Does Shohei Ohtani Injury Benefit Texas Rangers Duo in MVP Race?

Before the UCL injury to Los Angeles Angels superstar Shohei Ohtani, the American League Most Valuable Player race was basically done.

And it’s certainly possible that Ohtani could win the award despite the injury. On Thursday, it was reported that he wants to continue to hit, in spite of the fact that he can no longer pitch.

Just as a batter he’s an MVP candidate — 304/.405/.664/1.069 with 44 home runs and 91 RBI. That’s before you take into account his pitching.

But if Ohtani bats out the rest of the season, he’ll do so for a team that is sinking in the AL West standings and just put outfielder Mike Trout back on the injured list.

Would voters choose to give the MVP award to players that play out the rest of the season for contenders?

CBS Sports put together a list of seven players that could win the award in Ohtani’s place, depending upon the final weeks of the season.

Two of them were Texas Rangers — Marcus Semien and Corey Seager.

Semien has played in practically every game his season for the Rangers and can make a compelling case, and his solo home run against Minnesota on Thursday night only reinforced it, per CBS:

He might be the best chance here with the gaudy WAR showing while playing every day for what has been one of the best teams in the league this season, especially with that team being such a pleasant surprise.

The WAR referenced is Semien’s 5.7 WAR, which is second-best in the AL behind Ohtani, who has astronomical WAR of 9.6.

As for Seager, he’s missed several weeks this season with a hamstring and thumb injuries. But when he’s been on the field he’s been one of the game’s most productive hitters. For reference, Ohtani has a 1.069 OPS. Seager’s OPS entering Thursday was 1.073.

Per CBS:

He's hitting a robust .343/.411/.651 (184 OPS+) and that's absolutely an MVP slash line. Of course, he's not even qualified for the batting title. Even if he plays every single game the rest of the way, he'll finish with 119 games. That's short of Ohtani. Seager would have to keep up this ridiculous pace and not miss any games and still probably would be well short of Ohtani in terms of individual value.

Helping both players is a close AL West race in which the Rangers have a slim lead over the Houston Astros and Seattle Mariners. It should be one of the most dramatic races down the stretch, and attention will be firmly on Semien, Seager and the Rangers while Ohtani and the Angels play out the string.

You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard.

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