Can Shohei Ohtani Challenge Aaron Judge for MVP?

In his celebrated career with the Los Angeles Angels, Shohei Ohtani, baseball’s only two-way superstar, has never had much trouble drawing attention to his exploits.

But with Aaron Judge of the Yankees at 61 home runs and counting ahead of Friday night’s game, Ohtani has taken something of a back seat despite having arguably been better than he was while winning the American League’s Most Valuable Player Award last season.

On Thursday, Ohtani reminded everyone of his value.

With Judge and the Yankees getting a much-needed day off after the excitement of No. 61 on Wednesday, Ohtani made his move. He took a no-hitter into the eighth inning against the lowly Oakland Athletics at Angel Stadium in Anaheim, facing the minimum number of batters through seven innings. The only base runner to that point was a walk to start the game that was quickly erased by a double-play.

Ohtani’s pursuit of his first complete game in the United States, and baseball’s second solo no-hitter of the season, ended with a pair of singles in the eighth, but he matched his career high with eight innings pitched, allowed no runs and two hits, and struck out 10. The Angels won, 4-2.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/30/sports/baseball/shohei-ohtani-aaron-judge-mvp.html