45% of fans think Christian Yelich will defend his National League MVP award

Welcome to SB Nation FanPulse, a survey of fans across MLB. Each week, we send 30 polls to plugged in fans from each team. Brewers fans, sign up HERE to join FanPulse.

The main question presented to fans of the Milwaukee Brewers during this week’s FanPulse was in regards to the possible National League MVP for 2019. Thanks to his terrific start, the league’s reigning most valuable player is expected to defend his title by a plurality of fans:

Here is a comparison of the players so far:

Christian Yelich — 32 PA | .375/.531/1.000 | 4 HR | 1 SB | 261 wRC+
Paul Goldschmidt — 29 PA | .250/.379/.750 | 4 HR | 0 SB | 177 wRC+
Nolan Arenado — 29 PA | .250/.276/.321 | 0 HR | 0 SB | 45 wRC+
Bryce Harper — 23 PA | .500/.652/1.188 | 3 HR | 0 SB | 326 wRC+
Manny Machado — 28 PA | .240/.321/.360 | 1 HR | 0 SB | 86 wRC+

It’s obviously still very early in the season, but Yelich doesn’t appear to have cooled off from his scorching hot finish to the 2018 season. His biggest challenge appears to be coming from Bryce Harper, who had the opportunity to show Nationals’ fans what their ownership group let walk away in free agency when Philadelphia came to town this week. And, of course, we know just how dangerous Paul Goldschmidt can be after his three-homer game against the Milwaukee Nine during the first week of the season. It’s sure to be a hotly-contested race right down to the end!

Other FanPulse results this week include a 1% jump — from 98% to 99% — in approval rating for manager Craig Counsell, and a 2% leap — from 98% to 100% — in confidence of the team’s direction.

Statistics courtesy of Fangraphs