There was a point late this summer when it looked like there was a legitimate two-man race for National League MVP. Yes, Shohei Ohtani was doing his usual thing in Los Angeles, but Francisco Lindor was playing out of his mind as well for a Mets club making a surprise run at the postseason.
Could Lindor actually beat out Ohtani for the most prestigious individual award in baseball?
In the end, the answer was a clear no. While Lindor did help get New York into the playoffs, he missed eight key games down the stretch with a back injury. Ohtani, meanwhile, had a closing stretch for the ages: seven homers, 11 stolen bases and an insane .547/.586/1.057 slash line over his final 12 games, during which he became the first player in major league history in the 50/50 Club.
So it came as no surprise Thursday night when Ohtani was named the 2024 NL MVP in a unanimous vote. It’s the third MVP of his illustrious career, and he joins the immortal Frank Robinson as the only players in history to win MVP in both leagues.
That historic performance made Ohtani an easy decision for me on my MVP ballot, which I was fortunate enough to receive this year as one of two designated voters from the Baltimore/Washington chapter of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. I’ve voted for MVP several times before, and sometimes it’s been a tough call. I remember waiting until the final day of the 2007 season before picking Jimmy Rollins over Matt Holliday. This one really wasn’t a tough call in the end.
What Ohtani did in his first season with the Dodgers was nothing short of remarkable. Playing every day as designated hitter while rehabbing his elbow from Tommy John surgery, he still found a way to lead the NL in homers (54), RBIs (130), runs (134), on-base percentage (.390), slugging percentage (.646), OPS (1.036) and both versions of WAR (9.2 for Baseball-Reference, 9.1 for FanGraphs).
No one else came close to matching those numbers. In fact, Ohtani arguably had the best season of his career, even though he didn’t pitch. His WAR total still topped his mark from his first MVP in 2021 with the Angels (9.0) and nearly matched his mark from 2023 (9.9). Again, he was still statistically the most valuable player in the league even though he only hit, didn’t pitch and didn’t play defense.
I don’t simply use WAR as my end-all, be-all for the MVP vote, though. Ohtani led the NL in all the other aforementioned offensive categories. And his contributions were meaningful to the Dodgers; his 7.1 Win Probability Added rating was more than twice as high as anyone else in the league.
The MVP ballot doesn’t include only one name, though. We are asked to list our top 10 players, so there were plenty more decisions to make, most of them more complicated than the decision in the No. 1 slot.
My No. 2 pick was Lindor, who legitimately did have a great season and undoubtedly was valuable to an excellent Mets team. He provided his value not only at the plate (32 homers, 39 doubles, 29 steals) but also in the field, with FanGraphs deeming him the third most valuable defensive player in the NL.
Ketel Marte landed in the No. 3 spot on my ballot, the Diamondbacks second baseman starting to be recognized more and more around the sport for his excellent performance (36 homers, .932 OPS, 6.9 bWAR). Right behind him was Marcell Ozuna, the one consistent producer (39 homers, 102 RBIs, .932 OPS) in a Braves lineup that was decimated by injuries and needed his production to make the postseason.
Bryce Harper was fifth on my ballot, the two-time MVP coming up a bit short of his typical offensive numbers but nevertheless leading the way in Philadelphia once again while playing a solid first base to give him the fourth-highest bWAR total (4.8) of his career, trailing only his two MVP seasons and Rookie of the Year campaign here in D.C. Right behind Harper was Brewers catcher William Contreras, a two-way force at and behind the plate for a division champion.
Some voters don’t like to include pitchers on their MVP ballots. I’m not one of them. I believe an elite starting pitcher is just as valuable as anyone, and this year I felt two of them merited recognition, side-by-side in the sixth and seventh positions. I had the Phillies’ Zack Wheeler (2.57 ERA, 0.955 WHIP, 224 strikeouts) just slightly ahead of Cy Young Award winner Chris Sale (2.38 ERA, 1.013 WHIP, 225 strikeouts) based on the 22 1/3 more innings he pitched. Volume equals value, in my book.
Rounding out my ballot were a couple of electric youngsters: the Reds’ Elly De La Cruz (36 doubles, 10 triples, 25 homers, 67 steals) and Padres rookie Jackson Merrill (31 doubles, six triples, 24 homers, 90 RBIs).
If I was allowed to include more than 10 names on my ballot, I would’ve happily voted for the Padres’ Manny Machado and the Giants’ Matt Chapman. I also gave consideration during my voting analysis to Mookie Betts, Teoscar Hernandez, Willy Adames, Freddie Freeman, Jurickson Profar and Kyle Schwarber.