American League MVP

[Tom Servo]

Big subject of debate on social media lately. Statistics such as WAR favors Judge, but I think it discounts how unprecedented it is for a guy to pitch 150ish innings the way Ohtani has in place of fielding his position well.

I imagine Judge is going to win it, and I'm not going to be upset because he deserves it, but if I had a vote it would go to Ohtani.

[LeatherPants]

Ohtani Ohtani Ohtani Ohtani Ohtani Ohtani.

Nobody can do what he can do.

[Sea Ray]

Angels are nearly 20 games under .500. Yankees are competing for a championship. Aaron Judge is the easy choice for this award. Player of the year or something similar can go to Ohtani

[Wonderful Monds]

The fact that WAR actually does give Judge the edge despite Ohtani’s 2 way talents, and he’s on a winning team as opposed to the perennially irrelevant Angels, makes him the winner imo

[LeatherPants]

I hate the "valuable" vs "best player" debate. Give it to the best player.

[Tom Servo]

The fact that WAR actually does give Judge the edge despite Ohtani’s 2 way talents, and he’s on a winning team as opposed to the perennially irrelevant Angels, makes him the winner imo

To me the winning team thing is irrelevant, I know that's a whole other can of worms but baseball is a largely individualized sport and I think you can be the MVP on a bad team.

The WAR argument is fair but in my view shows the limits of WAR. Judge has had an insanely good season at the plate and does well enough in RF. Is that significantly more valuable than a guy who is a .900 OPS bat with 32 HRs AND has thrown 148 innings of 2.48 ERA ball? I just find that a little hard to believe. Better I can buy, but significantly better? If Ohtani was out there playing a passable left field instead of DHing would that push him over the top by WAR? Is he penalized that harshly for not snagging some fly balls?

[LeatherPants]

To me the winning team thing is irrelevant, I know that's a whole other can of worms but baseball is a largely individualized sport and I think you can be the MVP on a bad team.

The WAR argument is fair but in my view shows the limits of WAR. Judge has had an insanely good season at the plate and does well enough in RF. Is that significantly more valuable than a guy who is a .900 OPS bat with 32 HRs AND has thrown 148 innings of 2.48 ERA ball? I just find that a little hard to believe. Better I can buy, but significantly better? If Ohtani was out there playing a passable left field instead of DHing would that push him over the top by WAR? Is he penalized that harshly for not snagging some fly balls?

Ohtani has a 149 OPS+ in 600 plate appearances AND a 2.43 ERA in 148 innings pitched. Nobody has done anything like that since Babe Ruth. It's insane.
O

[Wonderful Monds]

To me the winning team thing is irrelevant, I know that's a whole other can of worms but baseball is a largely individualized sport and I think you can be the MVP on a bad team.

The WAR argument is fair but in my view shows the limits of WAR. Judge has had an insanely good season at the plate and does well enough in RF. Is that significantly more valuable than a guy who is a .900 OPS bat with 32 HRs AND has thrown 148 innings of 2.48 ERA ball? I just find that a little hard to believe. Better I can buy, but significantly better? If Ohtani was out there playing a passable left field instead of DHing would that push him over the top by WAR? Is he penalized that harshly for not snagging some fly balls?

I wouldn’t say that being on a bad team disqualifies a guy from being an MVP, but if it comes down to splitting hairs, I give it to the guy that’s contributing to a real contender. I know it’s probably overthinking it a bit and it’s out of Ohtani’s control how well his teammates are playing, but the fact that Judge is playing in a scenario where it actually means something makes his production more valuable IMO. It gives him the slight edge over Ohtani.

Also not for nothing - as good of a hitter and pitcher Ohtani is, Judge does have a solid .200 points of OPS on him which is pretty insane! He’s been absolutely out of his mind this year.

[757690]

Ohtani should win it most years. I would like it to go to someone else if there is a viable option. Judge is more than a viable option. There’s a decent argument that he deserves it more outright. I would vote for Judge if I had a vote.

[getfoul]

Ohtani is doing something great. Historic player.

Judge is the MVP this year, and it won’t be a close vote.

[westofyou]

Julio Rodriguez

[Rantly]

Angels are nearly 20 games under .500. Yankees are competing for a championship. Aaron Judge is the easy choice for this award. Player of the year or something similar can go to Ohtani

I agree with this, although not particularly an easy choice.

[Tom Servo]

Julio Rodriguez

[Tom Servo]

Also not for nothing - as good of a hitter and pitcher Ohtani is, Judge does have a solid .200 points of OPS on him which is pretty insane! He’s been absolutely out of his mind this year.

I have 0 argument against Judge, he is more than deserving. I just think it's hard to quantify how impressive what Ohtani has done. Like Leather Pants said, the list is him and Babe Ruth and nobody else. Think about all those great hitters in the 90s-00s who crushed HRs and rocked sky-high OPS', could you imagine if any of them also turned around and threw 150 innings of sub 2.50 ERA ball?

[*BaseClogger*]

Which player is going to get the larger contract this offseason? I feel like that will help define which player teams view as "more valuable"...