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NEW YORK (AP) — Jacob deGrom http://www.giantsfanproshop.com/authentic-dave-dravecky-jersey , Max Scherzer and Aaron Nola are going pitch for pitch in the NL Cy Young Award race.Problem is, that prize might not do the trio justice. Not according to baseball’s advanced analytics.With 2½ weeks left in the season, it’s time to ask: Should one of those three be MVP?“It’s the best player in the league,” deGrom said. “If that happens to be a pitcher and they can win it, then it’s well deserved.”There’s no debating deGrom’s dominance, even if it’s not translating into wins for the struggling New York Mets. Scherzer’s awards-season resume is more traditional, bolstered by league-leading totals in victories and strikeouts. And Nola is right there, too, in a breakout season with the Philadelphia Phillies.But an MVP? For three pitchers who are going to miss the postseason? Some don’t think pitchers should even be considered for the award, though they’ve won 25 times before.The stats devised by sabermetricians suggest it would be a swing and a miss not to consider a pitcher — certainly not in a year when the crop of NL hitters just doesn’t add up.The National League has produced at least one hitter worth 6.0 wins above replacement (WAR) each season since the Chicago Cubs‘ Hack Wilson topped 1926 at 5.7, according to Fangraphs.This year’s group is equally underwhelming, strictly by the numbers. Milwaukee teammates Lorenzo Cain (5.4) and Christian Yelich (5.3) top the circuit, followed by Arizona’s Paul Goldschmidt (5.2), St. Louis’ Matt Carpenter (5.2), Chicago’s Javier Baez (4.9) and Colorado’s Nolan Arenado (4.8).For a catch-all stat like WAR — which measures contributions on offense, defense, baserunning and pitching — that 0.6 gap from Arenado on up is nearly negligible. Can’t go wrong choosing among them.But that group is far behind the league’s top pitchers by the same measure. DeGrom leads the NL with 8.1 WAR, and Scherzer, Nola and Diamondbacks ace Patrick Corbin are also ahead of the hitters. Over at Baseball-Reference, which has its own WAR formula, Scherzer (9.7) holds the top spot way ahead of Cain (6.3), with Nola, deGrom and Rockies left-hander Kyle Freeland all beating the batters.It’s unusual, but not unheard of, for a pitcher to lead a league in WAR. By Baseball-Reference’s math, Clayton Kershaw did it when he won NL MVP in 2014 Brandon Crawford Jersey , as did Justin Verlander for his AL MVP in 2011. Corey Kluber, Cliff Lee, Roy Halladay and Zack Greinke each did it over the past decade, too. But in the age of ever-tighter pitch counts and innings limits, it’s not as common as it once was and figures to keep getting tougher.Of the 25 pitcher MVPs, 14 were awarded before the Cy Young Award was introduced in 1956. Prior to Kershaw and Verlander, the previous pitcher winner was reliever Dennis Eckersley in 1992, and the prior starter to take MVP was Roger Clemens in 1986.Marlins manager and 1985 AL MVP Don Mattingly was the runner-up to Clemens that year — and wasn’t thrilled about it.“Hard for me as a player, to kind of know I play 160 games or whatever it is and then somebody has 30, 35 starts,” Mattingly said.He’s changed his mind since becoming a manager. Doesn’t hurt that he was leading the Dodgers when Kershaw won MVP.“If you’re talking about them as Cy Young and MVPs, they’re guys that are basically taking care of your bullpen that day, stopping any kind of streaks, adding to streaks — a guy you know you can count on,” Mattingly said.Mattingly has seen plenty of deGrom, Scherzer and Nola in the NL East.“I can see where you could look at them as being most valuable player,” he said.The cases for those pitchers are a little different from their predecessors — especially for deGrom.The Mets ace is just 8-9, putting him in the historic position of having more WAR than wins. According to Baseball-Reference’s records, deGrom would be just the second qualified pitcher ever to have more WAR than wins, following Eddie Smith (4-17 record, 4.1 WAR) with the Philadelphia Athletics in 1937.At this point, deGrom’s underwhelming win total probably won’t hurt him much in Cy Young balloting. Voters set aside the stat when crowning Seattle’s Felix Hernandez in 2010 despite a 13-12 mark, and the electorate seems to agree that victories aren’t paramount to being the best pitcher.But to be the most valuable? Voters might still be stuck on wins there. Opinions are all over the board on how to quantify value — some voters insist MVPs have to come from winning teams, others see winning as something of a tiebreaker, and a growing number of progressive writers try to separate a player’s performance from that of his teammates entirely.That’s where deGrom’s candidacy could fall apart. Of the 21 starting pitchers to win MVP, all of them won at least 20 games. DeGrom is going to have a hard time winning 10.That’s not deGrom’s fault http://www.giantsfanproshop.com/authentic-brandon-belt-jersey , of course. He has a 1.71 ERA this season, and yet New York is 12-17 behind him thanks to minimal run support.DeGrom has taken to helping himself, driving in four runs since Aug. 3, including New York’s only RBIs in 2-1 losses to the Braves and Cubs.Scherzer has been even better with the bat. He’s hitting .270 with six RBIs and a stolen base. Those contributions won’t help him stave off deGrom in his pursuit for a fourth Cy Young and third straight in the NL, but it could sway some MVP voters.Nola’s pitch seems to have lost a little steam as the Phillies have faded out of the playoff picture. Philadelphia dropped 6½ games behind Atlanta in the NL East after getting swept by the Nationals in a doubleheader Tuesday. Nola was 16-4 with a 2.29 ERA prior to a start Wednesday and wasn’t far behind Scherzer with 8.9 WAR, per Baseball-Reference.Unless a hitter separates from the pack over the final couple weeks, one of those three just might be an MVP.