Can Kyle Schwarber chase down Shohei Ohtani for MVP?
Yahoo Sports senior MLB analyst Jake Mintz and senior MLB analyst Jordan Shusterman debate whether or not Kyle Schwarber could beat Shohei Ohtani in the MVP race and discuss what Schwarber would have to do to make that happen. Hear the full conversation on the “Baseball Bar-B-Cast” podcast - and subscribe on Apple Podcasts , Spotify or wherever you listen.
Video Transcript
If Kyle Schwarber hits 74 home runs, he's the MVP.
Like, OK, let's just start there.
If he just keeps racking up 4 homer games and gets to 74, yes, yes, I think my point is that if he gets to 74, he's the MVP.
If he does not hit another home run the rest of the year, he's not the MVP.
There is a number of home runs that he can theoretically hit between now and the last game, where you're like, that's the MVP.
Jordan, is it that simple for you?
Is it as simple as he gets to 65 and you're like, that's the MVP?
To me, it shouldn't be.
I understand, yeah, if you're talking about a historic total, I get that.
The problem is that at this point, we're gonna get 4 or 5 more starts of Otani.
So we're gonna be looking at, it's not like he's that far behind.
Would it be shocking if Otani ends up with more home runs than Schwarber?
Also, no, honestly, Otani has to be bad on the mound as far as I'm concerned.
He has to be almost.
Making it harder for the Dodgers to win games, you know, by like a neutral value on the mound.
Yeah, but he's not going deep into games and so they're taxing the bullpen.
And they're having to, you know, like it would have to be, it's still amazing that he's doing it and that's not taking that away from him, but that's what's gonna have to happen because otherwise it's just, I just don't, I just don't see how it's possible.
Now that said, you think even listen, Trever finishing 2nd.
Because of the context that I just gave, which is that he's never finished in the top 10, would be amazing, and I think maybe ends up being deserved.
I think that is gonna be interesting when we compare him to a teammate like Turner, PCA if he heats back up, right?
You know, Lindor is gonna have another 30-30 season as an awesome shortstop.
Like, there are gonna be other good candidates, but it, right now there does seem to be enough of a gap that like people want to push for Schwarber, and I totally get that.
