Pete Crow-Armstrong emerges as favorite to win NL MVP

It’s been a long time since Shohei Ohtani has had competition for the MVP award, and it appears the reigning MVP could be dethroned.

According to DraftKings Sportsbook, Chicago Cubs’ Pete Crow-Armstrong has overtaken Ohtani as the favorite to win the National League MVP.

Armstrong leads the NL MVP sweepstakes with at -120 odds, while Ohtani is sitting behind him at +100.

The two are viewed as the clear favorites to win the award as Washington Nationals shortstop CJ Abrams (+10000) and Kyle Schwarber (+15000) trail by a landslide.

The numbers between Ohtani and Armstrong are nearly identical, as the two are tied for home runs (26) and RBI (71).

The difference maker for Armstrong in this race appears to go down to his 7.5 WAR, 30 stolen bases and his 22 OAA, marking him as one of the best defenders in baseball.

At one point this season, Ohtani was viewed as the favorite to win the award for the fourth consecutive season as he was flourishing at the plate and was dominant on the mound, pitching with a 1.79 ERA and 95 strikeouts through 14 starts.

But on July 3, his time on the mound came to a sudden halt after he was dealing with soreness in his knee and would eventually be shut down from pitching.

Throughout his career, Ohtani has made most things look easy, but his journey back to pitching has been the complete opposite, as he’s suffered multiple setbacks, including regression in his knee and a pectoral injury.

Healing from a knee injury is tough, especially when he is still running on it as a hitter.

In his first season with the Dodgers, Ohtani had one of the best seasons in his career, when he hit 54 home runs and stole 59 bases. This year, he’s stolen only 6, likely because he’s trying to rest the sore knee as much he can.

But with his inability to pitch and dealing with a bad knee, it’s clear that this could ruin his chance to become the first player to win the MVP award for four consecutive seasons since Barry Bonds did it from 2001-04.

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