In 2022, Shohei Ohtani did not win an American League MVP because of history being made elsewhere.
In 2024, Ohtani might not win a National League MVP even while reaching historical heights never before achieved.
It is a credit to Ohtani, who keeps taking baseball into brave new territory, even while having to hear that others might be setting a higher standard.
Flash back to that 2022 season when Ohtani played for the Angels and hit 34 home runs with 95 RBIs and had an .875 OPS. Sure, four other players in the American League had a better OPS, but none of those made 28 starts on the mound, delivered a 2.33 ERA and finished fourth in Cy Young Award voting.
Instead, the MVP went to the New York Yankees’ Aaron Judge, who hit 62 home runs with a 131 RBIs and a 1.111 OPS in one of the greatest offensive performances ever. Judge had a fine season defensively but not one that could compare in any way with what Ohtani did on the mound.
The MVP voting should have been close. It was not.
Judge received 28 first-place votes for MVP to just two for Ohtani, despite a season that was historical in its own right when combing his offensive production with his pitching numbers. Those two first-place votes came from a pair of Southern California writers, who watched Ohtani’s exploits on a daily basis.
The reason given for Judge’s MVP were multi-fold, from breaking the American League home-run record, to playing in more meaningful games than his MVP rival to the concept that doing it for the Yankees simply carries more weight. It is not an argument in universal agreement.
Not able to pitch in 2024 after elbow surgery, Ohtani instead has put all his efforts in to his offense. His motivation has been backed by a 10-year, $700 million contract that if split in half into a pair of $350 million contracts, one would have been the largest by dollars ever given to a pitcher and the other would have been the second largest ever given to a hitter.
Like Judge did on offense in 2022, Ohtani has delivered at the plate to levels never seen. He already has become the sixth player ever with a 40-steals, 40-homer season, and he is closing in on the first ever 50-50 season with three weeks remaining on the schedule.
If Ohtani can push his 44 home runs and his 46 steals to the next plateau, then surely that is MVP worthy, even if he did not pitch or play on defense this season. Maybe. Maybe not.
It seems that Ohtani’s third career MVP, and first in the NL, is not a foregone conclusion.
The New York Mets’ Francisco Lindor is having a fantastic season with 30 home runs, 84 RBIs and an .844 OPS, while playing shortstop on a team that is pushing for a wild-card spot with the Atlanta Braves.
But not even playing a premium position on defense gets Lindor anywhere near the season that Ohtani is having with a playoff contender, while on a new team, in a new league and burdened by a financial scandal of somebody else’s doing earlier in the season, all while reaching levels never seen before by a major leaguer.
Through it all, Ohtani keeps saying that 50 home runs and 50 steals was never the goal, it was home runs and extra bases that could help his new team land another World Series title.
“I think the most important thing is to be able to contribute to winning a game,” Ohtani said through interpreter Will Ireton on the night he entered the 40-40 club. “Obviously, the closer I get to 50-50, the more I’m contributing to team wins so if that’s how it is, I’m happy with that.”
As Ohtani closes in on the 50th season of 50 home runs ever, he is also just two home runs away from tying the most ever in a 40-40 season when Alfonso Soriano hit 46 with 41 stolen bases in 2006.
And Ohtani’s steals are not factory-outlet quality. According to Sports Illustrated’s Tom Verducci, Ohtani has not stolen a base with the Dodgers winning or losing by more than four runs. They are coming when they can have a significant impact on a victory.
Since the start of July, Ohtani has stolen 30 bases in 32 attempts and he has a run of 23 consecutive successful steals going back to July 23.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts has been impressed by Ohtani’s ability to rise to the occasion after his move from the Angels, who didn’t play many meaningful games in recent seasons. Ohtani is not only playing in games with added meaning, he is making his mark in those contests.
“You’re playing for a championship-caliber team, you’re playing meaningful games in August, September,” Roberts said. “That’s something he signed up for and so you can expect to be better performance and that’s what’s happening.”
Ohtani is delivering an MVP season by any and all measure, even if he somehow happens to fall short of 50-50. And when the award becomes his this offseason, he will have achieved another feat: First to win an MVP as a designated hitter.