[ODDS and EVENS] Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani Should be Selected as Co-MVPs

The MLB world is laser-focused on Shohei Ohtani's free agency. Since his exit from Los Angeles Angels is more or less confirmed, fans have been trying to guess a suitable landing spot. The team's geography was the priority at first, but recent reports bring a different opinion. Location is important after all, but something else might be a…

While Los Angeles Angels release some kind of statement that explains why Shohei Ohtani cleared out his locker yesterday and traveled to Japan, let's talk about his potential next team in MLB. It's no secret the Japanese phenom feels like the Angels promised him something they didn't deliver on. That alone should be more than enough reason for him…

Whether it be sportsbooks, the media, or baseball fans in general, it just keeps happening: We continue to underrate and overlook the dominance of Yankees slugger Aaron Judge. At this time last year, Judge had already cranked 21 of his AL single-season record 62 home runs. He had 30 bombs by July 8, when my colleague and Sporting News MLB editor…

Minnesota Twins starting pitcher Kenta Maeda throws a pitch in the first inning against the Tampa Bay Rays on March 2 at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida. (Dave Nelson/USA TODAY SPORTS) Before joining the Minnesota Twins in 2020, veteran pitcher Kenta Maeda had a trio of double-digit win seasons since he made his MLB debut with the Los…

New York is coming off a 101-61 season and an appearance in a National League Wild Card Series against the San Diego Padres. The Mets won 24 more regular-season games in 2022 under first-year manager Buck Showalter than they did the year before under former skipper Luis Rojas. That raised expectations for 2023, and Mets owner Steve Cohen and…

Japan's Takehiro Tomiyasu (left) and Croatia's Ivan Perisic vie for the ball in the first half of a 2022 FIFA World Cup match at Al Janoub Stadium in Al Wakrah, Qatar. (Dylan Martinez/REUTERS) Croatia, the 2018 FIFA World Cup runner-up, kept alive its hopes of reaching the championship match again by beating Japan 3-1 in a penalty shootout in a…

Danon Beluga (right), one of Heart's Cry's offspring, competes in the G3 Kyodo News Hai (Tokinominoru Kinen) at Tokyo Racecourse on February 13. (ⒸSANKEI) This article first appeared on SportsLook, JAPAN Forward's dedicated sports website. It's easy to forget most horse race results due to the bevy of activity and busy year-round schedules at…

Japan national team manager Hajime Moriyasu announces the roster for the upcoming 2022 FIFA World Cup on November 1 in Tokyo. (Eugene Hoshiko/AP) This article first appeared on SportsLook, JAPAN Forward's dedicated sports website. In selecting Japan's 2022 FIFA World Cup roster, men's national team manager Hajime Moriyasu assembled a squad that…

Yokohama FC's Koki Ogawa scores his second goal against Roasso Kumamoto on October 23. (KYODO) This article first appeared on SportsLook, JAPAN Forward's dedicated sports website. Remarkable achievements happen throughout the year. And one of the most enjoyable aspects of being a columnist is discovering, researching and writing about such things…

Mina Sato competes in the women's keirin final at the 2022 UCI Track Cycling World Championships on October 16 in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, France. (Japan Keirin Association/via KYODO) This article first appeared on SportsLook, JAPAN Forward's dedicated sports website. Decades ago, the American comedians Bud Abbott and Lou Costello weighed in on a…

Few players can single-handedly define an entire season, yet for most baseball fans, the 2022 season belonged to Aaron Judge. The New York Yankees slugger put the world on notice when he set a new single-season home run record for not only the Yankees organization but the entire American League. Judge's 62 home runs surpassed Roger Maris for first…

Japan's Kie Tamai carries the ball as Canada's Mikiela Nelson attempts to make a tackle in a Women's Rugby World Cup match on October 9 in Whangarei, New Zealand. (Courtesy of World Rugby/via SANKEI) This article first appeared on SportsLook, JAPAN Forward's dedicated sports website. Global tournaments are important testing grounds for individual…

