Will Shohei Ohtani's Stats Overshadow Lindor's MVP Case?

if you're an everyday listener to the show make sure you become a locked on Mets Insider this is our texting service where you get updates from me anytime news breaks on the Mets you can ask me questions anytime you can also take part in our locked on Mets sign photo giveaway and you get the lineup Graphics sent to your phone each day so you know using the starting lineup without ever having to go on social media if you want to be locked on Mets Insider find a link in the episode description or go to sub tex.com lockon Mets now it was August 23rd not quite two weeks ago when I published an article for just baseball titled by definition Francisco Endor is the real NL MVP and I've only been more emboldened by my take as I have watched game after game unfold where Lindor is locked in in the midst of a hitting streak doing everything for the New York Mets and on the other side show Otani continues to hit home runs and steel bases but I don't think that those two stats alone should carry a guy to an MVP when he doesn't have to play defense and when he is on the best team in baseball with two MVPs literally behind him in the lineup Francisco Lor's got Brandon nmo batting behind him with a 747 Ops and there has been times when it's Mark Vientos a guy in his first full season Otani it's Muki Betts and Freddy Freeman these guys are playing a different game show Otani if you were doing this on MLB The Show it's is playing rookie mode it's easy to steal bases he's that athletically gifted and if someone makes a mistake he puts a good swing on it's gonna go out he is bigger faster stronger than almost anyone in baseball probably not named Aaron judge and he's faster than Aaron judge now you look at Lindor he's playing on Hall of Famer Superstar mode okay he's got a team behind him that obviously has talent they are a great team but he has been the driving force to make them a great team he has been the unifying leader that has held everyone accountable and has set the tone at the top of the lineup he also has to play defense and he's the one guy in the lineup That teams might try to pitch around because there isn't a ton of guys behind him that can hurt you in the same way well there are guys that can hurt you I don't want to you know just go so far in on this take that I am belittling the rest of the Mets lineup because they do have a good lineup it's just not what Dodgers have with mukie Betts and Freddy Freeman and I want to talk about tonight's game for both teams because it's a perfect encapsulation of what this race looks like to me the New York Mets win by a score of 4 to1 game was tight the whole way now the game was tight for large portions for the Dodgers of the Diamondbacks but they win by a score of 11 to six sh Otani went two for four with two walks his score two runs he stole three bases behind him mukie bets went two for four with with a walk Three run scored three RB Freddy Freeman hit two home runs drove in five runs and tasar Hernandez was five for five there is so much Firepower in that lineup that in my eyes minimizes a little bit otani's impact on being the most valuable player and maybe I'm wrong to say that you know the guy that's on the loaded team doesn't deserve as much credit you might just say best player on the best team but when the best team has three best players it's not as valuable as the team that clearly has one and then we talk about the statistics right you look at this case and I made it a couple weeks ago but I just want to reiterate some points from it from July 1 through play on Sunday because this didn't have the stats uh from today's game on Fang grass when I sorted it as I was doing research for the show tonight so since July 1st through September 1st Francisco Lindor is pacing the national league with 3.7 wins above replacement that is over a win better than the second best guy which was brenon Doyle and a win and a half better than Otani Lindor has more RBIs during that span the same amount of runs scored on a worse team with 17 less stolen bases so you think about the fact that he has scored the same amount of runs in that two Monon span when he's not stealing nearly as many bases as Otani and obviously that is partially due to the guys behind you but to me it just shows you that as much as that stolen base stat is so heavily in favor of sh Otani Lindor is still scoring as many runs during this important stretch of the Season Francisco Lindor since July 1 has a better batting average better on base percentage and a better WC plus WRC plus is an all-encompassing stat that measures hit us on a League average of a 100 Lindor has been better in an all-encompassing offensive stat despite all the home runs from showy Otani then we talk about the stats since August Francisco Lindor told Jeff passon MVPs are won in August and September and I will actually point out too Lindor is doing all the right things on the media aspect of this as well he has done interviews with the two most influential insiders journalists whatever you want to call it in BAS Jeff passon and Ken Rosenthal these guys have big readership and they have some sway so lindor's playing the game a little bit and rightfully so he deserves it and all he did is accept the interview request but the interview request came because of his play now again he told Jeff passen MVPs are won in August and September sh Otani in August hit 12 home runs and was 15 for 15 in stolen base attempts that's crazy impressive right he also hit 235 and got on base at a 286 clip Francisco Lindor paced him in Ops by 50 points in batting average by 90 points hit well over 300 in on base percentage by 86 points Lindor is in the 370s with his on base percentage this is an August Otani in the 280s and in WRC plus again a stat Metro hitters on a League average of Lindor was 27 points better 27 points better than showy Otani all right so August in my eyes Lindor won the month but not in the narrative because the narrative just sees the stolen base number climbing the home run total climbing he might get the 50 and 60 50 home run 60 stolen bases and in that world no one's going to vote for Lindor over Otani even if Francisco SC Andor finishes with a higher wins above rep placement and he did more for his team and it's a damn shame and I will die on this hill showy Otani hits every mistake out he is an automatic stolen base he's playing on rookie mode man and yeah at the end of the day the stats are going to tell the story in any MVP case and Otani stats might be too compelling for a voter to ignore but I'm looking at a guy in Otani who's the most naturally gifted player in the sport more athleticism than pretty much anybody else playing on a team where the game has been made easy for him if shy Otani was doing this on the angels as a DH 50 home runs 60 stolen bases and the Angels were a winning team even just a winning team with all the other slap around him I'd be like yeah of course but Otani is not doing this on the Angels he's doing this on the Dodgers who are penciled in to win 100 games every single season has he had a great year of course are the numbers eye popping absolutely should that be rewarded more than the guy that took a team that might be a 75 win club and has dragged them into the thick of the playoff race no and it's not all about Lindor on the Mets other guys are having good years but he's the one that locked the doors of the clubhouse on May 29th showed his voice as a leader held his guys accountable and started this winning stretch and since May 29th the New York Mets are 51 and 32 it's right there with the Astros and Diamondbacks as the best three teams in baseball during that span only teams that have hit 50 wins since May 29th Lindor took his team from 11 games under to 10 games over from Clear seller to buyer his MVP case is better than shanis and I'm GNA keep singing his Praises for the rest of this season probably beyond that because he deserves it and last point I'll make on Francisco Lindor before I moved to kodai s it because there's some interesting stuff there to close out the show Buck shalter was on LLB Network today he's biased just like me but he was asked about who should be the MVP and he said Francisco Lindor because of the impact that having to play and you know every single day as your shortstop bringing that excellent defense what that does for your Club Buck show Walter knows a lot about winning he does he knows about what it takes for a team to win because he has managed thousands of games and I think anybody that is that ingrained in the game of baseball that has done the marathon time and again if they were asked what is more valuable the guy who is the sole vocal leader of a club playing Elite defense at the most premium position while carrying the lineup from the leadoff spot is that more valuable than the DH who's hit a lot of home runs and stolen a lot of bases on the loaded team and in my eyes it's a it's it's an obvious MVP case that is not seen that way at all and I'll tell you what I am in text threads with the other writers and content creators we have at just baseball all the time who are telling me I'm crazy for being this gung-ho on londor MVP case and they look at me as biased because obviously I am I've watched every single game of this season for londor I haven't done that for sh Otani but Lindor deserves every bit of accolades that he gets including an MVP that probably won't come for