Point: Ava Inesta
As the MLB regular season is slowly coming to a close, the National League MVP race is heating up. All eyes are on Shohei Ohtani and Francisco Lindor as the top contenders to win the MVP honor.
When talking about which player is most valuable to their respective teams, Lindor is the answer. There’s no player in the National League that has been more important to their team than Lindor has been to the New York Mets and after all, the honor is called most valuable player. He is closing in on 30 home runs and 30 stolen bases with 40 doubles and his career best of 135 OPS+. Lindor’s defense is nothing short of incredible as he sits in the 99th percentile in OAA.
“It would be tough for me to believe that there’s another player in baseball this year who is more valuable to his team than Francisco Lindor is to us,” said Mets President of Baseball Operations and General Manager, David Stearns.
Lindor’s defense is what is keeping him in competition with Ohtani, as he is solely a designated hitter for the Los Angeles Dodgers this year. This season alone, Lindor has over 1000 innings logged at shortstop. He currently has an astonishing 17 outs above average, which is the fourth best in the MLB. Not to mention that he is playing the most valuable position on the field. As opposed to a DH, Lindor plays the field every single day, 162 games, which makes the difference. Ohtani is not the only superstar on the Dodgers as they also have Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman, whereas Lindor is the one and only player that makes an absolute difference for the Mets.
Lindor’s current slash line is .271/.342/.494, which may not be exactly where Ohtani is at offensively, but when speaking about an all-around player, Lindor is the guy. He’s got the leadership and work ethic which has been the glue holding the Mets together in their tight race for the NL Wildcard spot. To continue to talk about his Gold Glove caliber defense, Lindor has played about 1300 more innings at shortstop than Ohtani has, so it only would make sense for the guy that plays both side of the ball to be the NL MVP, am I right?
Counterpoint: Ryan Lombardi
No player in MLB history has ever recorded 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases in a single season. Enter Shohei Ohtani, who currently has 47 and 48 respectively, with two weeks in the season remaining. After hearing about Ohtani breaking countless records as a two-way player, it seems that people have overlooked how valuable he is just as a designated hitter.
Ohtani has already set a career high in home runs, leading the National League runner up by ten, and is poised to continue adding to that number. Speaking of NL leaders, he’s also the uncontested best in terms of bWAR (7.3), slugging percentage (.610), OPS (.983) and runs scored (116). If that wasn’t enough, he’s also second in stolen bases and RBIs (104). Ohtani is undeniably the best offensive player in the NL this season, which deserves to earn him his third MVP in four years.
The only argument against his case is the fact that he doesn’t play defense, especially since he hasn’t been able to pitch this season due to a UCL injury from last year. While Francisco Lindor has been elite defensively at shortstop, it doesn’t make up for just how far offensively he is behind Ohtani. Lindor is certainly one of the best hitters in the league this season, which makes it even more impressive that Ohtani blows his stats out of the water in comparison.
Even in a stacked Dodgers lineup with the likes of former MVPs Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman, Ohtani stands alone, and it should be mentioned that by Shohei’s standards, this is a down year for him when compared to his monster MVP campaign in 2023. Lindor’s efforts are commendable as he tries to push the Mets into the playoffs, but if you aren’t already used to Ohtani by now, you should be. An MVP-caliber season is the expectation for him year in and year out, and like we saw when he lost out to Aaron Judge in 2022, it takes a record-breaking season to keep up with him.
highlight the historic significance of a 50/50 season, but then immediately say it’s a down year per shohei standards. do publications hire people off the street these days?
2006 Ortiz doesn’t win it, neither should Ohtani. Same amount of homers and Ortiz led in multiple categories, Sox didn’t make playoffs and finished 3rd AL East.
Dodgers are a playoff team without him. What value? Still waiting for a definition. He pitches or plays defense, there’s no 50/50. Lindor carried the Mets. There’s no discussion.
Everyone just needs to wipe the Ohtani glaze off their mouth. He’s good, not the GOAT.