May 13, 2024; New York City, New York, USA; New York Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor (12) prior to the game against the Philadelphia Phillies at Citi Field. Mandatory Credit: Gregory Fisher-USA TODAY Sports Gregory Fisher
One of the more annoying things in the sports media ecosystem is when someone is a legitimately great player, but hype surrounding them gets so out of control that you have to put things back in perspective.
Take New York Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor, for example. Lindor is one of the better players of this era, and he's having arguably the finest season of his career. But he should not win the NL MVP over Los Angeles Dodgers DH Shohei Ohtani.
Lindor and the Mets will come to Citizens Bank Park this weekend to face the Phillies. While it's still unlikely the Mets catch the Phillies in the NL East race, they are currently a game up on the Atlanta Braves for the final Wild Card spot in the National League. The Mets have been one of the best stories of the 2024 season, and Lindor is at the forefront of that.
But just because Lindor plays a premier defensive position at shortstop and Ohtani is a DH, that shouldn't make him the MVP. Lindor does have 17 outs above average at shortstop this year, and could very well win his third career Gold Glove Award. If the offensive numbers between the two were close, Lindor not only playing a position, but being excellent at it would be a tiebreaker.
To be clear, the offensive numbers are not close. (Stats that are bolded indicate player leads entire NL in that category.)
Lindor: .268 batting average, 38 doubles, one triple, 31 home runs, 85 RBIs, 54 walks, 293 total bases, 27 stolen bases, 102 runs scored, .831 OPS
Ohtani: .292 batting average, 30 doubles, seven triples, 47 home runs, 104 RBIs, 74 walks, 351 total bases, 48 stolen bases, 116 runs scored, .992 OPS
To Lindor's credit, his 665 plate appearances are the most among any player in the sport. According to FanGraphs, Lindor's 7.4 WAR actually does slightly top Ohtani's 7.0 mark, although WAR is meant to compare you to players that play the same position. Nonetheless, when the Mets acquired Lindor from Cleveland in January of 2021 and rewarded him with a 10-year/$341 million extension, this is the player they envisioned. He's been a superstar that's been available every day. Again, this article in no way is meant as a dis of Lindor.
But Ohtani leads the NL in home runs, RBIs, total bases, runs scored and OPS. He's about to become the first player to go 50/50, as he's at 47 home runs and 48 stolen bases. Is it sub-optimal that Ohtani — recovering from Tommy John surgery — isn't pitching and is only a DH this year? Sure. No full-time DH has ever won an MVP. But with all due respect to David Ortiz and Edgar Martínez, no full-time DH has ever performed at the level of Ohtani is either.
One of the arguments made against Ohtani is that he's like a luxury addition to a team that regularly wins 100 games a season.
"We don’t care so much about Shohei Ohtani going for 50 homers and 50 steals on a loaded team that didn’t need him. He’s KD going to the Warriors. Lindor is everything to the Mets"
Keith says Francisco Lindor should be the NL MVP:https://t.co/pTTssN1jOv
Yes, the Dodgers did go 100-62 a year ago before Ohtani was in the picture. But they are only five games up on the Arizona Diamondbacks and five-and-a-half up on the San Diego Padres in the NL West this year. At 87-59, they are a game back of the Phillies for the top spot in the NL playoff picture. Are we really expected to believe that if you take Ohtani's offensive production out of the lineup it wouldn't have a drastic effect on the NL playoff picture?
The reality here is that Lindor probably will edge out Ketel Marte and Marcell Ozuna, among others, for second in NL MVP voting. But if he wasn't playing in New York, the narrative that he's neck-and-neck with Ohtani for NL MVP probably wouldn't exist. Because he's not.
