MVP Favorites for 2024 MLB Season || FULL VERSION
Edition #147
NL:
I guess I have less work for this one because there’s only exactly one player I have to talk about. His name is Shohei Ohtani, the 43/43 superstar. Yes, Shohei is the first-ever player to hit 43 home runs and steal 43 bases in the same season. Nope, Babe Ruth has never done it. Nope, Jackie Robinson never did it. Nope, Ken Griffey never did it. Heck, never did Willie Mays do it. What an accomplishment this man has achieved.
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First off all, Ohtani was the first Dodgers and the fastest ever to get a 40/40 season. If you thought you heard this same talk about a 40/40 season last year, you’re right. Ronald Acuna Jr. of the Braves also accomplished the same feat. The only difference was, and it’s a big difference, he did it in 154 games, while Ohtani did it in 126. The only other members of the 40/40 club are Alfonso Soriano, Alex Rodriguez, Barry Bonds, and Jose Canseco.
Another thing that happened last year and this year was history. Last year, Acuna created his own historical club being the first player ever with a 40/70 season. On Friday, August 30th, Ohtani created his own club with a 43/43. Actually, forgive me, but after Sunday’s games, it’s now 44/43.
This season is way too historical for Shohei Ohtani to not win the MVP award. He’s now currently on pace for a 50/50 season and with 2 more games like Friday’s (1 home run and one stolen base), he’ll match Rickey Henderson’s record of those types of games in a season with 13. He’s only in his first season with the Dodgers, but he’s already accomplishing so much. With 9 years, left, who knows what more will happen with Shohei Ohtani!
I get that Bryce Harper is having a fantastic season, but is he batting close to .300? No. Is he having a 40/40 season? No. Shohei Ohtani’s winning this award, by quite a lot, and will join Mookie Betts as another player to win an MVP award in both the AL and the NL.
AL:
This will be the most interesting race, especially with historic seasons being also put up here.
The two current competitors are Bobby Witt Jr. and Aaron Judge and both are putting historical numbers in their own way. For one, Judge is about to break his own single-season home run record, while Witt is breaking records in his own way.
That’s amazing. That’s some good company Witt is in. Jimmy Rollins is definitely a hall of fame even if he didn’t get elected and Ken Williams is a historic figure in the world of baseball.
Let’s build Witt’s case even more.
86- Hal McRae (1977)
85- George Brett (1979)
82- Jorge Soler (2019)
81- Witt Jr. (2024)
81- McRae (1982)
80- Carlos Beltran (2002)
79- Jermaine Dye (1999)
76- Dye (2000)
75- Mike Sweeney (2001)
What’s the number you ask? Well, it’s the number of extra-base hits in Royals franchise history. Reminder, there’s still one month of the season left, which means barring an injury, he can easily pass this mark. Another record.
Meanwhile, Aaron Judge is well within reach of the American League HR record of 62 games. That’s crazy already as most people who have tried to achieve this record or even come close to it are the people who use PEDs. In August, Judge became the fastest player to reach 300 home runs. He started his MLB journey in 2017, meaning in just 7 years he’s surpassed such a feat. The next closest player has 258 home runs.
With both these players doing so well, we have to look at what they’re bad at which is where Aaron Judge loses me.
This isn’t necessarily bad, but Witt has done more than Judge. For starters, Witt has a better average and has more runs, hits, doubles, triples, fewer strikeouts, and more stolen bases. If we go to OPS and SLG, while Judger has more, it’s not by a lot and by quite less.
There’s the case for Bobby Witt Jr. to win MVP.