SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
And at last, it's time for sports.
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SIMON: MVPs repeat in baseball, and a tale of two conferences in the NFL. Sports writer Howard Bryant joins us. Howard, thanks so much for being with us.
HOWARD BRYANT: Good morning, Scott. How are you?
SIMON: I'm fine, thanks, my friend. National League MVP - unsurprisingly, Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Dodgers, who pitches. He hits. I've been told he even does - prepares the clubhouse luncheons.
BRYANT: (Laughter).
SIMON: In any event, his third consecutive MVP. Unsurprising, but still amazing.
BRYANT: Incredible. And, no, not surprising because he's the most unique player in the game. And, you know, can I just take a second, Scott, to say that I am still on a high? The high is still high from the baseball season...
SIMON: Yeah.
BRYANT: ...And from the World Series in particular. And it is just so great that I don't - I was talking to a friend of mine last night who said, you know what? Baseball is coming very soon, but I wouldn't be disappointed if there was a game tomorrow. And so for Ohtani...
SIMON: Yeah.
BRYANT: ...To win the MVP - he's got four of them now. And it's just - you start to wonder. What does anybody else in the game have to do to win the MVP in the National League? Nobody else can pitch and hit like him. Nobody else is...
SIMON: Yeah.
BRYANT: ...Pitching and hitting. He is - you know, if he has an average season, he's still doing more because he's so unique than everybody else in the game. And so once again, well-deserved for, you know, unanimous MVPs. He's in Barry Bonds territory. He's moving into a space that only the very highest altitude of players can achieve.
SIMON: Yeah. American League, Aaron Judge of the Yankees - a great player who's the MVP. But did the sports writers who vote miss a chance to celebrate Cal Raleigh of the Seattle Mariners, who actually hit more home runs - 60 - and helped propel Seattle just a game short of the World Series?
BRYANT: No, I don't think they did, and there's a couple of reasons for it. One, I don't like the fact that we try to turn this into science. The MVP does not have specific - it's not a statistical award...
SIMON: Yeah.
BRYANT: ...Only. And that helps Cal Raleigh, and that also hurt Cal Raleigh, as - the same as it did for Aaron Judge. And also, just so you know, yes, it was the sports writers who do the voting. But the voting ends at the end of the regular season. We have to have our ballots in before the last game of the season, so therefore, the postseason doesn't count. So nobody knew what the Mariners were going to do. So I know people like to make that argument, but it just doesn't - it doesn't hold. And both guys were deserving. Both guys were - you know, could have won. And - but Aaron Judge had a - he had 100 points higher than Raleigh did. And Raleigh's a catcher, obviously plays the most difficult position on the field to hit 60 home runs, to be a switch-hitter. But to me, I just - maybe I'm just getting soft in my old age, Scott, but I really don't see the debate here. One guy won. One guy didn't win. But they were both absolutely tremendous.
SIMON: Yeah.
BRYANT: And once again, there is so much happening in the game right now. The only thing that I fear is that we're going to take this goodwill, take this great feeling and have baseball do what it has always done, which is try to ruin it by later disputes. Let's please not do that.
SIMON: Yeah. Briefly, on to football. Halfway through the NFL regular season in the AFC. Nobody would have predicted that the New England Patriots would be the best team so far. Well, maybe you did, Howard, but in any event...
BRYANT: A bit of Boston talk for you.
SIMON: And - however, in the NFC, the front-running teams are the front-running teams. How do you think things are going to play out?
BRYANT: Nothing is going to happen with defense in the NFC. Obviously, you know, you've got Philly, the defending champions, but - of course, nobody's ever happy in Philly, but they're still a great team. You know, they play the Lions. They play Detroit. That's going to be a great game. You've got - you know, the Rams are very, very good defensively. The NFC is a - is very, very tough, and I think that the good teams are going to stay pretty good at the top of it. I'm happy that Seattle's good. In the AFC, yeah, Patriots, Broncos, Colts - a lot of fun right there. And obviously, let's not forget your dynasty, the Chiefs, are still there. They're 5...
SIMON: Yeah.
BRYANT: ...And 4. They're not far away. But we got some new faces in the AFC. Fun to look at.
SIMON: Howard Bryant, thanks so much. Talk to you soon.
BRYANT: No, my pleasure, Scott. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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