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MLB: 5 Leading Candidates for World Series MVP

By Brad Rowland

General view of the MLB Postseason logo in the dugout prior to the 2014 American League Wild Card playoff baseball game between the Kansas City Royals and the Oakland Athletics at Kauffman Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports
General view of the MLB Postseason logo in the dugout prior to the 2014 American League Wild Card playoff baseball game between the Kansas City Royals and the Oakland Athletics at Kauffman Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports /
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Kansas City Royals starting pitcher James Shields (33) pitches in the first inning in game one of the 2014 ALCS playoff against the Baltimore Orioles at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. Mandatory Credit: Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports
Kansas City Royals starting pitcher James Shields (33) pitches in the first inning in game one of the 2014 ALCS playoff against the Baltimore Orioles at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. Mandatory Credit: Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports /

James Shields

Like Madison Bumgarner before him, James Shields has the clearest path to the World Series MVP award of anyone on the Royals roster. The simple formula of “Game 1 starter” applies here, and if “Big Game James” can out-duel the red-hot Bumgarner in the series opener, he immediately becomes the odds-on favorite to claim the honor.

However, Shields has perpetuated a myth of his “big game” performance, and outside of a dominant effort during Game 2 of the 2008 World Series, he has been entirely pedestrian in the playoffs. To that point, the big right-hander has a career 5.19 ERA over nine starts and more than 50 innings of playoff work, and during the 2014 playoffs, that number actually balloons to 5.63 in 16 innings against the A’s, Angels and Orioles. Of course, there was a recent revelation that Shields actually passed a kidney stone during the ALCS, so maybe he deserves a small pass for that performance.

James Shields is still fully capable of putting together a dominant effort or two regardless, and that is what lands him here. It isn’t a coincidence that the 32-year-old has exceeded 200 innings in nine consecutive seasons, and with back-to-back season-long ERA’s under 3.25 in the American League, the talent level is real.

Your move, “Big Game James”.

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