The calendar has flipped to September and we are now in the final month of baseball's regular season. The postseason races and awards races will be decided over the next three weeks and five days, then we'll get into the month-long journey that is October baseball. I swear, it feels like the World Baseball Classic ended two weeks ago, but we're nearing the end of the season.
With that in mind, here are the top storylines as we enter September and the season's stretch run. In what is the most hotly contested MVP race since, well, Aaron Judge vs. Cal Raleigh last season, Cubs star Pete Crow-Armstrong is putting together the kind of season needed to unseat the transcendent Shohei Ohtani.
Ohtani is looking to join Barry Bonds as the only players with five MVPs (Bonds has seven) and four straight MVPs (Bonds won four from 2001-04). Here is the MLB WAR leaderboard entering Monday's games: There is more to MVP voting than WAR, but it does inform the voters, and PCA's lead is significant. They're comparable hitters at this point.
Crow-Armstrong is the better baserunner and will give his team 1,300 innings or so of the best defense at any position in baseball. Ohtani has made 14 ace-caliber starts. How do you weigh PCA's glove vs.
Due to knee and biceps injuries, Ohtani has not pitched since July 3, and his return to the mound was scuttled this past weekend. He has faced hitters in live batting practice in recent weeks, but he's not ready yet for MLB games. The longer Ohtani stays off the mound, the more the MVP pendulum swings Crow-Armstrong's way.
Both are deserving, but only one can win. Ohtani is the headline awards race, but it is not the only one going down to the wire. Cam Schlittler for American League Cy Young.
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