A .333 batting average with 1 home run and 4 RBI through seven games played hardly screams MVP to even the most biased of fans, let alone to the majority of objective baseball enthusiasts.

Yet, those are the individual statistics for Atlanta Braves third baseman, Chipper Jones, who it just so happens to be quite hard to try and argue against as being the most valuable player in the league to his team at this point.

Statistics alone are rarely enough to merit overwhelming consideration from across the baseball world when deciding just who is the most valuable player in the league. One's impact to their team is the driving force behind what the award is supposed to be about. If your team can not win without a particular player, but is a contender with that player as a part of it, it is certainly hard to try and refute that the particular individual you are analyzing isn't one of the most valuable players in the league.

The Atlanta Braves got off to a scorching 5-1 start with Chipper as a regular fixture in the lineup, a mark only matched by the Florida Marlins for the best record in the National League.  However, things then rapidly soured for the quick-starting Braves after the team lost their best hitter and club house leader for four straight games.

The Florida Marlins came into town and swept the Braves in their own stadium. Things didn't improve any as the team traveled to lowly Pittsburgh hoping for a rebound and instead lost their first two games of the series against the Pirates.

The Braves abruptly fell from 5-1 and tied for first in their division, to 5-6 and looking to avoid falling into fourth place. However, record alone does not speak to contributions Chipper's presence brings to the Braves by further examining the statistics.

Heading into Sunday's series concluding game against the Pirates, the Braves had scored 5.3 runs a game and batted .275 with Chipper in the line-up and 3.4 runs a game and batted .228 without him. Not an overwhelming difference, but noticeable enough.

However, those numbers are a little deceving, as Chipper had the day off in the series concluding game against the Phillies when the Braves bullpen squandered away a 10-3 lead in the later innings of the game. If one eliminates that game from the equation, the Braves only managed a paltry 1.5 runs a game and batted .203 without Chipper.

On Sunday, the Braves got their start veteran back in the line-up and promptly responded by going 15 for 36 (.416) and beating the Pirates by a score of 11-2 while improving their record when Chipper plays to 6-1 and raising their team average with Chipper in the lineup to an impressive .296.

The season is still very young, and there will be plenty of other talented players who will rise and be well worth consideration as the most valuable player in the league. For the timebeing however, there is no one more deserving as being recognized in such standing than Chipper Jones.

It is not his personal statistics alone that make up the difference, but is also his presence and the mindset that it helps create on his own team and perhaps even those of opposing pitchers.

The Braves are a legit contender for the NL East crown with him, and nothing more than an average team hovering around fourth place in their own division without him.