Of course, there is still a lot of time left until the Pennant Race is over. However, given the current situation, it seems very likely that Shohei Ohtani (LA Angels) will win the American League MVP and home run title at the same time.스포츠토토

Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees hit 62 home runs last year, setting a new American League home run record in a single season, the most home runs ever by a major leaguer who has not been drugged. As a result, he signed a 9-year, $360 million (approximately 460.8 billion won) contract with the Yankees through his first free agent (FA) qualification in his life.

A jersey that made his 2016 debut and consistently performed well into the 2022 season. His good flow continued into this year. Despite one injury, Judge played in 49 games and wielded a fire bat with 51 hits, 19 homers, a batting average of 0.291, and an OPS of 1.078. His home run was by far the first, and it was enough to overshadow the hiatus. However, a variable occurred.

Judge suffered a foot injury while defending against the Los Angeles Dodgers on the 4th (Korean time). At that time, Judge pursued the ball hit by JD Martinez at first base with no out in the bottom of the 8th inning, when the Yankees were leading 5-3, and spread a good defense to catch the ball while penetrating the barbed wire fence in the right field. However, because of this scene, Judge was placed on the injured list (IL) with a contusion and ligament injury to his right big toe.

As Judge left the line due to injury, the ranking of home run kings changed. This is why Ohtani, who had hit 15 homers before the jersey fell off, is running at a tremendous pace. Ohtani hit his 16th home run on the 7th, when the news that Judge was registered on the injured list was delivered, and rose to second place alone in the American League.

Currently, Ohtani’s performance is at an all-time high pace in pitching and hitting. Ohtani appeared in 70 games as a hitter, recording 81 hits, 22 homers, 54 RBIs, 47 runs, a batting average of 0.301, and an OPS of 1.006. He leads all home runs, OPS, and base hits (167). As a pitcher, he is 6-2 with an earned run average of 3.29 in 14 games. He has not been very lucky in recent wins, but his batting average is the lowest in the league.

Ohtani is running first in the team with bWAR (contribution to victory over substitutes) of 4.7 based on the American baseball statistics site ‘Baseball Reference’ and fWAR 3.0 (1st place) in ‘Fan Graph’. As he is active as a ‘double wielder’, his WAR is bound to be high, but it is clear that he is showing good performances on both sides. This is why Ohtani has no choice but to have an advantage in the MVP competition.

With Judge’s hiatus getting longer, Ohtani is highly likely to win both the American League MVP and home run title if the current trend continues. If asked to pick a candidate to check the current MVP, the Tampa Bay Rays ‘ace’ Shane Mcclanahan (11-1, 2.12 ERA) is the only one. However, as there is a ‘Cy Young Young’ in the major leagues, the MVP title is not often given to pitchers.

The US’Sports Illustrated (SI) has already marked Ohtani as the American League MVP. SI said, “Ohtani has already put an end to the American League MVP race.” “Ohtani is the player who hits the most homers and has the hardest time hitting. There are better hitters and pitchers than Ohta. Because of that, Ohtani is the most amazing player of all time.”

“The comparison between Babe Ruth and dual swords was broken a long time ago. Don’t take Ohtani for granted. Ohtani is having a season with Mike Trout (LAA) and Justin Verlander (NYM). No one plays as well as Ohtani. There is no,” he said, predicting that he would win the American League MVP.

According to the ‘New York Post’, Judge continues to receive injection treatment. However, the timing of his return is still unknown. Reporters are asking if he can undergo ‘surgery’ if his condition does not improve, and director Aaron Boone did not give a clear answer to the possibility of returning before the All-Star break.

What if Ohtani, who gets his first free agent qualification after this season, comes out on the market with MVP and home run titles in his hands? The amount seems to be beyond imagination.