Mike Schmidt is scheduled to announce winner of NL MVP

Make of this what you will.

Mike Schmidt — the greatest Phillie of all time — is scheduled to announce who won the National League MVP on Thursday, Nov. 18, per Bob Nightengale of USA Today.

Does this mean that Bryce Harper has been voted the 2021 NL MVP, as opposed to Fernando Tatis Jr. or Juan Soto? That seems like a reasonable assumption.

Monday evening, Hall of Famer Johnny Bench — who spent his entire 17-year career with the Cincinnati Reds — announced the National League Rookie of the Year Award. Reds second baseman Jonathan India was the recipient.

Tuesday night, the winner of the National League Manager of the Year Award will be announced by Bruce Bochy, who led the San Francisco Giants to three World Series titles. Former Phillies manager Gabe Kapler is widely expected to win the award after leading the Giants to an MLB-best 107 wins.

There are other MLB legends who will make award announcements — such as Orel Hershiser and Mike Scioscia — that don’t have an obvious connection to the players that are expected to win the honors they will reveal. Perhaps that’s an indication that we are reading too much into this.

But from here, it would be pretty shocking if Schmidt announced Thursday that Soto won the NL MVP.

Harper is aiming to become the 32nd player in MLB history to win multiple league MVP awards. One of the prior 31 was Schmidt, a three-time NL MVP.

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