Phillies news and rumors 1/15: Betting odds for Bryce Harper, Trea Turner winning NL MVP

Could Bryce Harper and/or Trea Turner compete for NL MVP in 2024? (Cheryl Pursell)

Trea Turner may have had a disappointing debut season in Philadelphia overall, but his heater in the last two months of the regular season has him in the top 10 of Bet MGM’s National League MVP Award betting odds.

MLB Network did a segment on Saturday featuring the sportsbook’s top 27 players in Senior Circuit MVP odds, and Turner came in at ninth — with +2200 odds (meaning a $100 bet would win $2200 if Turner takes home the hardware). There was a bit of a drop-off after the top eight, but still — it’s clear the oddsmakers have at least a decent amount of faith in Turner carrying his late-2023 momentum into 2024.

After entering play Aug. 4 at a dreadful .235/.290/.368 clip, Turner slashed .337/.389/.668 from then on out. It pretty much salvaged his season, which was still his worst since 2018 and a far cry from 2021, when he posted a .911 OPS and finished fifth in the NL MVP race, the highest finish of his career.

He’s not the highest Phillie on the list, though, because that mantra belongs to Bryce Harper (as it often does). Harper has the NL’s fourth-best MVP odds, at BetMGM, of +1200 — behind only defending winner Ronald Acuña Jr., defending runner-up Mookie Betts and defending American League MVP Shohei Ohtani. It’s just about impossible to argue that any of those shouldn’t be in the top three, but there’s Harper just after them, tied with Fernando Tatis Jr. and Freddie Freeman.

It would be Harper’s third career MVP, and it would make him just the 12th player in MLB history to win the award thrice. You never know what’ll happen over the course of a 162-game season, but as far as joining that exclusive club goes, health — so far — is lining up to help his cause. After slashing a very solid .293/.401/.499 in 126 games last year, Harper will start the upcoming season 100%, having fully recovered from Tommy John surgery, and a move from right field to first base should only help even more.

That could be another reason for Harper’s high spot in those odds. If Harper plays up to that level, and if Turner complements him by reestablishing himself as one of the best handful of players in the NL, the Phillies could be in for a fun summer.

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