Shohei Ohtani Should Win the AL MVP

Shohei Ohtani is a once in a lifetime baseball player. The Earth has existed for thousands upon thousands of years and we are all fortunate enough to be alive during the reign of Ohtani. Yes, he hits and pitches and blah blah but he’s a beast at both.

Let’s look at the numbers he’s put up this season on his way to quickly snatch an MVP:

33 homers
86 RBIs
131 hits
11 stolen bases
152 wRC+
.267 batting average
.356 on-base percentage
.592 slugging percentage
136 innings pitched
11 wins
2.58 ERA
181 Ks
12 K/9

This motherfucker just has soooo many stats and almost all of them are in the top 10 in every category. Shohei Ohtani should be the 2022 AL MVP.

There’s only one problem: this guy.

ALL RAISE.

I am absolutely done pretending as if there is some tough decision to make here. The AL MVP should go to the best player in the AL, no? Well, that’s Aaron Judge. Obviously. Judge leads the entire AL in homers, RBIs, OBP, Slugging, walks and runs. He’s 2nd in batting average which means he’s a hot streak away from winning the fucking TRIPLE CROWN. Why is this even a discussion?

Aaron Judge is on pace to hit 65 bombs and break the non-steroids single-season home run record. He is a one-man hitting machine keeping the Yankees in the World Series picture. While everyone has forgotten how to swing a bat, Judge is the only one performing at a high level.

Literally a 1 man offense since the all star break pic.twitter.com/6Y2238SStL

— Talkin’ Yanks (@TalkinYanks) September 7, 2022

This is literally the textbook definition of an MVP.

And I think it’s important to point out that I am not typically one of those who are rigid about the MVP having to be on a winning team. The Yankees are leading the AL East and the Angels are currently 17 games below .500 and 28 games out of first place.

Most hitters get 3-5 at-bats a night. They can only do so much to alter the outcomes of games. Especially when you reach the upper echelon of hitting, opposing pitchers can take the bat out of your hands and send you to first base.

So when it comes to someone like Mike Trout—who has unfortunately played for the losing ass Angels for his entire career—it makes sense to not penalize him for the futility of the 24-man roster outside of him.

BUT, how can you praise Ohtani for hitting and batting while simultaneously disregarding his team’s win-loss record? He pitches every 5 days and hits every day. Out of any player on the Angels, Ohtani is the one guy in all of Major League Baseball who has a disproportionate impact on their team’s success. You can’t blame the Angels pitching for losing games because Shohei is one of those guys pitching.

I’m glad that Shohei Ohtani exists. Baseball needs more stars to remain in the public eye. But there is no way to look at what Aaron Judge is doing this season and declare anyone else the MVP ahead of him.