Check out our best bets to win the 2022 MLB National League MVP award.
With the 2022 regular season approaching its halfway point, betting odds on MLB are starting to take more extensive looks at the bigger picture. And while the first wager type that springs to mind might be betting odds on the World Series, one of the hottest commodities will always be 2022 MLB player futures—specifically the awards races. For this edition of MLB futures, we'll be diving into the best bets to win the 2022 NL MVP and figuring out whether Manny Machado of the San Diego Padres deserves to be the odds-on favorite to bring home the highly sought after crown:
Let us begin by poring over the latest MLB odds to win 2022 NL MVP:
Pick to Win 
Manny Machado +200 Mookie Betts +600 Bryce Harper +800 Nolan Arenado +1000 Paul Goldschmidt +1100 Pete Alonso +1200 Juan Soto +1400 Freddie Freeman +1400 Ronald Acuna Jr. +1800 C.J. Cron +3000 Trea Turner +3500 Francisco Lindor +4000 Matt Olson +4000 Jazz Chisholm +4000 Christian Yelich +4000 Austin Riley +5000 Nick Castellanos +5000 Willy Adames +8000 Starling Marte +8000 Ozzie Albies +8000 Rowdy Tellez +8000 Cody Bellinger +8000 Fernando Tatis Jr. +8000 J.T. Realmuto +10000 Jeff McNeil +10000 Kyle Schwarber +10000 Bryan Reynolds +10000 Joey Votto +10000 Rhys Hoskins +10000 Jake Cronenworth +10000 Kris Bryant +10000 Dyland Carlson +10000 Seiya Suzuki +10000
It is incredibly important that you keep double-checking these MLB betting lines. Since the 2022 NL MVP winner won't be named until after the regular season has ended, there's still plenty of time for these odds on MLB futures to shift. And you better believe they'll shift. Sportsbook operators are extremely reactive when it comes to MLB futures. All big-picture baseball betting odds will ebb and flow depending on how well a player is faring in real time.
Though this constant futzing and fiddling of MLB MVP betting odds can get a little frustrating, the good news is that betting on the MLB MVP race gives you a bunch of time to go through our reviews of the top online sportsbooks. These evaluations are a wealth of information. By the time you're done reading them, in fact, you'll know how to spot the best MLB betting sites for 2022.
Should Manny Machado be Leading the NL MVP Field?
Manny Machado (+200) has no doubt earned his place among the top of the MVP hierarchy. Not only is he the leading offensive producer for what's quietly one of the seven best teams in baseball, but he's improved his defense and throwing accuracy a great deal.
Sticklers will harp on his apparent lack of power. Eight home runs at this point isn't all that much. We can't afford to care. He still ranks in the top 10 of slugging percentage, and the dude just flat out gets on base while racking up RBIs.
Better NL MVP Bet: Mookie Betts or Bryce Harper
Mookie Betts (+600) has the classic MVP case. He's been the best player for what is currently MLB's best team, in the Los Angeles Dodgers. But we're not quite sure that gets it done in this current NL MVP climate.
Every potential pitfall in this discussion counts. And Betts, for his part, started the season on the slower end. He rebounded quite nicely, but we're not sure his numbers will catch up to many of the other candidates. His standing in this discussion feels artificially inflated because he plays in a glamour market.
For our money, we prefer Bryce Harper (+800). The Philadelphia Phillies have failed to impress out of the gate, but he's batting .305 with the league's ninth-best on-base-plus-slugging percentage. That his price comes in at 8-to-1 is a friggin' steal, and it's definitely worth the risk that he won't finish with as many at bats as some of his fellow MVP hopefuls.
Don't Sleep on Pete Alonso for NL MVP
A recent downturn has hurt the case for Pete Alonso (+1200), but we're convinced it's a good idea to buy the dip.
Though his strikeouts may be on the higher end, Alonso is 14th in on-base-plus-slugging-percentage and second in total RBIs. There's a real chance he winds up leading MLB in the latter category. And if he keeps that up while continue to bat around .290, the New York Mets contending for one of the top-three records in baseball will only strengthen his case.
Freddie Freeman Gives the Dodgers a Second MVP Candidate
As if the Los Angeles Dodgers don't already have enough going for them, right?
Freddie Freeman (+1400) is having one heck of a debut season for Los Angeles. Through 184 plate appearances, he's batting .304 with an on-base-plus-slugging-percentage verging on .900. You better believe the Atlanta Braves miss him.
Whether Freeman will ultimately play in enough games is no longer a question mark. His health has actually been a strength this year. The bigger issue is Mookie Betts, his teammate and fellow MVP candidates. Whenever two players from a World Series contender, let alone an outright favorite, has top-20 offensive seasons, they tend to cannibalize consideration from one another. Voters historically can't comprehend how to properly separate the performances of multiple superstars. They're more inclined to rank one well ahead of the other. That's problematic.
At 14-to-1, though, we deem Freeman worth that risk.
PREDICTION: Manny Machado is the Best Bet to Win 2022 NL MVP
There's a lot of baseball left to play this season, but we're jumping on Manny Machado at 2-to-1 odds and never looking back.
His offensive season is bordering on divine. We're not even sure that we fully appreciate it yet. Just look at everyone this season who ranks in the top 10 of batting average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage:
- Manny Machado.
That's it. That's the entire list.
So long as Machado doesn't get injured and the Padres don't implode like they did last season, this feels like it could be a runaway campaign. Our advice is to invest in Manny while he's still paying out better than even money.
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