MLB award predictions: Ronald Acuna Jr. favored to repeat as NL MVP
Las Vegas oddsmakers think there could be a repeat National League MVP next season.
After unanimously winning the award last year, Atlanta Braves superstar Ronald Acuna Jr. is the consensus favorite (+500, FanDuel Sportsbook) to take home the NL MVP during the 2024 MLB season.
Acuna became the first player in baseball history to hit at least 40 home runs and steal 70 bases in a single season while leading the NL in runs, hits and OPS en route to winning his first MVP award.
The 26-year-old outfielder is trailed by a trio of Los Angeles Dodgers — Mookie Betts (+650), Freddie Freeman (+900) and Shohei Ohtani (+950) — on the odds board.
Betts and Freeman, both former MVP award winners themselves, finished second and third behind Acuna in the voting last season.
Ohtani, of course, won the AL MVP unanimously last season before signing a record-breaking free-agent deal with the Dodgers in December.
Matt Olson, Acuna’s teammate, Padres outfielder Fernando Tatis Jr. and Phillies first baseman Bryce Harper are tied for the fifth-best odds at FanDuel at +1200.
Mets stars Pete Alonso and Francisco Lindor are decidedly outside the inner circle of MVP contenders, each sitting at +2500.
On the American League side, Yankees Aaron Judge and Juan Soto are the betting favorites with less than a month remaining before the start of Spring Training.
After his move to the AL, it’s the first time in three seasons that Soto wasn’t the favorite to win the NL award heading into the year.
It may come as a shock at first glance that five of the first seven slots on FanDuel’s NL MVP board go to Dodgers and Braves players, but when you consider each team’s preseason win total, it’s no surprise at all.
The Dodgers (104.5 win over/under) and Braves (100.5 win O/U) are by far projected to be the two best teams in baseball next season.
The Yankees, who are pegged at 93.5 wins as of this writing, have the third-highest preseason win total.
