hardball Joel Sherman Settling the Shohei Ohtani vs. Pete Crow-Armstrong NL MVP debate — and handing out MLB season awards By Joel Sherman Published Sep. 26, 2026, 10:27 a.m. ET Chicago Cubs center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong acknowledges the crowd after stealing second base during the first inning against the Miami Marlins at Wrigley Field in Chicago, Thursday, September 24, 2026. It was his 40th stolen base. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect Work with me here.
Imagine that this was Shohei Ohtani’s first MLB season. Thus, this was the first time you regularly saw the same human start 14 games with a 1.79 ERA and produce the fifth-best OPS in the majors.
The attempt is to erase from your mental database familiarity. So you see this fresh and, thus, remove fatigue or boredom or Dodgers hatred or whatever might come when the baseball miraculous is done too often in front of you, rendering it mundane.
If you can attain that state where you see it all anew, let me ask you this: Would you vote for Ohtani as National League MVP?
