There was a point early in the season that it looked like Shohei Ohtani would push for the National League MVP award as a designated hitter. No DH has ever won the award, but Ohtani was on a tear that saw him batting .364 with a .432 on-base percentage, 12 home runs, 30 RBIs and 10 stolen bases. He was cruising.
Then he hit a wall in the middle of May and now it looks like Ohtani is out of the MVP race entirely.
Since May 16 Ohtani has played in 24 games. In those 24 contests he's posted a .200 average, a .276 on-base percentage and a .400 slugging percentage. He has two doubles, a triple and five homers in those 24 games. Los Angeles has gone 12-12 in that stretch.
It's not that Ohtani's numbers through 70 games are bad. He's still batting .306 and he's popped 18 home runs. The problem is his numbers would have to be astronomical to get him in the MVP conversation. At least that's what history tells us about the DH spot where no player has ever primarily played and won an MVP.
By this point the chances are low that he's able to rally back to inflate his numbers up where they need to be to put him in the MVP discussion. For the Dodgers they'd just like to see the big lefty start hitting consistently again. He's hit safely in eight of 11 games in June, but he's striking out more frequently than usual and he's managed only four extra-base hits in that stretch.
The ball is starting to go over the fence again which is encouraging. And at some point Ohtani figures to start hitting more consistently with power again. It's just not likely going to be enough to get him back in the MVP race.
