Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani is primed to win his first Cy Young Award originally appeared on The Sporting News.
Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Los Angeles Dodgers two-way star Shohei Ohtani has been one of the best pitchers in Major League Baseball, with a 0.73 ERA and a jaw-dropping 545 ERA+. Ohtani appears determined to win his first-ever Cy Young Award after winning two World Series and four MVPs (two with the Dodgers and two with the Los Angeles Angels).
Ohtani’s dominant showing on the mound — opponents are hitting .163 against Ohtani, and he is allowing a career-low 1.1% home run percentage — has him as a favorite in the latest MLB poll to win the National League Cy Young Award.
Even though Ohtani is a favorite to win the award, he is not in the top three. According to MLB.com’s Jared Greenspan, Ohtani finished behind Philadelphia Phillies left-hander Cristopher Sanchez (first, 17 first-place votes), Pittsburgh Pirates right-hander Paul Skenes (second, nine first-place votes) and Milwaukee Brewers right-hander Jacob Misiorowski (third, seven first-place votes).
More MLB News:Phillies’ Cristopher Sanchez in line to bring home some valuable hardware
“There’s one big thing left for Ohtani to check off on his baseball bucket list, and that’s winning a Cy Young Award. How’s that going? wrote Greenspan. “Well, with five scoreless innings against the Padres on Wednesday, Ohtani lowered his ERA to 0.73, the lowest among all pitchers to throw 40 innings this season. It’s the sixth-lowest ERA by a traditional starting pitcher through the first eight starts of a season in the Live Ball Era (since 1920).”
Ohtani’s performance on the mound hasn’t cost him production at the plate. In 50 games, the four-time Silver Slugger is hitting .270 with a .873 OPS, a 148 OPS+ and has the lowest strikeout percentage (21.9%) and the highest walk percentage (16.5%) of his career. Ohtani’s highest finish in the Cy Young race came while with the Angels in 2022, finishing fourth behind former Toronto Blue Jays right-hander Alek Manoah (third), former Chicago White Sox right-hander Dylan Cease (second) and former Houston Astros right-hander Justin Verlander.
Ohtani was not able to pitch in 2024 after missing the entire season due to Tommy John surgery and was limited to 14 starts last season, which was not enough to qualify. Fully healthy this season. Ohtani seems primed to give Misiorowski, Skenes, and Sanchez a run for their money.
Athletics call up MLB top prospect amid series with MarinersPhillies prospects’ ranking takes a hit due to a nagging injuryRoyals’ Bobby Witt Jr. continues to heat up, despite ‘slow start’Nationals’ top prospect makes tremendous leap in ESPN’s prospect rankingsMariners’ Colt Emerson leapfrogs a few spots in ESPN’s prospect ranking
