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Dodgers two-way celebrity Shohei Ohtani goes to complete his profession having gained just about all the things a participant can. He is already carried out most of it. Ohtani is a four-time MVP, a four-time Silver Slugger, the 2018 AL Rookie of the 12 months, a two-time World Collection champ and the NLCS MVP. One merchandise that is still absent in Ohtani’s trophy case is the Cy Younger award. His finest end was fourth in AL Cy Younger voting in 2022.
Heading into the 2026 season, Ohtani was requested in Dodgers camp about successful the Cy Younger. He was diplomatic, as standard.
“If on the finish, the result’s getting a Cy Younger, that is nice,” Ohtani mentioned, based on an interpreter (through ESPN). “Getting a Cy Younger means having the ability to throw extra innings and having the ability to pitch all through the entire season, so if that is the top end result, that is a superb signal for me. What I am extra centered on is simply being wholesome the entire 12 months.”
Might Ohtani pull that off this season? It appears extremely unlikely. To be clear, Ohtani was mainly saying he simply hopes to have the kind of workload that would get a pitcher in consideration, not that he positively thinks he can take it this 12 months. We’ll head down that path on our personal, although.
First off, listed below are the betting favorites for NL Cy Younger, per DraftKings
2026 NL Cy Younger favorites
Ohtani sits at +3000, trailing three others and having the identical odds as 5 fellow starters — so he is extra in “darkish horse” vary than “longshot,” however he isn’t towards the highest of the sphere.
There is a cause for that and it is one thing we already talked about. It is the workload. Ohtani returned to the mound final season after having undergone main elbow surgical procedure late within the 2023 season. He made 14 begins within the common season, but it surely was such a sluggish construct that this solely yielded 47 innings. He was mainly a traditional starter within the playoffs, working 20 ⅓ innings in 4 begins. He went six innings every in his first three begins, respectively, earlier than getting pulled on account of being hit onerous in his World Collection outing.
The Dodgers plan the season out upfront, all through the World Collection. That is how good they’re and the place their expectations ought to stay. The Cy Younger is a regular-season award. The bottom innings output we have seen from a Cy Younger-winning starter within the final a number of a long time is 167 from Corbin Burnes in 2021. Final season, each Cy Younger winners have been over 185 innings. In 2024, each topped 175. In 2023, each topped 180.
That is to say that even on this period, it could be fairly shocking to see a starter win a Cy Younger with lower than 165 innings.
Are the Dodgers actually going to push Ohtani from 67 ⅓ innings in his first season post-surgery restoration to 150-plus within the common season, earlier than we even talk about the playoffs? Take into account, he is an on a regular basis designated hitter.
I am simply not seeing it.
Ohtani is a particular case, after all, and he is possible able to grabbing unconscious — and even acutely aware — “bonus factors” with voters on account of him being a two-way participant. Then once more, in taking a look at this fourth-place end in 2022, he was most likely slotted nearly proper and perhaps even may have completed in third there.
He labored 166 innings that 12 months. I am very doubtful that the Dodgers will use him that many regular-season innings this season, however let’s put his 2022 season subsequent to the 2025 season of NL Cy Younger winner Skenes, simply to see what they appear like:
- Skenes 2025: 10-10, 1.97 ERA, 0.95 WHIP, 216 Ok, 42 BB, 187 ⅔ IP, 7.7 WAR
- Ohtani 2022: 15-9, 2.33 ERA, 1.01 WHIP, 219 Ok, 44 BB, 166 IP, 6.2 WAR
In the event that they each publish these numbers in 2026, Skenes goes to beat Ohtani.
And, once more, I believe Ohtani’s innings are capped a lot decrease than that. For instance he works 150 innings (I would take the underneath, by the way in which). Ohtani would, in that case, most likely have to strikeout a minimum of 200 whereas posting a sub-2.00 ERA with a purpose to acquire severe consideration.
It may occur, completely. I am simply not betting on it. Not this 12 months. He must work again up into the 150 innings vary this season earlier than hoping to stand up nearer to 175 the next season.
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