NFL legend Tom Brady has an interesting proposition for New York Yankees star Aaron Judge. Having produced one of the most prolific offensive seasons in history, Judge has a pot of gold coming his way. The Yankees slugger turned down a substantial seven-year, $213.5 million extension offer on Opening Day and is due to enter free agency after the…

This article first appeared on SportsLook, JAPAN Forward's dedicated sports website. Two rising American tennis stars renewed their rivalry in the men's singles final at the Rakuten Japan Open on Sunday, October 9. World No. 11 Taylor Fritz and 19th-ranked Frances Tiafoe went all-out in pursuit of every point in just under 1 hour and 57 minutes of…

Los Angeles Angels designated hitter Shohei Ohtani gets ready for the team's game against the Oakland Athletics in Oakland, California, on October 4. (Godofredo A. Vasquez/AP) This article first appeared on SportsLook, JAPAN Forward's dedicated sports website. The second full season of Shohei Ohtani's one-of-a-kind role as a full-time starting…

Los Angeles Angels designated hitter Shohei Ohtani rounds second on a single hit by Taylor Ward during the first inning against the Texas Rangers in Anaheim, California, on October 2. (Ashley Landis/AP) This article first appeared on SportsLook, JAPAN Forward's dedicated sports website. Shohei Ohtani is having another MVP-caliber season for the Los…

Alpinista holds off Vadeni to win the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe in Paris on October 2. (AP/via KYODO) This article first appeared on SportsLook, JAPAN Forward's dedicated sports website. Alpinista won the 2022 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe in Paris, outracing a field of 19 other thoroughbreds in heavy rain on Sunday afternoon, October 2. Japanese…

Lee had the best day of the trio, shooting a 6-under 66, including eight birdies, to claim her first title on the tour. She finished at 19-under 269. Ecuador's Daniela Darquea carded an 18-under 270, including a 66 on Sunday, to finish a shot adrift of former Stanford University standout Lee. Furue, who won the Women's Scottish Open on July 31,…

Montreal Canadiens center Nick Suzuki skates with the puck against the Carolina Hurricanes on March 31, 2022, in Raleigh, North Carolina. (Karl B DeBlaker/AP) As the new captain of the Montreal Canadiens, Nick Suzuki will fill a key leadership position for the NHL franchise. This visible role in the hockey-obsessed nation puts Suzuki in the…

San Diego Padres starter Yu Darvish pitches against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium on September 2. (Jayne Kamin-Oncea/USA TODAY SPORTS) When Yu Darvish made his NPB debut for the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters in 2005, nobody predicted that he'd have 3000 career strikeouts 17 years later. But we can look at the totality of Darvish's…

The biggest headline over the past week in MLB has been the great debate on who should win the AL MVP. Aaron Judge or Shohei Ohtani? Aaron Judge is currently on pace to beat Roger Maris' single season record of 61 home runs, and generational two-way player Shohei Ohtani has performed as not just a top-15 hitter, but a top-15 pitcher as well. It's…

Japan point guard Yuki Kawamura runs the offense against Kazakhstan in a 2023 FIBA World Cup Asian qualifier on August 30 at Okinawa Arena. (FIBA.BASKETBALL) Balanced scoring and a strong all-around effort in the second half ignited Japan to a 73-48 triumph over Kazakhstan in a 2023 FIBA World Cup Asian qualifier on Tuesday, August 30. Japan…

Ohtani, who was penciled in Angels manager Joe Maddon's lineup as the designated hitter, lasted 4⅔ innings in his first Opening Day start to usher in his fifth MLB season. He received the assignment twice during his NPB career, in 2015 and 2016 with the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters. The game began with Ohtani firing a 99-mph (159-kph) fastball to…

NEW YORK - Back on Opening Day, Aaron Judge wagered on his 2022 performance and rejected the Yankees' $213.5 million extension offer. Judge followed through with an all-time season in his free agent walk year. On Thursday night, official validation of an historic individual MLB season arrived as Judge captured the 2022 American League Most Valuable…