“It’s been done before,” Mets manager Mickey Callaway said. “They should be considered.” LOS ANGELES (AP) — For the second straight game, the St. Louis Cardinals rallied to win. And for the second time in the series, they did it on a ninth-inning homer off All-Star closer Kenley Jansen.“It’s definitely redundant,” Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “Same thing we’ve seen.”The Cardinals clearly love a rerun.Paul DeJong hit the go-ahead, two-run homer Wednesday night for a 3-1 victory and the Cardinals’ first sweep at Dodger Stadium since 2006.The Cardinals’ eighth straight road win helped them improve to 17-4 this month, the most wins in the majors. They’ve homered in 15 straight games, one off the current season mark of 16 in a row by Philadelphia.“It’s been a snowball effect for us,” DeJong said. “We can win every game.”St. Louis remained 2½ games behind the NL Central-leading Cubs.“It shows the resilience of our team. Everyone steps up on a nightly basis,” DeJong said. “It’s always someone new coming through.”For Jansen, it was the same old story.The Dodgers closer, who became a father for the third time earlier in the day, gave up consecutive homers to Jedd Gyorko and Matt Carpenter in the series opener Monday. That was Jansen’s first game back after missing time because of an irregular heartbeat.This time, Gyorko got a broken-bat single off Jansen (0-5), and DeJong followed with his 14th homer to left-center, giving the Cardinals their first lead of the game.“Very frustrating,” Jansen said. “Got to figure out how to get back out of this mess.”The Dodgers went quietly in the ninth, with Jordan Hicks striking out Cody Bellinger, Brian Dozier and Chris Taylor to earn his fifth save.“Hicks was filthy,” Cardinals interim manager Mike Shildt said. “That was elite stuff right there.”Dakota Hudson (4-0) got the win with one inning of relief.Los Angeles loaded the bases in the eighth Jeff Samardzija Jersey , but Manny Machado grounded out to end the inning. The Dodgers stranded 30 runners while getting swept for the third time this season.They dropped to 32-33 at home, falling below .500 at Dodger Stadium for the first time since June 30. Rookie Tyler O’Neill launched his first career pinch-hit homer in the top of the eighth off Scott Alexander, tying it 1-all.Jack Flaherty and Walker Buehler dueled in a stellar matchup of rookie pitchers, although neither figured in the decision. Flaherty held the Dodgers hitless through 5 1/3 innings. Joc Pederson broke through after Buehler struck out leading off the sixth, slugging his 19th homer to right field for a 1-0 lead.Flaherty gave up just that one hit in six innings. The 22-year-old right-hander from nearby Burbank struck out 10 and walked two on 101 pitches.“It was special,” Flaherty said. “I wanted to make sure to take in the moment and enjoy it.” Buehler scattered three hits over seven innings, struck out a career-high nine and walked two on 104 pitches.The Dodgers have lost three in a row and they dropped four games behind NL West-leading Arizona in pursuit of a sixth straight division title.“Things are not working in the ‘pen,” Jansen said. “We need to figure it out.”TRAINER’S ROOMCardinals: Placed OF Marcell Ozuna on the 10-day disabled list with right shoulder inflammation after he received a cortisone injection. INF Yairo Munoz (right wrist sprain) was activated from the DL.Dodgers: LHP Julio Urias (left shoulder surgery) came out of his 2 1/3-inning outing at Class A Rancho Cucamonga “feeling good,” according to Roberts. Urias will get three days off before the team decides where he goes next.RARE SWEEPThe Cardinals had not swept the Dodgers since taking a four-game set in July 2010. St. Louis earned its first sweep at Dodger Stadium since July 21-23, 2006. It was the Cardinals’ sixth sweep of the season.TURNSTILES CLICKINGThe Dodgers became the first team to top 3 million in attendance this season. They surpassed the mark for the seventh straight season and 22nd time in the last 23 years. They have drawn 3,036,253 so far.BABY MAKES THREEJansen’s wife, Gianni, gave birth to Kyrian Jeremiah Jansen, who weighed 8 pounds, 16 ounces. The couple has another son, 3-year-old Kaden Isaiah. Jansen has daughter Natalia from a previous relationship. “It’s a happy, bitter day,” Jansen said after the game.UTLEY & SONSOn his bobblehead night, Chase Utley was joined by his sons to proclaim the traditional pregame announcement: “It’s time for Dodger baseball!” Two of them were his real sons and the other was teammate Enrique Hernandez, who sat on Utley’s knee. Hernandez jokingly calls Utley “Grandpa” and has been close to the 39-year-old second baseman who is retiring at season’s end.UP NEXTCardinals: After getting Thursday off in Denver, RHP Miles Mikolas (13-3, 2.80 ERA) starts the series opener against the Rockies. His victories are the most by a first-year St. Louis pitcher since Kyle Lohse in 2008.Dodgers: After a day off, LHP Rich Hill (5-4, 3.73) starts the series opener at home Friday against San Diego. He’s 4-4 with a 3.44 ERA vs. the Padres while holding their batters to a .199 average.