NLCS, ALCS MVP rankings: Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Blake Snell, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. frontrunners for hardware

The two Championship Series could not be more different. The reigning World Series champion Dodgers have stifled the MLB-best Brewers in the NLCS, holding them to three runs in three games en route to a 3-0 series lead. In the ALCS, the Blue Jays and Mariners have traded body blows, with the road team winning all four games. That's a 2-2 series.

The ALCS is now a best-of-three series while the Dodgers have four chances to win one game to become the first reigning champ since the 2009 Phillies to return to the World Series. With that in mind, let's take stock of the Championship Series MVP races. This is an actual award, unlike our hypothetical Wild Card Series MVPs and Division Series MVPs.

With the caveat that neither series is over and a lot can change (especially in the ALCS), here are the leading candidates for the two LCS MVP awards.

NLCS: Brewers vs. Dodgers (Dodgers lead 3-0)

1. Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Dodgers
A wise man predicted there would be a complete game this postseason and Yamamoto obliged in Game 2. He threw 111 pitches in the three-hit masterpiece. Jackson Chourio hit Yamamoto's very first pitch out of the ballpark for a 1-0 lead, and the Brewers did not have another runner advance as far as second base the rest of the game. Yamamoto retired the final 14 batters he faced and only two of those 14 batters hit the ball out of the infield. It was the first complete game in the postseason since Justin Verlander in Game 2 of the 2017 ALCS. I suspect this era's rarity of complete games makes Yamamoto the NLCS favorite at the moment.

2. Blake Snell, Dodgers
Perhaps this qualifies as a hot take, but I think Snell's Game 1 performance was more impressive than Yamamoto's Game 2 effort. Snell struck out 10 Brewers in eight shutout innings and allowed just one baserunner (a single) who was erased on a pickoff, so he faced the minimum 24 batters in those eight innings. Also, the game was scoreless after five innings and the Dodgers had a tiny 1-0 lead through eight innings. Snell had less margin of error than Yamamoto, who was given a multi-run lead in the sixth and had a four-run lead in the ninth. Great games, both of them. Yamamoto pitching the ninth leads me to believe he's the NLCS MVP favorite over Snell.

3. Freddie Freeman, Dodgers
Last year's World Series MVP is 3 for 12 (.250) with two doubles and a home run in the NLCS, and the home run was a sixth inning go-ahead shot to give Los Angeles a 1-0 lead in what became a 2-1 win in Game 1. Tommy Edman, last year's NLCS MVP, is 4 for 11 (.364) with a double and 2 RBI in the NLCS. Mookie Betts is currently the only other Dodger with multiple RBI, and he is 1 for 11 (.091) in the three games. Right now, it feels like there's a pretty big gap between Nos. 1 and 2, and No. 3 in the NLCS MVP race.

ALCS: Blue Jays vs Mariners (series tied 2-2)

1. Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Blue Jays
After going 0 for 7 in Games 1 and 2, Vlad Jr. erupted in Games 3 and 4, going 6 for 9 with two doubles, two homers and two walks in the two wins. He leads all players in hits (15), homers (five), and RBI (11) this postseason even though Toronto had a Wild Card Series bye. This is only an ALCS MVP, not a full postseason MVP, but Guerrero has still done enough to be considered the favorite to take home ALCS MVP, assuming the Blue Jays win the series.

2. Jorge Polanco, Mariners
Polanco delivered the 15th inning walk-off single to defeat the Tigers in Game 5 of the ALDS, then he opened the ALCS with the game-winning RBI single in Game 1 and the game-winning three-run home run in Game 2. He is 5 for 15 (.333) with a double, a homer, and 5 RBI four games into the ALCS. If the Mariners win the series, it's hard to think Polanco won't have played a major role in getting these last two wins. That makes him ALCS MVP favorite on Seattle's side.

3. Andrés Giménez, Blue Jays

The No. 9 hitter swatting two-run homers in back-to-back games is the sort thing that creates Team of Destiny. Giménez did just that in Games 3 and 4, plus he drove in two more runs later in Game 4. It's the first time he's hit home runs in back-to-back games since Aug. 15, 2002, when he went deep in both ends of a doubleheader against the Tigers. Giménez is 5 for 14 (.357) with the two homers and 6 RBI in the ALCS. Shane Bieber, Bryce Miller, Josh Naylor, Cal Raleigh, Julio Rodríguez, Max Scherzer, and George Springer have all had a tremendous ALCS and could be MVP worthy when it's all said and done.