The 2024 National League MVP award will boil down to Los Angeles Dodgers superstar designated hitter Shohei Ohtani and New York Mets standout shortstop Francisco Lindor. While Ohtani’s historic showing this year may have him poised to come away with the honor, his Dodgers and Lindor’s Mets have a date in the NLCS beginning on Sunday night that will allow both talents to show who the better man is.
Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani has groundbreaking feats & wins fueling his MVP case
Ohtani has done it all in 2024. He became the first player in Major League Baseball history to join the illustrious 50-50 club, having hit 54 home runs and stolen 59 bases. The Japanese talent led the MLB with 134 runs and 411 total bases, and also led the National League in on-base percentage (.390) and OPS+ (190). To cap it all off, he was the spearhead who allowed the Dodgers to slice through the regular season and finish with the best record in the big leagues at 98-64.
With his unparalleled winning, historic slugging, and now another stamp on his campaign with timely hits in L.A.’s NLDS win, the 30-year-old has left little room to debate his claim for the MVP award. However, that doesn’t negate the legwork that Lindor has put in on the other side of the country in 2024.
Lindor leading a Cinderella Mets team with a stellar NLDS showing adds to his bid for MVP
The Puerto Rican superstar infielder hit 33 home runs and drove in 91 RBIs while slashing .273/.344/.500 at the plate and producing a .844 OPS. It’s not every year that a player goes 50-50 like Ohtani did this time around, yet Lindor was just one stolen base away from joining the 30-30 club for the second straight season. He has been a model of consistency and his excellence also translated on the defensive end, where he notched 358 assists and 74 double plays turned to only 12 errors at shortstop for the Mets.
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He has amplified his case with a masterful showing against the juggernaut Philadelphia Phillies in New York’s NL Wild Card and NLDS series, where he produced a whopping seven hits in as many games, three of which were doubles, and six RBIs as he led the No. 6-seeded Mets to major consecutive upsets, first over the No. 3-seeded Milwaukee Brewers and then over the No. 2-seeded Phillies respectively.
Just judging by the way in which the Mets torpedoed their way back from a concerning drought midseason and clawed their way into playoffs, coupled with him shutting the door on a Phillies team that many thought could win it all this year, the discussion can remain alive for who should take home NL MVP honors when it’s all said and done. That is heightened in juxtaposition to the Dodgers nearly getting eliminated by the San Diego Padres in their NLDS duel.
Ohtani & Lindor can prove who the more valuable player is in Game 1 of the NLCS and on
They’ll get their first taste of action against one another in these playoffs on Sunday night. Ohtani will go up against his Japanese compatriot and former 2023 All-Star RHP Kodai Senga.
He may find success at the plate given his familiarity playing with the star pitcher on Japan’s national team at the World Baseball Classic, on top of Senga facing potential rust after starting only once in nearly three months with a calf strain. The lefty slugger will enter the affair with a .200 batting average and four hits to 10 strikeouts.
Lindor will faceoff against Dodgers star Jack Flaherty. L.A.’s current No. 1 pitcher struggled in his first playoff game against the Padres with a 6.75 ERA, and also owns an underwhelming 1.319 career postseason WHIP, but still needs to be taken seriously given his strong showing in the regular season.
There’s no doubt that Ohtani should be looked at as the favorite to add a third MVP to his trophy case. Nonetheless, if Lindor leads the Mets to a win over Ohtani’s Dodgers and advances his underdog squad to the World Series, he may very well be the proverbial people’s champ, given that MVP honors are to be predicated solely on regular season play. No matter, this NLCS battle will prove much and close the season off with a definitive answer as to who may have been more important to their team on the campaign.
