We are halfway through the MLB Season and The Greek has narrowed their Odds list for the 2012 National League MVP candidates down to 11. The list was at 12, but Giancarlo Stanton was taken off the board, due to the fact that he will be out 4 to 6 weeks due to injury. At the beginning of the year Joey Votto, Ryan Braun, Matt Kemp and Justin Upton were the 4 favorites and as we hit the midway point we see that Votto, Kemp and Braun are still on the list. The top 4 on the current list is as follows: Joey Votto, Andrew McCutchen, David Wright and Carlos Beltran. Below I will go into a little more depth on the top 4 on the list.

Joey Votto (+200):  What a year Joey is having and you talk about stuffing a stat sheet. He does have just 14 HR's, after hitting 29 last year and 37 in 2010, the year he won the NL MVP, but the he has a plethora of other impressive stats. Joey is 5th in the league in hitting (.348), while he leads in OBP (.471) and OPS (1.087). He will shatter last years mark of 40 doubles that led the league, as he has 35 so far, plus he has 65 walks (leads the league) after leading the league in that department last year. Joey is a very dangerous hitter and opposing coaches have taken note, as evidenced by the fact that he leads the league in intentional passes (13). Look for him to continue his solid play in the second half, as he remains one of the favorites for the NL MVP award.

Andrew McCutchen (+200): Talk about a candidate that came out of nowhere to make this list. In Andrew's first three years hi highest HR total was 23, his highest RBI mark was 89 and his highest average was .362. In 2012 12 he leads the NL in hitting (.362, tops in NL), has 18 HR's and 60 RBI's (3rd), but more importantly may be the fact that offensively he may be the single reason the Pirates are a top the NL Central standings. Andrew is 2nd in the league in runs created (81), 3rd in runs scored (58), 1st in slugging (.625) and 2nd in OPS (1.039). If the Pirates stay the course and win the NL Central, then Andrew may just walk away with the NL MVP, because they may be no one more important to his team than he is.

David Wright (+350): David hasn't been in the MVP race since 2008, but with the year he and the Mets are having, he is clearly in the talk this year. David doesn't lead the league in any categories, but he still has been very consistent this year. He is 3rd in the NL in hitting (.351), 2nd in OBP (.441), 5th in RBI's (59), 5th in runs scored (56), 2nd in doubles (27) and 3rd in OPS (1.004). He is also 3rd in the league in runs created with 75. Back in 2007 he had his highest finish in the MVP voting (4th) and his numbers are mostly on pace with that years numbers. Still if the Mets continue to win and somehow walk away with the NL East and if he continues his very consistent play then he may just take over the top spot from either Votto or McCutchen.

Carlos Beltran (+800): At the beginning of the year I thought the Cardinals had a good shot at repeating in the NL Central and a big part of my reasoning was they they wouldn't miss Albert Pujols as much, thanks to the presence of Carlos. Well Carlos has delivered by being a very consistent hit that has produced a lot of runs for the Cards. Carlos is 2nd in the league in HR's (20), 1st in the league in RBI's (65), 9th in OPS (.924) and 9th in runs created (62). He is also 10th in slugging (.542) and 8th in walks (41). The Average isn't above .300 (.296), but he still does so much else for this team and he really deserves to be on this list.  

2012 National League MVP Odds, Courtesy Of The Greek

Joey Votto (+200)

Andrew McCutchen (+200)

David Wright (+350)

Carlos Beltran (+800)

Ryan Braun (+800)

Melky Cabrera (+1000)

Matt Kemp (+1200)

Bryce Harper (+2000)

Buster Posey (+2000)

Carlos Gonzalez (+2000)

R.A. Dickey (+2500)

The Field (+600)

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