Kyle Tucker, Fernando Tatis Jr. fail to grab top spot in Justin Verlander's brother's 2025 NL MVP rankings
The 2025 MLB season is more than a month old and the MVP race has started to gather pace. While New York Yankees captain Aaron Judge is comfortably leading the race in the American League, it's been much closer in the National League.
MLB analyst Ben Verlander reflected on the MVP race on the latest episode of the "Flippin' Bats with Ben Verlander" podcast.
Justin Verlander's brother picked reigning AL MVP Aaron Judge as the front-runner for the award in the AL. Meanwhile, New York Mets slugger Pete Alonso grabbed the top spot in the NL MVP race, with Fernando Tatis Jr. in second place and Kyle Tucker in third.
Ben Verlander said (20:00 onwards):
"Number one in the National League, if you haven't heard what Pete Alonso is doing, buckle up! It's been insane! Pete Alonso has nine homers and 33 RBIs. Pete Alonso, not known for hidden for a high batting average, is hitting .349 this season, second in MLB in OBP and slugging, both behind the obvious Aaron Judge. Pete Alonso is locked in, unlike he ever has been in the entirety of his career."
Ben Verlander also said it was important for the Mets to bring back the All-Star infielder in the offseason despite adding Juan Soto to a stacked hitting lineup.
He added:
"He ended up signing back with the Mets, which I said at the time; this offense, sure it added Juan Soto, needed Pete Alonso. It was a necessity to sign back Pete Alonso, they did and now, he's been the best hitter in the National League."
Justin Verlander's brother names surprise NL MVP candidate
While Pete Alonso was the top contender for the NL MVP, Ben Verlander gave a shoutout to Chicago Cubs slugger Pete Crow-Armstrong, who is enjoying a breakthrough season for the NL Central leaders.
"Pete Crow-Alrmstrong ain't far from being on this list of top three MVPs," Ben Verlander said. "This kid's an absolute superstar. A little bit of a slow start, but then really has picked it up late, so if he's gonna do this all year long, we're going to be having MVP discussions with Pete Crow-Armstrong here before long."
The 23-year-old outfielder has been an integral part of Chicago's offensive juggernaut this season. PCA is batting .271 with a team-leading nine home runs and 26 RBIs.