Shohei Ohtani has already collected four MVP awards throughout his career, and now he’s mounting a serious push for an honor that has never been his: the Cy Young Award. But the competition in the National League this season may be too fierce to overcome.
Through 12 starts with the Los Angeles Dodgers — who are approaching the midpoint of their schedule — Ohtani sits at 7-2 with a sparkling 1.47 ERA across 73 2/3 innings pitched. His career bests in both categories came back in 2022, when he made 28 starts and threw 166 innings for the Los Angeles Angels, going 15-9 with a 2.33 ERA and finishing fourth in the American League Cy Young voting.
Ohtani’s bat has historically been more consistent than his arm from season to season. He didn’t take the mound at all in 2019 or 2024, and his teams have carefully managed how much he pitches. He’s currently a few innings short of officially qualifying for the ERA title, but with a mark well under 2.00, there’s no question he ranks among the best starters in the game right now.
Despite those impressive numbers, oddsmakers still view him as an unlikely Cy Young winner. Milwaukee’s Jacob Misiorowski leads the pack at 8-3 with a 1.45 ERA over 15 starts, while Philadelphia’s Cristopher Sánchez is close behind at 9-3 with a 1.80 ERA — and he recently wrapped up a stretch of 50 2/3 consecutive scoreless innings.
On the offensive side, Ohtani remains the overwhelming favorite to take home yet another MVP. His home run and stolen base totals aren’t at the jaw-dropping levels he’s reached before, but he tops the National League in on-base percentage. When you add in his contributions on the pitching side, it’s difficult to argue that anyone else deserves the award.
A bit of Dodgers history: the very first Cy Young Award was handed to a Brooklyn Dodger. In 1956, when the award covered both leagues under a single honor, Don Newcombe claimed it. Since the franchise relocated to Los Angeles, seven Dodgers pitchers have taken home the Cy Young — Sandy Koufax three times, Clayton Kershaw three times, Don Drysdale, Mike Marshall, Fernando Valenzuela, Orel Hershiser, and Eric Gagne.
The 2026 baseball season has already produced two hitting for the cycle moments. Pete Crow-Armstrong of the Chicago Cubs completed the single-double-triple-home run sequence on Monday during a victory over Colorado. Then, this past Saturday, Philadelphia Phillies star Bryce Harper accomplished the same feat during a lopsided win over the New York Mets. One small footnote: Crow-Armstrong was picked off first base right after the single that completed his cycle, giving Harper a slight edge in the comparison.
Worth noting alongside Harper’s big day: teammate Kyle Schwarber launched three home runs in that same game. The last time two players on the same team each hit for the cycle or went deep multiple times in one game was June 3, 1932, when Lou Gehrig of the New York Yankees slugged four home runs while Tony Lazzeri hit for the cycle. The Yankees topped the Philadelphia Athletics 20-13 that afternoon.
Friday night brought one of the more stunning comebacks of the season, as the Athletics rallied from a seven-run deficit in the sixth inning to defeat the Los Angeles Angels 12-11 in 10 innings. The A’s had jumped out to a 4-0 lead before allowing 11 straight runs. By the bottom of the seventh inning, Baseball Savant had the Angels’ win probability sitting at 99 percent.
The rally started a frame earlier when Zack Gelof singled home a run to trim the gap to 11-5. Then, with two outs in the seventh, Tyler Soderstrom drew a walk and Jacob Wilson followed with a two-run homer to make it 11-7. Max Muncy added a two-run shot in the eighth to pull the A’s within two. With their last out looming in the ninth, Jonah Heim connected on a tying two-run homer to force extra innings. In the 10th, Muncy — playing third base — threw out a runner at the plate, and the Athletics ultimately won when Nick Kurtz worked a bases-loaded walk in the bottom half.
Despite now carrying the worst run differential in the American League at minus-54, the Athletics stand at 38-40 and trail first place in the AL West by just one and a half games.
