Shohei Ohtani is mainly a lock to win the AL MVP at this level. He’s neck-and-neck with Vladimir Guerrero Jr. as a hitter this season — each have been fairly unimaginable — however Ohtani’s pitching numbers make it nearly an unfair competitors.

And it’s not simply that he has respectable pitching numbers. He has fairly nice pitching numbers. So let’s ask this query: Might Ohtani win the Cy Younger, too? 

It’s not as loopy as you would possibly assume. He’s not the favourite at this level, however he’s inside shouting distance with just a little greater than a month left within the season. He was the AL’s beginning pitcher on the All-Star Sport, bear in mind, however that was largely a “give the followers who they need to see” choice by Rays supervisor Kevin Money, skipper of the AL squad. In order that’s just a bit bonus to the dialog, not an precise verify mark in his favor. 

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For the precise case for Ohtani, let’s begin with this: He’s fourth amongst AL pitchers with a 3.9 bWAR, a tick above Carlos Rodon (3.8) and behind Robbie Ray (5.2), Lance Lynn (4.9) and Gerrit Cole (4.9). That’s begin. Keep in mind, we’re not saying he would win if the season ended right this moment, simply that he would possibly soar to the highest of that checklist by the top of the 12 months with a robust end. And that’s simply to say he must proceed doing what he’s doing now.

His most up-to-date begin was an eight-inning gem towards the Tigers, throughout which he allowed only one run and 6 hits whereas placing out eight and issuing zero walks. In his 5 begins after the All-Star break, he has a 1.36 ERA, with solely 21 hits and 4 walks allowed in 33 innings. Actually darn good. And there’s one different factor to say about Ohtani’s beginning All-Star nod: Money was in a position to get away with that crowd-pleasing choice due to the dearth of any legitimately dominant starter within the AL this 12 months. 

He’s not competing towards Peak Kershaw or Peak Scherzer or Peak Verlander. He’s “simply” competing towards superb pitchers having superb years. 

Let’s do some comparisons. Listed below are the highest 5 pitchers in Baseball-Reference’s WAR formulation, plus Nathan Eovaldi, who’s second in FanGraphs’ WAR calculation. 

Amongst pitchers within the AL with at the very least 100 innings this 12 months, he’s top-six in ERA, Okay/9, FIP, bWAR, strikeout proportion (29.6 p.c), opponents batting common (.187), WHIP (1.06), ERA+ (168) and HR/9 (0.72). That’s not an exhaustive checklist, both. Yep, he’s in that blend. Not main the pack, however within the combine. 

However among the many six pitchers we checked out above, he’s at/close to the underside in WAR (each calculations) largely due to one factor: innings pitched. That’s the stat that could be essentially the most tough for Ohtani to beat, even with a lights-out end. Due to his obligations because the membership’s finest hitter — oh, yeah, that little factor — he’s not beginning each fifth day like most starters. He has 19 begins, whereas many of the others on this checklist have 22 to 24. 

Ohtani: 100 innings
Cole: 142 IP
Lynn: 130 2/3 IP
Ray: 145 1/3 IP
Rodon: 109 2/3 IP
Eovaldi: 145 IP

Innings matter for any postseason award. It’s not that the pitcher with essentially the most innings defaults to the award. In no way. However let’s have a look at Ray and Ohtani. Each have a 2.79 ERA, however Ray has thrown 45 1/3 extra innings than Ohtani. Primarily based on that statistic, he’s been extra useful as a pitcher to his membership than Ohtani has, proper? At seven innings per begin, that’s roughly six further begins value of innings that Ray has offered his membership this 12 months. That issues. 

After all, voting for the Cy Younger isn’t nearly one statistic, and even three or 5 statistics. I can promise you, as somebody who has voted for the Cy Younger award previously — and I’ve an NL Cy Younger vote once more this 12 months — the whole lot is taken into account. Not simply the six stats I used for the comparability above, however so many stats on the market issue into the equation. 

However, once more, bear in mind what we stated about how he’s not competing towards Peak Kershaw?

The less-than-10 inning hole between Ohtani and Rodon is mainly nothing. He’s now 30 2/3 behind Lynn, which is a lofty hill to climb contemplating Lynn’s ERA/WAR benefits. He’s 45 behind Eovaldi, however contemplating Ohtani’s sizable benefits in ERA, H/9 and Okay/9 (amongst others), he’s in all probability already made up that floor. The problem is most important with Ray and Cole, each of whom are 40-plus innings forward of Ohtani and have comparable numbers throughout the board. 

That’s a hurdle, little doubt. However there is a purpose we maintain speaking about Peak Kershaw. Keep in mind 2014? Kershaw received the NL Cy Younger with 198 1/3 innings, above second-place Johnny Cueto (243 2/3 innings) and third-place Adam Wainwright (227 innings). He received as a result of his general numbers overwhelmed the excellent seasons and superior innings totals for Cueto and Wainwright, helped by Kershaw’s 1.60 ERA from the top of August to the top of the season. 

Consider Ohtani’s Cy Younger possibilities like Toronto’s wild-card possibilities. The Blue Jays definitely are ok to win video games in October, and their deficit — 4 1/2 video games, heading into Monday — isn’t unattainable to beat. However to get there they’ll want at the very least two of the groups forward of them — the Yankees, Purple Sox, A’s and Mariners — to falter down the stretch, as a result of they’ll’t do it alone. 

So, to reply our authentic query — Might Ohtani win the AL Cy Younger, too? — the most effective reply is presumably, however in all probability not — except he posted a sub-1.00 ERA the remainder of the best way, and perhaps mixes in a no-hitter or 14-strikeout recreation. After all, there’s additionally this: We’ve develop into fairly used to seeing unimaginable issues from Ohtani in 2021, haven’t we?