Shohei Ohtani: Back to Back AL MVP's?

[Chuck]

With an incredible June after a meh April and May for Ohtani standards, he's put himself in contention for another MVP race as we head toward summer. 

His competition this season isn't just Vladimir Guerrero Jr. as it was in 2021, but he's got Devers, Judge, Ramirez and his own teammate Mike Trout to contend with. The above is his fWAR from Fangraphs, here's his bWAR:

What Ohtani is doing on the mound and at the plate of late, if he keeps this up he's an unanimous AL MVP again despite the larger field of candidates having good seasons. 

[IheartLA]

Yankees are on pace to break the all time MLB wins record while the Angels are set to miss the playoffs again. Gonna be tough to to not give it to Judge unless he starts slowing down.

Ohtani and Trout are definitely in the top 3 though.

[Chuck]

3 hours ago, IheartLA said:

Yankees are on pace to break the all time MLB wins record while the Angels are set to miss the playoffs again. Gonna be tough to to not give it to Judge unless he starts slowing down.

Ohtani and Trout are definitely in the top 3 though.

The Yankees have a strong supporting staff surrounding Judge. You take away the Yankees bullpen and pitching staff as a whole and I bet they're not even a third place team in that division.

[gotbeer]

How shitty is this team, where we have 8.1 in Wins above replacement in two players, and are 37-41.  

[ScottT]

2 hours ago, gotbeer said:

How shitty is this team, where we have 8.1 in Wins above replacement in two players, and are 37-41.  

They are 37-41

[stormngt]

9 hours ago, IheartLA said:

Yankees are on pace to break the all time MLB wins record while the Angels are set to miss the playoffs again. Gonna be tough to to not give it to Judge unless he starts slowing down.

Ohtani and Trout are definitely in the top 3 though.

Yea someone should win the MVP because he has the most talented teammates

[Docwaukee]

Ohtani has taken a step forward as a pitcher.  

But I'm glad we're back to a healthy Trout vs. some other guys having a really good year.  Too bad the debate is gonna be that the other guy's team made the playoffs and Trout didn't.  

[Lou]

2 hours ago, Docwaukee said:

Ohtani has taken a step forward as a pitcher.  

But I'm glad we're back to a healthy Trout vs. some other guys having a really good year.  Too bad the debate is gonna be that the other guy's team made the playoffs and Trout didn't.  

Or did he?

[Second Base]

It'll be interesting. Judge has always been feast or famine, and he's riding the hottest, longest streak of his career right now, but more than likely both he and the Yankees will come back to earth. 

Devers is a sustainably good hitter, but never great like Trout, Ramirez or Ohtani. I don't see him slowing down or speeding up. He's just a really good player. 

Ramirez is good but he's on the outside looking in for this race. 

Ohtani clearly isn't the hitter he was last year, but still pretty good, and he's doing great on the mound. It's hard to quantify that. 

Trout is the best hitter of the bunch, and even after having an extended slump, he's still right there among the league leaders. Chances are, his numbers are only going to get better this summer, as long as he stays healthy. 

Trout and Ohtani are both going to be better than Devers, but Devers will play in October and because they're on the same team, that'll undoubtedly split some of the vote. 

So by default, I think Devers takes home the hardware, despite being the third best option. 

[Second Base]

Also, I'm really looking forward to the narrative that the Angels have the first and second best players in baseball and still can't make the playoffs. That'll be fun. 

[Lou]

1 hour ago, Second Base said:

Also, I'm really looking forward to the narrative that the Angels have the first and second best players in baseball and still can't make the playoffs. That'll be fun. 

Waiting?

[Dtwncbad]

There’s just no way on earth the Yankees or Red Sox would not prefer to have Ohtani on their roster over Judge or Devers.

That tells me Ohtani is indisputably the MVP. . . other than the chance some writers get hung up on where teams are in the standings (driven by the other 20+ players in the teams roster) rather than the value each individual player delivers.