baseball

Judge hits 50th home run, Ohtani also goes deep as Angels edge Yankees

11 Comments
By JILL PAINTER LOPEZ

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@kaimycahl, Judge hit 39 home runs last season, not 50.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Does it really mean much to a team that one guy can do both? Obviously it is impressive that he is such a rarity - but if the Angels just had another pitcher of his grade then they could get similar results as a team.

There actually is a significant value to a team of having one guy who can do both. If he was just a hitter and not a pitcher as well, they’d have to get another pitcher to do that half of his job, which would take up another spot on the 25 man roster. In other words, having one guy do two jobs while only taking up one roster spot means the team de facto effectively has a 26 man roster, allowing them to add another arm to the bullpen or bat on the bench that other teams don’t have.

Not that this advantage has helped them much this year, but its an important value that he does add.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

I would say Ohtani, was a legitimate MVP last year Judge hit 50 home runs that same year and didn't win but was a close second. Its hard to hit 50 home runs back to back and Judge did it this year so I would give the edge to Judge based on that fact even though Ohtani is having a good season, I don't think he will get the MVP this year is pretty much comparable to what Judge did last season and he won but to go 50/50 two years in a row thats hard to beat!

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Ohtani bandwagon fan here, and I knew nothing about baseball until his coming. From my comment you can freely conclude i still know nothing!

Last year Ohtani got the MVP award unanimously, which seemed to be quite something. Not a single vote went elsewhere, even to the home run kings.

He had almost the highest number of home runs and had decent pitching results too, plus he can run the bases good and steal; this year it seems his numbers show his pitching is better, even though his hitting results are not quite as good as last year at the same point.

But even last year, I would not say he were either the best batter nor best pitcher - but obviously pretty damn good at both. Not being the best in either still got him the MVP last year unanimously.

Does it really mean much to a team that one guy can do both? Obviously it is impressive that he is such a rarity - but if the Angels just had another pitcher of his grade then they could get similar results as a team.

Maybe that has little to do with how the MVP is awarded anyway.

But it seems to me if he won it unanimously last year, this year he has to be a very serious contender - just the balance of his performances has come up on the pitching side. He is still the one guy who can basically do both. If he and Judge had both produced this years results, last year, would he still have won the MVP?

Anyway I guess the MVP votes are pretty subjective in the end, and it would be kind of weird if Ohtani were to keep winning the MVP every year because of his unique two way abilities. While I enjoy watching his stuff, the objective part of me says that doing both may not be such a big deal for a team, when you can play different guys if you want.

Hmmm, here’s another one - were you the manager, would like like to have Ohtani or would you like to have Judge?

MVP might be more meaningful in terms of financial performance as a draw card, as opposed to the team’s results on the field.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Sadly, should things fail to change in the last month, I think rainyday's argument will carry the day.

(Still hoping for a change of events myself)

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

I don't think the team's strength should matter. 

But it does matter quite a bit, the writers who vote on it tend to think of "valuable" in terms of how much a guy helped his team win, which is more difficult to demonstrate if your team isn't winning.

There are a few examples of players who did win the MVP despite playing on a last place (or second to last place) team (such as Cal Ripken in 1991, A-Rod in 2003) but those tend to be exceptions where you both had A) a guy on a weak team having an incredible year, and B) no player on a winning team putting up anywhere near the same type of performance.

This isn't one of those years though. The writers have an obvious candidate on a winning team - Judge - to vote for and that is likely to be decisive. You also have a couple other things working against Ohtani:

1) the novelty factor of his accomplishment that helped him win last year is not longer as novel;

2) his hitting is good, but not at the same level as last year when he came close to leading the league in home runs, rather than being 21 behind the leader. His pitching is still quite good, but the weak Angels have left him with a less impressive W-L record than last year (despite an excellent ERA).

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

I am not much of a numbers guru, but if comparing by WAR, Judge is currently between 7.4 and 7.9 depending on the calculation method (and there is nothing further that I can add as I do not understand them).

Ohtani is a combined pitching/batting 7.0.

So I suppose things could switch the last month of the season.

Also, (and I don't think this will be considered, but a man can dream) Otani has been pitching without any significant run support (By my count, it has turned at least 3 quality starts into losses or no decisions) and has been batting with no back up in the line up.

I like Judge just fine and he has a beautiful swing. But the "incredible" 2-way factor of Otani.... Well, I just don't think is is being valued for its true glory.

Glad I have been alive to see it.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

I don't think the team's strength should matter. Ohtani singlehandedly stopped many angels losing streaks, and is doing things that have never been done before. He is basically 2 players in one body. That said, I have no problem with them switching it up and giving it to Judge this time.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Judge is uquestionably having a better season at the plate but man, is Otani incredible at both.

He gets my MVP vote, but I must admit to bias.

Ohtani is doing well again, but Judge is playing for a first place team, Ohtani for a last place one. Much though I like him, I don't think there is much of a case for Ohtani winning a second MVP this year (barring a miracle September).

3 ( +5 / -2 )

I think the brilliance of Ohtani was on display in the at-bat he had against Montas, in which he homered. Montas was throwing splitter after splitter to Ohtani. By the time Ohtani saw the third splitter from Montas, he anticipated where it would be. Sure enough, he was thrown another low splitter, and adjusted well to swing the bat where he thought it would be. Lesson: You can't be one-dimensional as a pitcher; especially against someone as smart as Ohtani is.

6 ( +6 / -0 )

Judge is uquestionably having a better season at the plate but man, is Otani incredible at both.

He gets my MVP vote, but I must admit to bias.

5 ( +7 / -2 )

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