Shohei's taking all of the fun out of the MVP race again
But Petecrow is still making his case
The Cubs finished the first "half" of the season 54-42, and on a nice kick, going 15-6 over their last 21 games. They currently hold the top wild card spot in the NL, the one they used last year to win their first playoff series in eight years.
Looking at the Brewers' current state you'd feel like there's a real chance to catch them. Milwaukee surged past the Cubs earlier this year in large part due to incredible starting pitching performances by the wet faced baby giraffe Jacob Misericordia and Kyle Harrison.
Harrison is now on the IL with elbow soreness, and Misericordia was skipped from his start yesterday because of fatigue. His ERA is an impressive 1.62, but the Brewers had to go to extreme measures to get four of the five runs he coughed up on July 2 against the Reds changed to unearned runs. They lobbied their own official scorer to change an infield hit on a sac bunt attempt changed to an error on first baseman Jake Bauers. It wasn't an error.
Quinn Priester won't pitch at all this season, and Brandon Woodruff's arm falls off every time he tries to pitch and he needs six weeks off before he can try it again.
Will the Cubs catch Milwaukee? Probably not. As bad as those pitching injuries in Milwaukee are, the Cubs' are somehow even worse.
The Cubs have done a very admirable job continuing to win games. But that also indicates that Milwaukee can approximate that and stay in front of them.
Oh, wait. I forgot. The Cubs got Phil Maton back!
Ugh.
Many of us grew up in an era when it was nearly impossible for anyone other than Michael Jordan to win NBA MVP. Eventually voters got tired of voting for him, even though every full season he ever played for the Bulls he was the most valuable and best player in the league, so Karl Malone and Charles Barkley both got pity MVPs along the way.
In today's National League, players are facing that same sense of hopelessness with Shohei Ohtani's existence. If Shohei is going to post MVP-esque stats as a designated hitter, and then pitch like a Cy Young Award winner, how can anybody actually be more valuable?
They can't.
And this year it's going to screw the other two realistic MVP candidates. Both of whom are near and dear to our hearts.
