Mandatory Credit: Kyle Ross-USA TODAY Sports
Shohei Ohtani and Bryce Harper were named American League and National League Most Valuable Players Thursday night.
Ohtani had a historic 2021 season where he mashed 46 homers, knocked in 100 runs, and had a .965 OPS on top of throwing a 3.18 ERA in 130 1/3 innings. The Japanese star finished with 8.1 fWAR — 5.1 from pitching and 3.0 from hitting. Just unreal.
He took home all 30 first-place votes, becoming the first unanimous selection since teammate Mike Trout did so in 2014. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Marcus Semien were finalists, as well, finishing second and third, respectively.
View the full American League ballot here.
Harper, on the other hand, was in a much-closer race with former Nationals teammate, Juan Soto. The Phillie notched 17-of-30 first-place votes, besting Soto’s overall total 348-274.
He nearly led the Phillies to a playoff berth on the strength of his bat. A scorching final two months brought his triple slash line to .309/.429/.615/1.044 to go along with 35 home runs, 6.6 fWAR and a 170 wRC+. It’s the right fielder’s second MVP award after winning one with the Nationals in 2015.
Soto was a viable candidate, as well, with his .999 OPS and 169 wRC+. This will not be Soto’s last MVP candidacy, though his next one will likely benefit from his team getting closer to playoff contention.
The former teammates finished first and second in the voting, with Fernando Tatís Jr. finishing a distant third place. View the full National League ballot here.
To relate this back to the Mets, no player from this year’s roster earned any MVP votes. No Met has ever won an MVP Award, though three players — Keith Hernandez, Tom Seaver, and Darryl Strawberry — have each finished in second place.
