Brett Davis-Imagn Images, Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images
Heading into the year, everyone thought this would be the season that Shohei Ohtani, rehabbing from elbow surgery and DHing only, stepped aside and yielded MVP to someone else before resuming his place as the de facto favorite for the award in 2025. Instead, Ohtani decided to make a run at the first ever 50-homer, 50-steal season. The other primary competitor for NL MVP is Francisco Lindor, who isn’t chasing any statistical milestones and plays for a team whose most interesting narratives involve an amorphous fast food mascot, the musical endeavors of a part-time utility infielder, and the failure to extend Pete Alonso. And yet, Lindor’s position atop the NL WAR leaderboard demands consideration. The marginal difference between Lindor and Ohtani’s WAR totals (7.4 and 7.0, respectively, at the time of this writing) creates a virtual tie to be broken based on the personal convictions of voters and anyone else with an opinion and an internet connection.
For most, the choice between the two distills down to whether Ohtani’s 50/50 chase overrides his DH-only status. I’m not here to disparage Ohtani for not playing defense, but if you find that disqualifying for MVP recognition, I feel that. Then again, WAR includes a positional adjustment that does ding Ohtani with a significant deduction for not taking the field, and he’s still been keeping pace with Lindor on the value front anyway, so there’s not much more analysis to do there. Instead, I want to explore how Ohtani’s one-dimensional role interacts with the value of a roster spot and the limitations that it places on how Los Angeles constructs and deploys the rest of its roster.
In a two-way Ohtani season, he brings tremendous value to an individual roster spot as a frontline starter and an elite hitter who takes 600 or so plate appearances. But this year he contributes only as an offensive player. Meanwhile, the 2024 Dodgers defense kicked off the season by declaring Mookie Betts a starting shortstop, and officially moving on from the notion that Gavin Lux would take over the position. Shifting Betts to the infield means no one has started more than 50 games in right field for the Dodgers so far this season. The most consistent presence in the outfield has been Teoscar Hernández with 94 games started in left and 49 in right, where between the two he’s accumulated -12.5 defensive runs above average. Five Dodgers have played at least 20 defensive innings at three or more different positions; Enrique Hernández has played every position but right field and catcher. Altogether, Los Angeles has struggled to field a consistent defense, forcing many of its players to be jacks of all trades yet masters of none.
