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Justin Verlander's brother, Ben Verlander, sparked a conversation online with his views on the National League MVP race between Shohei Ohtani and Francisco Lindor. As per Verlander, Ohtani's probable historic 50-50 season (50 home runs and 50 stolen bases) gives him a huge edge over Lindor for the coveted title. However, New York Mets fans strongly disagreed with his take.
On Saturday's episode of his "Flippin' Bats" podcast, Verlander invited former eight-time All-Star pitcher John Smoltz to give his two cents on the discussion. Verlander mentioned that while stealing bases might be easier, hitting home runs is harder. To this, Smoltz said:
"They're going to be the elite guys that hit a bunch of mistakes and they're right down the middle. And so that part of hitting home runs is probably better than ever. But the pushback would be that the relievers and the stuff is harder than ever to hit." (Time stamp: 8:50)
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With 45 home runs in the season, 100 RBIs and 46 stolen bases, Shohei Ohtani is ahead of Lindor, who has 30 homers, 84 RBIs and 26 stolen bases.
"Now, when you talk about 50-50, I can honestly say that if he [Ohtani] does it this year, that'll never be done again," Smoltz added. "So that makes the statement. It's actually harder to do. If somebody breaks that barrier, you would think that more people would. I just don't think we'll ever see it again." (Time stamp: 11:10)
Shohei Ohtani equals two career highs with HR vs. Guardians
Shohei Ohtani was the lone star for the LA Dodgers as they fell 3-1 to the Cleveland Guardians in their series opener on Friday. The Japanese superstar hit a solo blast in the bottom of the sixth inning. This was his 45th home run of the season, just one shy from his career high of 46 in 2021.
The 30-year-old also equaled his career highs for hits and RBIs in a season. In 2021, he recorded 100 RBIs, whereas the following year he had 160 hits. He achieved both with his homer on Friday. Notably, there are 21 games left this season for Ohtani to add to these numbers.
