Shohei Ohtani, Francisco Lindor are Likely Making Baseball History in NLCS
When the National League Championship Series begins on Sunday night, it will feature some of the best players in the entire sport. Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman all represent the Los Angeles Dodgers while Francisco Lindor and Pete Alonso represent the New York Mets.
First and foremost, it's a win for baseball to have so many prominent players on the national stage like this. With regards to Ohtani and Lindor, they are also likely to to be making some baseball history as well.
Per Sarah Langs of MLB.com:
The presumptive 1-2 finishers in NL MVP voting, Shohei Ohtani & Francisco Lindor, face off in the NLCS
The top-2 in MVP voting met in the LCS 3 prior times in the Wild Card Era:
2020 (Freeman/Betts), 2017 (Altuve/Judge), 2002 (Bonds/Pujols)
h/t @MLBNetwork research squad
Obviously the MVP voting doesn't come out until after the playoffs, so we don't know officially that these two will be the top two, but it would take a miracle for them to not be.
Ohtani put together one of the greatest seasons we've ever seen this year, hitting .310 with 54 homers and 130 RBI. Not only that, he had 59 stolen bases, becoming the first player ever to go 50/50 in a single year.
As for Lindor, he hit .273 this season with 33 homers and 91 RBI. He also stole 29 bases and posted an .844 OPS. While Ohtani clearly had the "better" season, there are many people who feel that Lindor is actually more "valuable" to his team.
Game 1 begins at 8:15 p.m. ET.
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