Shohei Ohtani is having, by all accounts, an unprecedented season, belting 44 homers (double his previous career-best), which is three off the Los Angeles Angels' franchise mark held by Troy Glaus. Meanwhile, Ohtani has been dominant on the mound, pitching a 3.36 ERA in 21 starts.
For months, Ohtani's inevitable coronation as American League MVP has felt like a foregone conclusion. However, scorching-hot Toronto Blue Jays slugger Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is doing his best to make things interesting.
Not only has Guerrero taken over the Major League lead with 45 home runs (one better than his old man's career-high of 44 set in 2000), but he's also within shouting distance of baseball's Triple Crown. The 22-year-old is pacing the American League in batting average (.315), while trailing only Salvador Perez and reigning AL MVP Jose Abreu in runs-batted-in.
More importantly, Guerrero's Blue Jays — winners of 12 of their last 14 games — have soared back into the American League Wild Card picture, positioning themselves for their second playoff appearance in as many years.
Through no fault of Ohtani's own, the Angels will, barring a miracle of the highest order, extend their postseason drought to seven seasons when they stage the final game on their 2021 calendar two weeks from Sunday.
Guerrero's emergence, coupled with Toronto's late playoff push, has prompted a debate over the his MVP candidacy this season. Should Guerrero win the Triple Crown — a feat achieved just once in the past 50 years — and lead Toronto to an unlikely Wild Card berth over divisional foes in the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees, could MVP voters really deny him?
The answer is a resounding "yes," at least if you ask Audacy MLB insider Jon Heyman, who, despite a relatively lackluster second half (.219/.352/.449 slash line since the All-Star break with 73 strikeouts in 178 at-bats), still considers Ohtani's MVP case open and shut.
The betting community seems to share that point of view, as Ohtani remains a colossal -7000 favorite on FanDuel Sportsbook (Vlad, for all his September heroics, is pegged as a distant +1500 longshot). Though it's rare for a Triple Crown winner to not also win MVP, it has happened on occasion with Ted Williams' 1947 campaign the most recent example.
Ohtani's .257 batting average would be among the lowest ever for an MVP, though his pitching contributions and prodigious power trump any perceived deficiencies, even if the 27-year-old's monster season has been wasted on a frustrating Angels team that can't get out of its own way. Besides, average isn't nearly as important in today's feast or famine MLB, where home runs are prioritized above all else (hence baseball's league-wide .243 average and collective 23.3% strikeout rate).
Guerrero has firmly established himself as one of the league's premier talents and should have an MVP award — or several — in his future. But 2021 undoubtedly belongs to Ohtani.
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