Will Chicago's Sammy Sosa Be the N.L. MVP?

In Tuesday's baseball action, Chicago Cubs slugger Sammy Sosa, hit three homeruns, and knocked in six runs, to help his team defeat the Milwaukee Brewers 16-3.

Sosa has been on a tear for the month of August. He has already hit 14 homeruns for the month of August and is only five homeruns behind Barry Bonds, who leads the majors with 54 homeruns.

Sosa is 15 for 24, with six homeruns and 12 RBI's, in just his last six games. Tuesday's three homer game for Sosa was the fourth of his career. With 36 games still to play this season, Sosa has slugged 49 homeruns.

If Sosa hits 50 or more homeruns this year, it will be his fourth straight season in which he has hit 50 or more homeruns.

He currently leads the majors with 127 RBI's. He had 138 for the 2000 season. I think its safe to say he will surpass those stats of a year ago. He's currently batting .322. His batting average last season was .320.

Can Sammy Sosa pass Barry Bonds for the homerun lead? If anyone can, it's Sosa.

Who will be the National League MVP this year?

Well, I only see three possible candidates -- Bonds, Sosa or Luis Gonzalez of the Arizona Diamondbacks.

So far, Sosa leads both Bonds and Gonzalez in RBI's. Bonds currently has 107 and Gonzalez has 115. Sosa also leads both in runs scored, with 107. He is second in total bases only to Gonzalez, who has 339. Sosa has 330.

All three have extremely impressive stats this year, but, in my humble opinion, I think Gonzalez is the most improved player of the three over last year's season.

Gonzalez who has hit 46 homeruns so far this season, only hit 31 all of last year. He knocked in 114 runs last season, but already has 115 this year. His batting average is .344. See what I mean.

Now here is an unbelievable stat. Sosa has 127 RBI's like I mentioned earlier. But, do you know who is second to him on the Cubs in RBI's? Third baseman Ron Coomer who has 48, 79 fewer than Sosa.

I think it would be fair to say that Sosa accounts for most of the offense on this team. Second to Sosa in homeruns on the Cubs is outfielder Rondell White, who is currently on the DL. White has 13 homeruns.

The Chicago Cubs currently trail the Houston Astros in the N.L. Central by two games. If it weren't for the Cubs starting pitching and Sosa, they would be in big trouble.

The Cubs picked up first baseman Fred McGriff from the Tampa Bay Devil Rays before the July 31 trading deadline, but he hasn't made that big of an impact on offense just yet for the Cubs.

So who would I pick for MVP of the N.L. if the season ended today? I'm not really sure. All three are having a great season. I guess it would depend on who has helped their team the most.

The Arizona Diamondbacks currently lead the N.L. West by two and a half games over Bonds' San Francisco Giants. But to be honest with you, Sosa it seems, has helped his team the most in my opinion.

You see Bonds and Gonzalez have teammates that contribute a lot on offense, compared to Sosa's teammates.

Shortstop Rich Aurilia of the Giants is having a very good year. He has hit 26 homeruns with 75 runs driven in so far this year. He is currently batting .332. Second baseman Jeff Kent, also of the Giants, has hit 17 homeruns with 83 RBI's.

Arizona outfielder Reggie Sanders has hit 25 homeruns with 69 RBI's and first baseman Mark Grace has also driven in 69 runs.

I think I it would be best if you made your own conclusions on the matter of who should be the N.L. MVP.

Either way, I think it's going to be exciting to see how each performs in the last month of the regular season. I believe they will be very close to each other in stats. Like I said earlier, it may boil down to which player makes the biggest impact for their respective team.

See you at the game.