing with the voters.

Thanks for joining me for this review of this historical awards voting. Please feel free to suggest any other years you are interested in revisiting in the comments or on Twitter @farnothsider.