Cardinals’ Paul Goldschmidt voted by players as National League’s Outstanding

Baseball players and baseball writers don’t necessarily agree on much, but Cardinals first baseman Paul Goldschmidt winning the Players Choice award Friday night as the National League Outstanding Player may be a harbinger of another announcement to be made less than two weeks from now.

On Nov. 17, the Baseball Writers’ Association will announce its Most Valuable Players for both the National and American Leagues and Goldschmidt almost certainly will be one of the three top vote getters for the NL award. “Finalists,” as they are called, will be announced on Monday for all the BBWAA major awards — MVP, Cy Young Award, Rookie of the Year and Manager of the Year.

Since the Major League Baseball Players Association began its Players Choice awards in 1992, 63 percent (or 19 out of 30) winners of the National League Outstanding Player award later have been named MVPs that year by the writers.

The last Cardinal to win either award was Albert Pujols, who won both MVP and Players Choice honors in the National League in 2008 and 2009.

Goldschmidt, interviewed on ESPN, said the Players Choice award was a “huge honor.

“There are so many great players and such a long season. … I’m just very thankful and excited,” said Goldschmidt. “To have the players vote you in, those are the players you’re competing against and competing with. That means a lot.

“I just try to go out and do my best,” said Goldschmidt, who won out over Los Angeles first baseman Freddie Freeman and Atlanta third baseman Austin Riley.

Cardinals teammate Nolan Arenado also will be a strong MVP candidate, but Goldschmidt seems to trump the rest of the National League in that he ranked first in Offensive War at 7.5, slugging percentage at .578 and OPS at .981.

He was second in runs…