Barry Bonds. Those two words alone make pitchers shiver, reporters frown and fans turn the other way. MVP. Those three simple letters mean that you had a great season in the baseball world. For one year, you were head and shoulders above the rest of all the other players in your league. The name Barry Bonds and the three letters MVP have become synonyms. Or at least they might as well be.

Barry Bonds

I am continuously shocked to hear that there is even a question as to who the 2004 National League MVP is. For my money, he could pack it in right now, sit out the remaining 11 games of the year, and Bonds would still be deserving of his seventh National League MVP award. Seventh. No other player has won more than three MVP awards in baseball’s vaunted history.

For all everyone says about Bonds’ supposed leadership maladies, his testy clubhouse demeanor and his anti-social attitude, the numbers are truly staggering: In 136 games played thus far in 2004, Bonds is batting .369 with 43 homers and 98 RBI. He has scored 120 runs for the highest scoring team in the NL, struck out just 36 times and, be ready for this......has walked a major league record 209 times this season alone. Yes, that is correct. Bonds has only 350 official at-bats this season due to his outrageous number of walks.

Adrian Beltre

While the rest of the baseball world looks up toward the Bonds plateau, there have certainly been players on some great NL teams that have enjoyed a great 2004. Adrian Beltre, Albert Pujols, Scott Rolen and Jim Edmonds are among the leading candidates that are supposedly in the running for NL MVP, but with all due respect to these fine players, Bonds is really running unopposed.

People can give all the reasons they want about why Bonds is not deserving of the MVP, but in reality, nothing justifies not giving it to him. Even at the age of 40 (six years older than Edmonds, the oldest of these other “candidates”), Bonds continues to rewrite baseball history books. And, contrary to similar awards in other sports, this is by no means a career award, because Bonds is setting single-season records even at his advanced baseball age. Some may say he is lacking in the power and run-producing categories this season, but if you account for Bonds 209 missed at-bats because of his record-setting number of free passes, one could only imagine how many homers and RBI he would have to this point. And keep in mind that Bonds is putting up these kinds of numbers in a San Francisco Giants lineup that is sub-par compared to that of recent years. Bonds regularly has 3B Edgardo Alfonzo hitting behind him in the lineup, hardly the kind of protection that Beltre, Pujols, Edmonds and Rolen are used to.

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Possibly the most important factor in Bonds’ case for the MVP award this season is that he is clearly the reason for the Giants success. Despite having the reigning three-time NL MVP, the Giants were picked by virtually nobody to make the playoffs this season, and here they are in late September, not only leading the pack for the NL wild card, but also a serious threat to the Los Angeles Dodgers for the NL West crown. While there have been several other Giants that have had good seasons, such as Cy Young candidate Jason Schmidt and surprise youngster Pedro Feliz, the players would be thinking about October vacation spots if it weren’t for their left-fielder. In fact, one of the only reasons the Giants don’t have the NL West wrapped up by now is because of all their sporadic injuries. Many players that the Giants counted on to be regulars this season have missed more games than the ageless Bonds. Let us not forget the career-threatening injuries to All-Star closer Robb Nen, who was expected to contribute heavily this season, but instead has not thrown a single pitch.

So while many in the media continue to be enamored with the division race between the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox in the AL East, the real attention should be focused on the NL West, where perhaps the greatest baseball player of all time is in the process of helping his team win its division. Bonds always says he doesn’t want all the media attention, he would rather “just play baseball.” He has to realize, however, that when you do the incredible things he is doing, people will be heavily interested in his accomplishments. Bonds recently hit the 701st homer of his career. Now, I could probably sit here and write 701 reasons why Bonds should win his seventh NL MVP this season, but there is really only one that matters: the man is just that good.