Even if he’d posted a modest 105 wRC+ and played passable defense, I’d hazard a guess that this season still would have been a great one to Kris Bryant if the Cubs had won it all. (The question, then, is whether they could have won it all without him performing at a much higher level than that – they certainly wouldn’t have won 103 games.)
In any case, it’s all academic now, because Bryant *DID* have a huge season, the Cubs *DID* win it all, and Bryant *DID* win the 2016 NL Most Valuable Player award.
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It was an extremely deserving nod, and here’s how it went down last night if you couldn’t watch:
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Even when he’s not playing, Kris Bryant is sitting in a batting cage thinking about baseball.
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The Cubs put together a congratulations highlight package, too:
Congratulations to the 2016 National League MVP, @KrisBryant_23! pic.twitter.com/uGtKnvGDcZ
— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) November 17, 2016
What a year for Bryant and the Cubs.
That’s now two years in a row that the Cubs have won at least one major award (last year, Bryant won Rookie of the Year, Jake Arrieta won Cy Young, and Joe Maddon won Manager of the Year). Here’s hoping that streak continues next season after another deep run in the postseason.