One surprising player listed among betting favorites to win NL MVP in 2023

MLB oddsmakers can envision one big-time comeback next season.

Online sportsbook SportsBetting.ag released odds on Thursday for Major League Baseball’s top honors in the 2023 campaign. Perhaps the most surprising development came in the NL MVP category. There, embattled San Diego Padres star Fernando Tatís Jr. was given the third-best chances to win (at 9-1 odds). 

Only reigning NL MVP Paul Goldschmidt (8-1) and Padres teammate Juan Soto (5-1) were given better odds. Tatis was even listed over players like Mookie Betts of the Los Angeles Dodgers and Ronald Acuña Jr. of the Atlanta Braves.

The 24-year-old Tatís is certainly talented, making the All-Star team in 2021 and leading the NL in home runs that season with 42. But no one knows what Tatís will look like in 2023 after he missed all of last season in part due to injuries suffered in a controversial offseason motorcycle accident. 

Then in August 2022, Tatís was suspended 80 games after testing positive for a banned anabolic steroid (and went on to give a bizarre explanation for doing so.)

Tatís still has 21 games left of that suspension to serve in the 2023 season and will return to a much different Padres team than the one he last played for (with major additions like Soto and Xander Bogaerts to now work with.) 

Most people are done giving Tatís the benefit of the doubt, especially with it not being clear what position he will play now, but Tatís still has an ally here in sports oddsmakers.