The American League MVP race is all but over, according to oddsmakers.
We are just about halfway through the 2023 MLB season, and it appears that Shohei Ohtani has locked up the award after a historic first three months of the season.
FanDuel Sportsbook shifted Ohtani’s odds to take home the award to -1450 after a dominant hitting and pitching performance against the Chicago White Sox on Tuesday.
Texas Rangers shortstop Corey Seager has the second-best odds at a long shot +3500.
No other player has odds better than 60/1.
Unlike in the National League, where Ronald Acuna Jr. potentially could put up a 40/40 season with a .330 batting average, no player has come close to Ohtani’s production in the Junior Circuit.
Aaron Judge, last year’s AL MVP and Ohtani’s top competition to win the award coming into this season already has missed about 30 games with no timetable for a return from a toe injury.
Meanwhile, after finishing second in the AL MVP voting last season, Ohtani has somehow taken his game to another level this season.
Entering Wednesday, Ohtani leads the majors in home runs (28), OPS (1.039) and wRC+ (180).
He also leads all qualified pitchers with a .179 opponent batting average allowed and is second with 11.99 K/9.
Coming into play Wednesday, the Angels are at the halfway point of their season — with 81 games to go — and Ohtani is on pace to hit .304/.386/.654 with 56 homers, 128 RBIs and 22 steals.
On the mound, Ohtani’s on pace to get 14 wins and 254 strikeouts with a 3.02 ERA and 1.03 WHIP.
Ohtani will post an absurd 11.4 wins above replacement if he keeps it up, which would qualify as one of the best individual seasons in MLB history.
Helping Ohtani’s odds, he (finally) has the Los Angeles Angels in the playoff hunt.
The Angels (44-37) entered the night in a virtual tie with the Yankees for the second wild-card spot in the AL.
Though there is time for Ohtani to regress from this historic pace.
But aside from an injury, it’s hard to imagine anyone other than him being the AL MVP.