Shohei Ohtani is Your New AL MVP Favorite Over Aaron Judge

Many bettors were surprised Wednesday to see the 38-50 Los Angeles Angels as slight home favorites (-119) against the 57-29 Houston Astros, even with ace Shohei Ohtani on the mound for L.A.

Turns out, the oddsmakers knew what they were doing.

While his four-game streak of not allowing an earned run ended, Ohtani gave up just one earned run in the Halos' 7-1 victory; going six strong innings of one run ball and striking out 12.

Ohtani trailed New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge in the AL MVP standings before last night's game, but as of Thursday morning, that's no longer the case. DraftKings Sportsbook recently announced that the 2021 AL MVP is once again the favorite to repeat.

Ohtani's numbers since June 9 are astounding. Over his last six starts, he's given up a total of two earned runs in 39.2 innings; pitching to a 0.45 ERA with 59 strikeouts. He's literally been the only reliable option on this Angels team, considering they're 6-1 since the beginning of June when Ohtani is the starter, and 6-26 when any other pitcher takes the mound

Reed Wallach and I chatted about this very possibility on Wednesday evening's episode of BetSided's Daily Betslip, that if Ohtani went out and dominated, he could easily move up the standings and into the top spot ahead of Judge.

Here's how the latest AL MVP Odds currently shake out at DraftKings.

Latest AL MVP Odds

• Shohei Ohtani +105
• Aaron Judge +165
• Yordan Alvarez +1000
• Mike Trout +1200
• Rafael Devers +1500
• Jose Ramirez +2800

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