MLB Players Support Pete Crow-Armstrong Over Shohei Ohtani for MVP

When it comes to deciding who the deserved NL MVP is, who better to be the judge than fellow Major League Baseball players?

Put the stats, the eye test, and the biases to the side. Major League Baseball's players know just how hard it is to perform on the game's biggest stage. And after watching five months of the battle for NL MVP between Chicago Cubs outfielder Pete Crow-Armstrong and Los Angeles Dodgers two-way star Shohei Ohtani, the players have spoken. A vast majority of players expressed their support for PCA.

ESPN recently conducted a poll with more than 20 players from different teams in Major League Baseball to get their opinions about the current NL MVP race. Dodgers players and Cubs players were both excluded from the poll. And out of the 21 players who answered, 15 of them pledged their support for Crow-Armstrong.

Among them were Cincinnati Reds starting pitcher Brady Singer, Cleveland Guardians first baseman Rhys Hoskins, and Chicago White Sox relief pitcher Trevor Richards.

“In the true sense of the word, the guy that plays every day probably makes more of an impact on the team every single day,” said Hoskins. “Anyone that's watched PCA or the Cubs over the last two months, this guy is the best player on the field every time he's on the field.”

“He's arguably the best fielder in all of baseball. He's a complete player. That's for sure. PCA has a chance to go 40/40,” added Richards.

Chicago White Sox starting pitcher Sean Burke was one of the dissenters who pledged his support for Ohtani, pointing to the first-half pitching numbers from the Dodgers right-hander.

“A half-season of Cy Young-level pitching and what he does offensively, no one has done that on both sides of the ball. He gets my vote,” said Burke.

Still, the Ohtani voters were few and far between. And if the season ended today, there seems to be a pretty clear contingent of players who believe PCA would be the deserving NL MVP. I'm sure there are plenty of fans and baseball writers who feel the same.

When it comes to the actual vote, general voting fatigue may benefit the Cubs outfielder. Ohtani is crowned MVP just about every year, and deservedly so. But when a player like Pete Crow-Armstrong takes over the sport and is one of the best individual stories in baseball for a full season, it becomes hard to deny how deserving he is of recognition.

Rhys Hoskins was one of the players who expressed some of this sentiment, talking about how cool it was to even be having the conversation. And I think that feeling alone could be good enough reason for baseball writers to give Crow-Armstrong the edge.

Still, the final month of the regular season will probably be the deciding factor, as the odds on sportsbooks seem to shift day by day. If either player dominates in September, they'll likely pull away with enough public support to be crowned NL MVP. But if things ended right now, the players believe it's PCA, and that speaks volumes.