It’s no surprise that the Los Angeles Angels hitter Shohei Ohtani has once again ranked No.1 as per MLB Network’s rankings. This will mark his second consecutive season being named the top MLB player in a row. Shohei Ohtani made his debut with the Angels in 2018 and now continues to do wonders with his incredible performance.
Right after his debut, Ohtani was named the AL Rookie of the Year and since then, he seems like a force to be reckoned with. In the 2022 season, Ohtani averaged a career-best of 2.33 ERA with a 15-9 record. He has also collected 219 strikeouts across 166 innings, averaging 11.9 strikeouts per 9 innings. This makes him the second-highest with such stats in the league.
With the World Baseball Classic just around the corner, Ohtani is all geared up to represent his home country, Team Japan for the 2023 edition. Alongside him are other Japanese MLB stars such as Yu Darvish and Seiya Suzuki joining in the team.
Related: Mike Trout Opens Up About Shohei Ohtani’s Future With Angels
Shohei Ohtani is amongst the favorites against Aaron Judge and Mike Trout to win American League MVP 2023
The odds drawn are very much in favor of Shohei Ohtani for winning the AL MVP of the year 2023. Ohtani ranks short +200 favorite while Aaron Judge and Angels player Mike Trout rank next with odds of +450 each. Here is a closer look at how the odds look for the players.
| Player (Team) | Odds |
| Shohei Ohtani (LAA) | +200 |
| Aaron Judge (NYY) | +450 |
| Mike Trout (LAA) | +450 |
| Julio Rodriguez (SEA) | +700 |
| Yordan Alvarez (HOU) | +1100 |
| Vladimir Guerrero Jr (TOR) | +1200 |
| Jose Ramirez (CLE) | +1500 |
| Corey Seager (TEX) | +2000 |
| Rafael Devers (BOS) | +2000 |
| Kyle Tucker (HOU) | +2500 |
| Wander Franco (TB) | +2500 |
| Adley Rutschman (BAL) | +2500 |
| Byron Buxton (MIN) | +3000 |
| Bo Bichette (TOR) | +3500 |
| Carlos Correa (MIN) | +3500 |
| Marcus Semien (TEX) | +4000 |
| Luis Robert (CHW) | +4000 |
| George Springer (TOR) | +4000 |
| Alex Bregman (HOU) | +4000 |
| Jose Altuve (HOU) | +5000 |
| Tim Anderson (CHW) | +5000 |
| Bobby Witt Jr (KC) | +5000 |
| Jeremy Pena (HOU) | +5000 |
| Giancarlo Stanton (NYY) | +6000 |
| Jose Abreu (HOU) | +7000 |
Shohei Ohtani, with his current odds, has a probability of 33.33% of winning the MVP award. On the other hand, Judge and Trout, with odds of +450, stand only an 18.2% probability of winning the award. This makes Ohtani twice as likely to win the award as compared to Judge and Trout.
Ohtani’s free agency later would spark another new conversation about his contract amongst the MLB community. With such phenomenal stats and plays from the Angels hitter, it is predicted that he might bag a contract worth $500 million or more.
With MLB regular season starting in less than a month’s time, fans are gripped with excitement to watch Ohtani perform his best yet again on the field.
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![Jeremy Pena and Jerry Layne [Image Credit: USA Today/Yardbarker]](https://firstsportz.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Untitled-design-11-350x250.png)
![Shohei Ohtani [Image Credit: The Japan Times]](https://firstsportz.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Untitled-design-12-37-350x250.png)
