Let’s get this out of the way now: I take the “valuable” in the middle of MVP seriously.
So if you would like to make Mike Trout the best player again after a year hiatus due to injury, go ahead. And if you would like to name Shohei Ohtani as the most spectacular player, no argument here — he is the greatest show on grass, where unreal and unbelievable merge: A 2.44 ERA in 14 starts and 19 homers in the same human midway through a season still feels like a deranged fantasy baseball outcome (all stats through Friday).