Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Angels and Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees have a relationship between a ‘challenger’ and a ‘champion’. It is a competition for the American League (AL) MVP.
Judge hit 62 homers, the most in a single AL season last year, and received the first place vote from 28 reporters in the press vote, becoming the first MVP of his career. Ohtani also recorded 34 homers, 95 RBIs, 15 wins, an ERA of 2.33, and 219 strikeouts for the first time in history, filling the required at-bats and innings, and achieved cartoon-like results for two consecutive years, but could not reach Judge’s historic record. Still, he earned two first-place votes.
This season, the dominant view is that the AL MVP will be a competition between the two players. The Yankees (26-20) accounted for 28.4% of the total schedule, and the Angels (23-22) 27.8%. As the team ranking competition is in full swing, the individual title fight is also getting more interesting.
On the 19th (hereafter Korean time), the two players hit home runs side by side to lead the team to victory. It is said that the second round of the MVP competition following last year has just begun.
In an away game against the Baltimore Orioles at Camden Yards, Ohtani went 2-for-5 with 2 RBI and 1 run, including a final hit and a home run.
In the top of the first inning, Ohtani pulled opponent starter Tyler Wells’ 85.5 mile changeup and fired a solo shot that went over the right-middle wall. In the 8th inning, where the score was tied at 5-5, Ohtani turned the tide of the game 6-5 by hitting an infield hit with two outs and first base in the 8th inning. Baltimore first baseman Ryan Mountcastle hurled himself to catch the ball, but Ohtani, who was agile, lived comfortably without a chance for the pitcher to lift the base cover. The Angels won 6-5. 카지노사이트
Marking a batting average of 0.292, 10 home runs, 31 runs batted in, 26 runs scored, and an OPS of 0.904, Ohtani posted 5 wins and 1 loss, an average ERA of 3.23, and 71 strikeouts in 9 games as a pitcher. He is likely to achieve both at-bats and innings at the same time this season, and if he maintains his current pace, he can post 36 homers, 112 RBIs, 18 wins, and 260 strikeouts. He surpasses last season’s performance.
Unless, of course, there are injuries. After the game, Angels manager Phil Nevin gave a thumbs up, saying, “Ohtani is steady and does well throughout the year. He doesn’t hit every at-bat and hit a home run, but his home run in the first inning today was decisive for victory.”