Ohtani Alert

 

Happened to flick over to the Mets channel during a break last night, just in time to hear Gary Cohen—actually, one of the best announcers in the game—chortling over "how Yankee fans are going to react" when Shohei Ohtani is named MVP over Aaron Judge.

Sidekick Ron Darling—again, actually one of the smartest broadcasters out there—seconded that emotion, asking, "How could he [Ohtani] not [be named MVP]? He does everything?"

Well, in truth, Gary and Ron...he doesn't.

The DH-pitcher who GQ informed us "made baseball fun again"—not to mention sweater vests—still has yet to pitch his first complete game, or field a ball at any position save on the mound.

The New Babe Ruth is batting all of .257 this year, for his fourth-place team going nowhere in a weak division.

The Ohtani hyperbole wagon got rolling again because, after your New York Yankees cuffed him all around the Big A on June 2, he has turned in 5 straight, excellent starts, enough to have the Cohens, Darlings, and basketball fans at ESPN all a-swoon.

Don't believe the hype.

Of those 5 great starts, 1 was against Boston (thank you, Mr. Ohtani).

The others...?

They were against Seattle, KC, the ChiSox, and Miami.

What's more, Ohtani is now being pitched with at least 6 days, and almost always a solid week, between mound appearances.

Well, just trying to save a young arm, right?

Or...is this part of the spinmeisters' campaign in the front offices of the Angels and MLB, to further hype the Man Who Would Be The Babe?

Somehow, Ohtani, the man who does it all, managed to NOT pitch in this same stretch against the Astros, Dodgers, and Mets—all of whom he COULD have started against with regular rest.

What makes me think that the Angels' wunderkind won't be throwing against a hard-hitting team for the rest of the season?  

This is how baseball—really, MLB—operates these days. Desperately lacking confidence in its own game, it would rather manufacture stars, endlessly expand the playoffs, fill the sport with gimmicks, and turn a blind eye to rampant cheating, than just put the best against the best out there. 

I think we need to start a counter-campaign to the one the Lords of Baseball have rolled out.  To win the MVP, Ohtani must at least pitch against the tough teams, too.