Evan & Tiki: Could Francisco Lindor make himself a legit MVP candidate in 2024?
Tommy Lugauer has been all in on the Mets during their rise up the Wild Card standings, and has since declared that Francisco Lindor is going to make a run for MVP, an honor no Met has ever won in the franchise's history.
Despite Lindor's torrid stretch of late, and ultimately solid numbers since mid-April, Evan and Tiki aren't buying that level of hype just yet.
"Many would say Shohei Ohtani. I would actually say Bryce Harper," Evan said on his favorite to win the award. "Francisco Lindor - and he's been incredible - is probably not even in the top eight in the MVP discussion, if we're being fair about it.
"He's not the MVP. If your sentence to me is 'I think he's going to win the MVP because he's gonna continue to play great and the Mets will continue to win,' sure, I'd say that's possible."
Lindor has been among the most valuable in baseball over the last month-plus, as his hot streak at the plate has paired nicely with his durability and sparkling defense at shortstop. But Tiki says that brutal first month of the season is still holding him down, and reflects in his overall numbers, as he still looks to pull his season OPS over .770.
"The month-long slump in the beginning of the season," Tiki said. "It shows up in the numbers."
So, what would get Lindor into the MVP spotlight? Evan says if the current status quo carries through the year, with Lindor leading the Mets to wins, it will take care of itself.
"The Mets would have to win 90 games and he would have to continue this stretch, and then is there a world in which he is in that conversation? Absolutely," Evan said. "But as of right now, he is not."
