Angels News: Shohei Ohtani Hoping for a Second Consecutive MVP Award
With the regular season in the rearview mirror, the Angels can officially start looking to awards season.
When a team finishes at 73-89, they don't usually have players in the mix for the league's top awards. But when that team has the most unique player in baseball, who put together arguably the greatest season in MLB history, things are a little different.
Shohei Ohtani enters the offseason firmly in the mix for the AL MVP award. While Aaron Judge appears to be the favorite for breaking the American League's single-season home run record, Ohtani's two-way dominance definitely gives him a case.
According to Vegas, however, it's not much of a race.
As of Friday, Judge was a -10000 favorite, while Ohtani sat with the second-best odds +2500.
Judge is coming off a season in which he broke Roger Maris' American League home run record with 62 long balls on the year. Ohtani, however, is coming off a season in which he became the first player in MLB history to qualify among the league leaders as a hitter and pitcher.
And he was among the league's best.
As a hitter, here were Ohtani's AL ranks:
HR: 34 (4th)
RBIs: 95 (7th)
BB: 72 (7th)
OPS:875 (5th)
Triples: 6 (4th)
IBB: 14 (3rd)
As a pitcher, here were Ohtani's AL ranks:
ERA: 2.33 (4th)
Wins: 15 (T-4th)
Strikeouts: 219 (3rd)
WHIP: 1.01 (4th)
Opp. Avg: .203 (6th)
K/9: 11.87 (1st)
It's not often you have someone rank among the top 10 in the most important pitching and hitting categories, but that's just the kind of season Ohtani had.
Whether he wins the MVP or not, Ohtani's 2022 season should never be forgotten, as we may never see a season like this again.
