Well, unfortunately I think I may have jinxed myself. Remember a couple of weeks ago when I wrote about Aaron Judge getting all of the hype and not having to listen to any Shohei Ohtani Most Valuable Player talk. Sadly, now there seems to be a lot of media members talking about Ohtani winning the MVP award and I heard one media person say he should win it every year because he'll be hitting and pitching every year.
Now oddly if they wanted to try and make a case for Ohtani to win the Cy Young award I might've bought it, but he's not having a great season swinging the bat. Ohtani is hitting .268 with 30 home runs and 82 RBI's and while I know this no longer matters to anybody, but he's struck out 133 times in 128 games. Last season he had a decent number of stolen bases (26), but this season Ohtani only has 11 stolen bases and he's been caught stealing 9 times. These aren't exactly what you'd look for offensively from an MVP, but somehow his name surfaced quite a bit these past couple of weeks.
Now as a starting pitcher Ohtani is 11-8 with a 2.67 ERA in 22 starts. He's pitched 128 innings and has stuck out 176 batters, so these numbers could put him in the running for the Cy Young award.
Now I think you also have to factor in how a player's team is doing unless that players numbers are just so out of this world that his team won-loss record doesn't matter. Now since Ohtani's numbers aren't off the charts let's look at where his team the Los Angeles Angels are in the standings. Well, the Angels are currently 57-75 and don't forget that early in the season the Angels were actually in 1st place and people where excited to see not only Ohtani, but Mike Trout in the playoffs.
Now an MVP doesn't have to lead his team into the playoffs, but it would be nice if that player could keep his team in the playoff race while he's racking up some MVP type numbers.
Now Judge should be the clear frontrunner for MVP and should win the award going away deservedly so, but there are some other players that should be on the ballot ahead of Ohtani.
Even though Yordan Alvarez missed some time with injuries he's still hit 31 home runs and has a batting average of .294 on the team with the best record in the American League the Houston Astros. Alvarez's teammate Jose Altuve is also having a very good season even though he's been kind of under the radar. Altuve is hitting .296 with 22 home runs and he has 13 stolen bases while only being caught stealing 1 time. Of course, the fact that Altuve only has 48 RBI's will more or less kill any kind of MVP candidacy.
The Cleveland Guardians have been a big surprise this season and are in position to win the American League Central, but would they be they're without Jose Ramirez? The answer of course is no. Ramirez should get some MVP consideration as he's hitting .286 with 26 home runs and has 106 RBI's as well as 14 stolen bases.
Now Judge should get all of the 1st place votes for MVP, but players like Ramirez and Alvarez should end up on the ballot ahead of Ohtani, but it's very, very doubtful that will happen because of the way the media is enthralled with him.
It's time for me to turn it over to you. I'm giving you the opportunity to put together your MVP ballot. Give me three or four names in the order you have them for American League MVP. Mine would be Judge, Ramirez, Alvarez, Ohtani. How do you have it?
Remember that you can find me on Twitter @Burketime.
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