NEW YORK – Ryan Tepera?Baseball fans love to argue over who should win big awards. But there likely was no debate about the most surprising name on the list of players getting NL MVP votes Thursday.That was Tepera, the Chicago Cubs reliever who was 0-1 with a 3.92 ERA during the virus-shortened season.The 33-year-old righty received a single 10th-place vote for one point, leaving him tied for 18th in the NL balloting, far behind winner Freddie Freeman.
Still, that’s more support than the likes of Bryce Harper, Jacob deGrom and Nolan Arenado drew as they got shut out.Tepera struck out 31 in 20 2/3 innings over 21 games, and pitched in the playoffs for the Cubs.Turns out there was a simple explanation for the vote.