Shohei Ohtani futures odds for 2023: MLB betting markets for Angels superstar

There’s only one ballplayer with listed odds to lead MLB in both strikeouts and home runs. Of course, there’s only one Shohei Ohtani.

The latest: Ohtani backed up his unanimous MVP season in 2021 with a runner-up finish in 2022. As a two-way superstar, he leaves us plenty of room to manoeuvre on the futures market.

Shohei Ohtani futures odds

MLB odds as of 3:30 p.m. ET on 03/28/2023.

O/U: 34.5

Ohtani fell a sliver shy of this total in 2022, hammering 34 home runs over 157 games — after hitting 46 as an MVP winner the year before.

Based on his Baseball Savant metrics, there’s reason to be encouraged about Ohtani climbing over this mark in 2023. His slugging percentage (.519) lagged significantly behind Savant’s .552 xSLG measure and could be a good sign for the upcoming campaign.

O/U: 93.5

It might be tough to justify an over bet on this market, even with the talented Mike Trout and Taylor Ward slated to bat in front of him.

Ohtani did get over this line last year (95 RBIs), but six of FanGraphs‘ seven projection systems prefer his under in 2023. If he stays healthy and active as a hitter, this one could come down to the season’s final week.

Other Shohei Ohtani markets

Shohei Ohtani futures odds, MVP: +175

This looks like an aggressive price point for someone who didn’t even win last year, right? Well, you have to consider the historic nature of Aaron Judge’s season.

Unless Judge plans on topping his AL-best 62 home runs, this looks like Ohtani’s award to lose. He simply provides too much value when you combine his pitching and hitting exploits.

If he’s a top-five Cy Young candidate again, and he posts an .850 OPS or better at the dish, we reckon it’ll take another record-setting season from Judge or somebody else to win MVP.

Cy Young winner: +1,000

Last year, for the first time, Ohtani landed on the Cy Young ballot. That’s no coincidence, given that his 166-inning workload was his largest as a big-leaguer.

Ohtani paced the AL in strikeouts-per-nine (11.9) and finished second in FIP (2.40). If he’s able to up his innings count again this year, he’s a serious threat to take home this award (and pad his MVP case in the process).

HR leader: +1,600

If Ohtani is going to lead the majors in home runs, he’ll certainly need to clear his 34.5-homer line.

We like the chances of that, and he definitely has an outside shot of coming out on top in the league-wide rankings.

He finished two off the lead in 2021, and Angel Stadium profiles as the second-friendliest home run ballpark for lefties, per Baseball Savant.

Best Shohei Ohtani bet

We’ve made the case for it a couple of times already in this article, but let’s just affirm that Ohtani over 34.5 home runs (-113) is our favourite bet for him.

Ohtani went homer-less in 22 consecutive games to end last season, which was his longest drought of the campaign. If he’d hit just one homer in that stretch, he would’ve cleared this total.

Instead, he followed up his 46-homer season with 34 long balls. Not something to be discouraged by.

ZiPS projects 36 home runs for Ohtani over 152 games. That’s quite encouraging for siding with the over on this market.