Shohei Ohtani is back to doing both at the highest level, and the pitching half is somehow the more impressive part. The Dodgers superstar has a 0.68 ERA through six starts. That is not a typo.
That is a pace that would shatter modern pitching records over a full season. Ohtani is also putting up MVP-level offensive numbers because of course he is. He is leading every preseason MLB Rank and the consensus is that he is running away with the NL MVP.
You can argue who the best player in baseball is. You cannot argue who the most valuable is.
The Pitching Comeback Is Real
Ohtani had not pitched in two years before this season because of the elbow surgery that limited him to DH duties for the Dodgers’ 2024 World Series run. The expectation was that he would ease back into pitching with limited innings and aggressive monitoring.
Instead, he came back better than he was before. Six starts and just three runs allowed. The strikeouts are coming. The walks are minimal. The Dodgers are giving him five innings at a time and he is dominating.
The slow return strategy is working exactly the way Andrew Friedman drew it up. Ohtani has been on a strict pitch count, but the results have been so absurd that the Dodgers can afford to let him build up gradually without losing anything in the standings.
The Two-Way Math Is Insane
Ohtani is also slashing well above league average at the plate. His on-base percentages, slugging numbers, and counting stats are all where you would expect from a guy in the conversation for best hitter in the league.
Add the pitching and the value calculation is broken. He is essentially giving the Dodgers two roster spots worth of production from one player. No other team in baseball has that. Nobody is even close.
This is why Aaron Judge has to put up an OPS approaching 1.100 to even compete in the MVP conversation. Ohtani is doing 90 percent of what Judge is doing offensively while also being one of the best pitchers in the league. The math wins.
The Dodgers Are Stacked
Los Angeles is off to a strong start as expected. The lineup is loaded. The pitching staff has been better than predicted. The Dodgers look like the team to beat in the National League and probably in baseball overall.
That makes Ohtani’s contributions look even more outrageous in context. He is the best player on the best team in baseball, and the best team in baseball is one of the deepest rosters in recent memory.
The Dodgers paid Ohtani $700 million for a reason. They are getting every penny of value out of him this season.
What This Means for History
A 0.68 ERA over a full season is not realistic. Ohtani will give up runs at some point. Even Pedro Martinez in his peak years had a 1.74 ERA in his best season. What is more likely is that Ohtani settles into the 2.00 to 2.50 range while still putting up Cy Young-caliber numbers.
Combine that with his usual offensive output and you get the most unique MVP candidacy baseball has ever seen. He is going to win this award by a mile barring an injury.
The Health Question
The only thing that can stop this is his arm. Ohtani has already had two major elbow surgeries. Asking that arm to throw 150-plus innings while also taking at-bats every day is asking a lot. The Dodgers are managing his workload aggressively for exactly this reason.
If he stays healthy, he wins the MVP. If he stays healthy, he wins the Cy Young. If he stays healthy, the Dodgers probably win the World Series.
That is a lot of “ifs” tied to one elbow. So far, the elbow is holding up.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
