The same race is going on in the National League, as Chipper Jones (.341) and Atlanta Braves teammate Edgar Renteria (.333) are first and fourth. Between them are Matt Holliday (.337) and Chase Utley (.335).
3. LF Matt Holliday — If he can sneak his Colorado Rockies into the playoffs, this guy should be the runaway MVP. He won't win the Triple Crown, but he's among the top four in the National League in batting average (.337), home runs (36), runs (113), OPS (1.009), and leads the league in RBI (131).
Yeah, yeah, a lot of his home runs were hit out of the oxygen-deprived confines of Coors Field, and the Rockies are one of the poorest home run hitting teams on the road. But they can still score runs in any ballpark. And if the Rockies can't get that Wild Card, then he won't win the MVP, which means ...
4. 1B Prince Fielder — ... this guy might be able to win it. Indeed, the Milwaukee Brewers are a few games back in the division and probably can't catch the Cubs, but (a) stranger things have happened, many of which happen to the Cubs, and (b) unlike Ryan Howard last year, Fielder has one of the better home run-to-strikeout ratio (2.4 K/HR) on this side of Albert Pujols, unlike your garden variety dinger-bringers (Howard: 4.6 K/HR, Adam Dunn: 4.1 K/HR).
Plus, who else is going to step up and win it? David Wright? Carlos Beltran? (Mets aficionados will split their votes between the two.) Chase Utley? (Possibly, but the Phillies already received their individual awards quota last year when Howard won it.) Someone from the Cubs, Diamondbacks, or Padres? (Um, no.)
Another reason to watch Fielder: three more home runs for the Son of Cecil and he becomes part of an exclusive father-son tandem to each hit 50 home runs in a season. It goes without saying that the lone members of the 50 Dad/50 Son Club would station their headquarters at Golden Corral.
5. 1B Albert Pujols — He's the only player in MLB history to hit .300 with 30 home runs, 100 runs, and 100 RBI in his first six seasons. He sort of has a chance to make it a seventh season. While he has the batting average and home runs, has a slight chance to pick up one more RBI and score seven more runs in this final week.
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1 - REMF
And what about Michael Young, who became only the third person since 1940 to collect 200 for five straight seasons.