Angels News: Shohei Ohtani 'Wasn't Happy’ About Losing 2022 MVP to Aaron Judge
In 2021, Angels superstar Shohei Ohtani was the unanimous winner of the American League Most Valuable Player Award after posting a 3.18 ERA in 130.1 innings pitched and clubbing 46 home runs with a .965 OPS at the plate. Last year, he was even better on the mound with a 2.33 ERA in 166 innings, and he was nearly as good at the plate, with his OPS+ dropping from 157 to 145, still 45 percent better than league average.
Overall, after winning the MVP with 9.0 WAR in 2021, Ohtani finished second in the voting in 2022 with his 9.6 WAR. It wasn't him, though — Aaron Judge knocked an AL-record 62 homers and posted an astounding 10.6 WAR to win the award.
Despite Judge's fantastic year, losing the MVP didn't sit well with Ohtani, according to Halos manager Phil Nevin on SiriusXM's MLB Network Radio.
"I'm excited to have him. He's got a lot of accolades and honors that come his way, and rightfully so, and I know he's determined to have an even better year from last year. He wasn't happy about not winning the MVP, I can tell you that. But he wants to win, first and foremost. He's excited about the pieces we've added. We've been able to communicate throughout the winter, and he's really excited to get started with what we have lying ahead of us."
You have to like Ohtani's MVP chances again in 2023. It took a historic season from Judge to knock him off, and historic seasons, by definition, don't happen very often. With Ohtani's dominance at the plate and on the mound, he'll be the odds-on favorite for MVP every year that he's healthy. It will be up to someone else to take it from him.
Judge did that in 2022. Will anyone be able to beat out Ohtani in 2023? I wouldn't bet on it.
