For New York Yankees fans, there are a few things they don’t want to see. I’d say a Boston Red Sox or New York Mets World Series ring, or one of their former players winning an MVP.
Juan Soto winning it would be one of the worst outcomes in this situation.
SNY’s John Harper recently predicted that Soto would do just that, predicting him to beat out Shohei Ohtani for the award. At the same time, he predicted him to hit 50.
“JUAN SOTO HITS 50 HRS, OUTDUELS SHOHEI OHTANI FOR NL MVP AWARD. Juan Soto talked openly with MLB.com this spring about how much he wants to win an MVP award, and to have any hope of dethroning Shohei Ohtani on that front, he’s going to need something beyond his typically outstanding offensive numbers.
“Something like 50 or more home runs. Soto surely knows that and he’s capable of it, considering he’s only 27 and his power numbers are still ascending, as reflected by his totals of 35, 41, and 43 home runs over the past three seasons. It may require him to be a little more aggressive, perhaps not taking as many walks, and the Mets would be fine with that. Ohtani, of course, could make it all moot if he returns to full-time pitching in a big-splash way, but it’s also asking a lot of him to hit and pitch over a full season at age 32,” he wrote.
At 27 years old, with big power in his bat, a jump into the 50-home run range isn’t unrealistic, but it might be a bit more unlikely than it seems. We can’t go into any season and just think a guy is going to hit 50, even Aaron Judge.
Standing in his way is Ohtani, who continues to do things we never thought were possible in the sport. If Ohtani shows his full two-way dominance, the MVP race would be difficult for anyone to win. However, at some point, voters will get bored with him, right? Probably not, but we can never know.
Regardless, a season like this for Soto would make fans upset.