Can J-Rod steal the MVP away from Shohei Ohtani?By Hank Indictor
The Seattle Mariners are currently in a 3-way cluster for the last 2 AL Wild Card Spots and are fighting for dear life to not only win the division (they sit 1.5 games behind the Houston Astros) but to play extra games in October. They could also play in their first World Series in franchise history if all goes right! Regardless of what happens going forward, one man deserves a ton of credit for their success. His name is Julio Rodriguez, and in just two full seasons, he's made an impact the franchise hasn't seen since the likes of Ken Griffey Jr. and, to a lesser extent, Ichiro Suzuki! In fact, despite another incredible season from Shohei Ohtani (albeit one marred by a series of injuries), I'm going out on a limb, and I will argue that J-Rod deserves to be the American League Most Valuable Player.
Before I make my case for the young sensation, I want to state that this argument is in no way, shape, or form being made to disrespect Shohei Ohtani. I didn't think I'd be making such a case against him about a month or two ago. However, a wise man named John Sterling once said, "Well, Suzyn, you can't predict baseball!" After all, remember when Shohei Ohtani seemed to have a chance to break Aaron Judge's American League Home Run record from just one year ago? At that time, he didn't have much competition in the MVP department. And if you told me before the season that the two-way legend would have 44 home runs, 95 RBIs, a .304 BA, 20 stolen bases, and a 3.14 ERA, chances are I would assume he'd be the surefire MVP winner. And this isn't factoring any injuries into the equation. However, Julio Rodriguez might steal that award from underneath Ohtani.
In addition to being a big reason for the Mariners' postseason push, Julio Rodriguez has made history in several different ways. On Monday, J-Rod hit his 30th home run of the season, and having stolen 36 bases made him the 44th member of the 30-30 Club! Only two players who accomplished this feat did it in a Seattle Mariners uniform, and the other Mariner who did it was also only 22 years old at the time: Alex Rodriguez! Only Mike Trout and Ronald Acuña accomplished a 30-30 season at a younger age. J-Rod is also the only player in Major League history to hit at least 25 homers and steal at least 25 bases in his first two seasons. From August 16th through 19th, J-Rod went on an insane streak where he got at least four hits in each of those games, which tied a record set by Milt Stock in 1925 for most consecutive games with four hits. However, he one-upped Stock because he not only got one more hits during the four-game stretch (17 for J-Rod, 16 for Stock. A record!) but also stole five bases. J-Rod broke the near century-old record during the Mariners' second 8-game win streak in August (yes, you read that correctly), and 2 of the four-hit games occurred during a sweep on the road in Houston! To further understand why this is a big deal, the Mariners were barely above .500 at the All-Star Break and six games out of first. The Mariners are in a significantly better position, even if they are now tied with Toronto for the last Wild Card Spot. If J-Rod had missed a significant amount of time between now and the ASB, there's no chance the Mariners are in the conversation for World Series contention, much less the division. And no matter how things are playing out, it's obvious the Mariners are in a much better position right now because of J-Rod.
"But Hank," some might argue, "Shohei Ohtani can't do it all. He plays for the Angels." I will admit this is a fair argument. After all, when he's healthy, and the Angels aren't trying to make him pitch until his arm falls off, he can only bat once every nine times in the order, and he only starts once every 5th day. But the fact is the Angels have been losing with Ohtani, and they've been losing without Ohtani, especially since, as of this writing, he also has missed ten straight games with an oblique injury, and I didn't even mention the UCL tear. Injuries notwithstanding, the fact is that J-Rod has helped to carry his team into relevance unlike Ohtani. And we're talking about Most Valuable Player here, not necessarily Most Outstanding Player. Sure, there've been players on losing teams who've deserved the award, but in this year's case, despite the excellence of Ohtani, J-Rod can't be ignored. Ultimately, I wouldn't be surprised if Ohtani wins it because, after all, the man is a unicorn, but hopefully, the award goes to its rightful winner. And without any bias, I hope the Mariners can make a deep run in October. That in and of itself would be a great story!