Ryan Braun Named National League MVP

By - Kris Fletcher

Milwaukee's Ryan Braun won the NL Most Valuable Player Award on Tuesday after helping lead the Brewers to their first division title in nearly thirty years.

Photo by: Matt Slocum

"I'm not going to pretend like I wasn't anxious because I was," Braun said after receiving the news. "I'm obviously thrilled and excited. It's honestly difficult to put into words how much this means to me."

Braun led the NL with a .597 slugging percentage and had a chance to overtake Jose Reyes for the batting title on the last day of the season but finished second with a .332 average. He had 33 homers, 111 RBIs, 109 runs scored and stole 33 bases. His 77 extra-base hits was tops in the league.

Los Angeles center fielder Matt Kemp, who came close to winning the Triple Crown, finished second, while Braun's teammate, Prince Fielder, finished third.

NL Cy Young Award winner Clayton Kershaw finished 12th in the voting a day after Detroit's Justin Verlander added the AL MVP to his Cy Young.