Rendon ranks sixth in MVP voting, with four other Nats on ballot

Though none of them produced the kind of season worthy of an MVP award, five Nationals did earn recognition as also-rans in the annual voting for the National League's best player.

Anthony Rendon finished sixth in MVP voting, with Max Scherzer finishing 10th, Bryce Harper (who may have been headed for the second MVP of his career before suffering his major knee injury in mid-August) finishing 12th, Daniel Murphy finishing 19th and Ryan Zimmerman finishing in a three-way tie for 20th.

Results of the balloting, submitted by members of the Baseball Writers' Association of America before the start of the postseason, were revealed this evening. Marlins slugger Giancarlo Stanton beat out Reds first baseman Joey Votto for the MVP by the narrow margin of 302 points to 300 points. Diamondbacks first baseman Paul Goldschmidt ranked third with 239 points, followed by Rockies teammates Nolan Arenado (229) and Charlie Blackmon (205).

The Nationals' top four position players all made varying degrees of cases to win the MVP at different points during the season, but Rendon probably had the most consistent argument throughout the year. The 27-year-old third baseman was one of only two major leaguers (along with Votto) who hit 25 homers with 100 RBIs and maintained an offensive slash line of .300/.400/.500 for the season. He also excelled in the field and was named a Gold Glove Award finalist.

Rendon was included on 29 of the 30 ballots submitted for a total of 141 points, with one voter listing him in third place and another in fourth place. This is the second time he has appeared on the MVP ballot, following his fifth-place finish in 2014.

Scherzer, who on Thursday night won his second consecutive and third overall Cy Young Award, was named on 12 ballots and totaled 34 points. It's the third time the right-hander has made an MVP ballot; he also finished 10th last season and finished 12th in the American League vote in 2013.

Harper, the unanimous league MVP in 2015, appeared to be on his way to winning again before injuring his knee trying to beat out a groundball on August 12. He returned for the season's final week, and though his 1.008 OPS ranked behind only Votto among all NL batters with at least 400 plate appearances, his missed time cost him serious MVP consideration.

Harper appeared on seven ballots, finishing with 21 points.

After finishing runner-up to Cubs third baseman Kris Bryant last season, Murphy put together another fine season. The second baseman saw his production drop just a bit, though, while hitting .322 with 23 homers, 93 RBIs and a .928 OPS. He wound up receiving a ninth-place vote and a 10th place vote to finish with three points.

Zimmerman was the NL's best hitter for most of the season's first half before cooling off during the summer. Even so, the 33-year-old first baseman wound up as one of only five NL players who hit .300 with 30 homers and 100 RBIs.

Only one voter included Zimmerman on the ballot, with a single 10th place vote. That one point left him tied at the bottom of the ballot with Diamondbacks right-handers Archie Bradley and Zack Greinke. Zimmerman previously ranked 16th in 2010, 24th in 2012 and 25th in 2009.