00:00The NL, we have an odds-on favorite. That means minus money, and it's Shohei Ohtani at a minus
00:04140 price, followed by Juan Soto at 7-1, Ronald Acuna at 11-1. If you're looking at Ohtani and
00:10you want to fade him, let's just say, you're just hoping he gets injured, because we will say this
00:14time and time again. If you are out there and you're voting on the MVP award, and Shohei Ohtani
00:19pitches to a 4 ERA with 31 home runs and a 260 average, he's far and away the best player
00:24in
00:24Major League Baseball and should win the award. But the expectations, Tom, that Ohtani sets for
00:28says, wow, he didn't get 50 home runs. He only stole 13 bases. Boy, he only pitched
00:34to a 4.15 ERA. Yeah, he's not the MVP. Like, who can steal it from? If Ohtani plays the
00:39whole
00:40season, who can steal it from him, Tom? There's only two scenarios that I would see
00:45that would give us a legitimate argument for another player winning NL MVP. Number one would
00:51be Kyle Schwarber having 65 home runs, which I think is doable. It's obviously in the very
00:57upper end of outcomes. Or two would be Acuna doing what he did in 2013, excuse me, 2023,
01:03which was 41 home runs, 149 runs, 106 RBIs, and 73 steals. Like, we need such an extreme
01:12outcome that we're having Kyle Schwarber flirt with a 70-plus home run season, or Acuna doing
01:19something so unworldly that he is literally producing every single at-bat. Whether it's a
01:24sack fly, whether it's a run, a home run, a walk, he steals a base and comes in and score.
01:28It has to
01:29be something so dramatic that it will bring pause to the voters to say, hey, Ohtani's great. He was a
01:35good pitcher this year. He was a really good hitter. But what this player doing, we have to take note
01:39of.
01:40Yeah, you take a look at Eli Dela Cruz at 30-1. So why would that be interesting? Look, small
01:44ballpark there, power surge here, steals some bases. He can steal some of the limelight at that point.
01:48And also, we talked about a pitcher caliber of Tarek Skruble in the American League. Can he get
01:53hot, win a Cy Young and say, you know what? I had one of those best pitching moments here
01:57of the last decade and maybe be in that MVP race. You take a look at the National League,
02:01Paul Skeens. He's actually 35-1. The dominance is there where he can win the Cy Young and maybe
02:06factor in. Because if the Pirates are going to be, Tom, in the playoff race, Skeens was probably out
02:12of his mind this season. And maybe that propels him up there.
02:16That's what it has to be. They're winning the games. Because they're always talking about,
02:20oh, the Pirates lose games when Skeens pitches. And they lose the games 2-1 because they only gave
02:25up the one run. And the bullpen blows it. But it has to be something like that. It has to
02:29be
02:29Skeens doing everything in order to put them into the playoff conversation and pick up wins.
02:35Yeah, a lot of talented players there. Of course, Juan Soto, 7-1 Acuna, 11-1 Francisco Lindor.
02:40Same team as Juan Soto, 22-1. And then even some new contributions there.
02:44Bo Bichette, 80-1 price all the way down the window. I don't know how you can do that with
02:48a home run prop of 17.5. The MVP hit 18 home runs and maybe hits 4-0-1 here
02:54for the New York Mets
02:55and sort of sets that new standard there. Michael Bush, Suzuki there of the Chicago Cubs. So a lot
02:59of fun and a lot of great players here to start. And keep in mind, Wednesday night, the fun begins
03:04with the New York Yankees taking on the San Francisco Giants. Game number one at 8 p.m.
03:09Game number one at 8 p.m.
03:10Game number one at 9 p.m.
03:11Game number one at 9 p.m.
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