PFF names someone other than Lamar the 2019 MVP (and Jim freaks out)

One of my favorite pieces of sports analysis ever, is a piece that Bill James wrote in the mid-80s on Andre Dawson winning the National League MVP award over Ozzzie Smith.

That piece is reprinted in Bill James' collection This Time Let's Not Eat The Bones. I don't see a version of it online. This link is NOT that piece; it's a piece by Dave Fleming, dated from 2017, about the way MVP voters have looked at various candidates over the years. It's an interesting read with similar points. But the Bill James piece – ! That was an absolutely savage, poisonous takedown of the MVP voters for giving the award to the leader in RBI, over a far more deserving candidate. It was a passionate cry for a newer smarter method of analysis.

I don't see how anyone could read that, and not come away at the very least with a determination never EVER to uncritically use one “master stat” to select an MVP. Look broadly at all the available evidence. No single all-encompassing Big Number is the be-all end-all of the “best player” discussion. The guy who leads the league in RBi is not automatically the best player.

 Switching over to El Futbol Americaine, we're not going to say that the guy who led the league in TD passes or DVOA or whatever, is automatically the MVP. Today is a wonderful time to be an analytically-minded football fan. We got more sophisticated & intelligent methods now than we've ever had before. It's awesome. BUT! The fancy analytical methods are guides that can help us see things; none of them is The Answer.

Which brings us to PFF's selection for League MVP  of

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