Where does Francisco Lindor really rank in the National League MVP race?

While many fans are on the lookout for the playoff races in the National League, there is also the battle for the individual awards. For the New York Mets, star shortstop Francisco Lindor is in the conversation for National League MVP. It comes as no surprise to those who have followed the team this season. The Mets feel like a much better team when Francisco Lindor is playing at a high level, and he has done just that since the middle of May when he was inserted as the leadoff hitter.

MLB.com released its latest expert MVP poll last week, and it ranked Lindor fifth on the list, behind Shohei Ohtani, Elly De La Cruz, Ketel Marte, and Bryce Harper. Is Francisco Lindor really top 5 for league MVP right now?

Despite his current odds, Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor is likely not to finish in the top 5 in MVP voting.

Let's focus on the rankings for Lindor in several key areas to evaluate is place in the MVP standings. Let's start with the arguments that favor Lindor. Lindor is one of 4 players in the NL with 25 home runs and 25 stolen bases, and is one of two players that rank in the top 10 in both categories.

Lindor also ranks 3rd with 85 runs scored, 4th with 32 doubles, He also scores bonus points for his defensive value based on Baseball Savant's metrics. His fielding run value is +10 (97th percentile) and is 13 outs above average (99th percentile). His Fangraphs WAR is 6.0 as of Tuesday, which is the best in the league.

There are more numbers that help Lindor's status on the ladder. His OPS entering play on Thursday stood at .816, which ranks 11th in the league. His slash line is .266/.339/.477. It is solid, but given some of the crazy numbers that other hitters around the league are putting up, those numbers are unfortunately overlooked by people outside of New York, despite being one of the best all-around players in the game.

The four players that were ahead of Lindor in that poll all have better slash lines than he does. But there are also hitters on teams in playoff position having monster seasons that weren't ranked, such as Marcell Ozuna of the Braves, Freddie Freeman of the Dodgers, and Jurickson Profar of the Padres. The voters at the Baseball Writers Association of America usually take note of how the team did and put their performances ahead of Lindor.

And even though the Mets are still out of a playoff spot, Lindor's season has been so good that he would be one of the three finalists for MVP if the season ended yesterday.