With Shohei Ohtani Out Of The Picture, Get Ready For What Could Be A Wide Open Race For AL MVP

Shohei Ohtani has been unanimously named American League MVP twice in the last three years.

It appears that the race in 2024 will be more open.

With Ohtani in the National League, the door is now open for several other hopefuls off to strong starts. One of them is Aaron Judge, who won the trophy in 2022 after hitting 62 home runs. He is the only player outside Ohtani to have garnered a first-place vote for AL MVP since 2021.

Judge helped the New York Yankees to the American League’s best record in May, hitting 361 with 14 home runs. However, there is still plenty of early competition for MVP, including one of Judge’s teammates. Juan Soto, the National League MVP runner-up in 2021 with Washington, has been spectacular in his debut season with the Yankees.

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With Shohei Ohtani Out Of The Picture, Get Ready For What Could Be A Wide Open Race For AL MVP

Outside of New York, a few shortstops have stood out. In Baseball-Reference’s measure of wins above replacement, Baltimore’s Gunnar Henderson and Kansas City’s Bobby Witt Jr. are the next AL leaders behind Judge. Henderson has the opportunity to follow in the footsteps of Orioles legend Cal Ripken, who became the first player to earn Rookie of the Year and MVP in consecutive seasons in 1982 and 1983. (Previously, Fred Lynn won both in the same year.)

Witt is the brightest player on a Kansas City club that, after losing 106 games in 2023, is now 12 games above 500.

Also, don’t rule out Houston’s Kyle Tucker, who hit 19 home runs before being placed on the injured list this week. The Astros got off to a bad start, but they might easily overcome what appears to be a low bar to make the AL playoffs.

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With Shohei Ohtani Out Of The Picture, Get Ready For What Could Be A Wide Open Race For AL MVP

Ohtani is not pitching this season due to elbow surgery, and his inability to play in the field also disadvantages him in his pursuit of a third MVP. But he’s hitting. 310 with 15 home runs and 14 steals after joining the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Since the major leagues expanded to 30 teams in 1998, at least 12 teams have ended the season with a winning record. Right now, there are just ten, including four in the Netherlands. Things might change—there are 11 teams between 500 and three games under—but if the season ended today, there would be not one, but two sub-.500 National League teams would make the playoffs.

On Saturday, Kevin Gausman struck out ten in pitching a five-hit shutout in Toronto’s 7-0 win over the Oakland Athletics. Gausman’s first career shutout and nine-inning complete game.
Kansas City’s spectacular season reached new heights Friday night against Seattle.

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With Shohei Ohtani Out Of The Picture, Get Ready For What Could Be A Wide Open Race For AL MVP

The Royals trailed 8-0 in the fourth inning, with a 1.0% chance of winning, according to Baseball Savant. Then Kansas City scored four runs in the bottom of the inning, led by MJ Melendez’s three-run homer, and the comeback was on. It was 9-7 in the ninth when the Royals knotted it with an RBI groundout by Maikel Garcia and a run-scoring triple by Witt.

Nelson Velázquez hit a groundball, and when the Mariners failed to turn a double play, Witt scored to give Kansas City a 10-9 win. It was only the second time this season that a club won after trailing by eight runs.

SOURCE – (AP)