Francisco Lindor’s Mets lost to the Dodgers in the NLCS, and about a month later, Lindor once again had to settle for second behind Los Angeles.
Dodgers DH Shohei Ohtani was named the unanimous NL MVP on Thursday, with Lindor finishing second after receiving 23 second-place votes and seven third-place votes. Ketel Marte was third, with his total 34 points behind Lindor, and those three were the only players named on all 30 ballots.
No other Mets received any down ballot votes among 23 players receiving votes.
Lindor, who was looking to become the first Met to win MVP but is now the fourth met to place second in the voting, slashed .273/.344/.500 with 33 homers, 91 RBI, 29 steals, 107 runs, and 39 doubles in 152 games, good for a 7.0 bWAR.
However, even his good defense and that line couldn’t top Ohtani, who slashed .310/.390/.646 – a tick DOWN from his unanimous AL MVP season in 2023 – but became the first-ever member of the 50/50 club with 54 homers and 59 steals, also adding 130 RBI, 134 runs, 81 walks, and 38 doubles, good for a league-leading 9.2 bWAR.
Ohtani also led all of baseball with that runs total and the NL in homers, RBIs, OBP, slugging, and OPS, with an MLB-high 411 total bases as well. He fell short of the Triple Crown by four batting points to Luis Arraez, who led the NL at .314, and his 59 steals were second behind Elly de la Cruz’s 67.