Shohei Ohtani injury: How does Angels star’s UCL tear affect AL MVP race?

Los Angeles Angels superstar Shohei Ohtani is, unfortunately, human. Despite his meteoric rise through the sport, achieving things we never thought possible, his elbow seems to operate just like everyone else’s. During the first game of Wednesday’s doubleheader against the Cincinnati Reds, Ohtani suffered a tear in his UCL; surgery may be needed to fix it, though no determination has been made just yet.

What we do know is that Ohtani will not pitch again this season. The team hopes that he will still be able to DH as they look to make a postseason push — he was in the lineup in the night-cap last night, despite already knowing his diagnosis — but with L.A. falling further out of postseason contention, who knows how much more we’ll see of Ohtani this year. Which begs the question: Whether or not he can remain in the lineup, has Ohtani done enough to secure the 2023 AL MVP Award?

If you head to DraftKings Sportsbook, you will notice that no odds are listed for the award. While you may think this is because of the injury, and the book is scrambling to come up with the odds for the remaining players, the odds for the AL MVP winner have been pulled for a while. It’s not hard to see why: Amidst a season where he has hit 44 home runs and 91 RBI while also compiling a 10-5 record on the mound with a 3.14 ERA and 167 strikeouts in 132 innings of work, Ohtani was thought to have the honor sewn up already.

From his dominance at the plate and on the mound, the odds were so in his favor that it made the most sense for the book just to take them down. Ohtani has likely done enough with about 40 games left to lock down the award, even if he doesn’t play the rest of the season.

As it currently stands heading into Thursday’s games, he has 11 more home runs than the next AL batter. Luis Robert Jr. of the Chicago White Sox has knocked 33 long balls, but with only 67 RBI and a .266 batting average, he isn’t really in contention. The biggest threat would be Houston Astros outfielder Kyle Tucker. He leads the American League with 95 RBI, has 25 home runs and is batting. 293 with a 3.7 WAR. These are impressive numbers, but even typing them out, it is clear how much they pale in comparison to Ohtani’s as they currently stand. Tucker would have 38 games to make it close, but the 2023 AL MVP Award should still go to Ohtani.