Some argue that four-time league MVP Shohei Ohtani might already be the greatest baseball player in MLB history with all he has accomplished already, and the dual-threat star is still in his prime at age 31. Could he actually do the unthinkable and win the NL Cy Young Award this year, too? Let’s take a look at Ohtani entering his second pitching start of the season Wednesday afternoon for the Los Angeles Dodgers in a World Series rematch in Toronto.
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Ohtani’s four MVP Awards – one in the AL, the past three in the NL – have come in the past five years and all of them unanimously, which is just crazy. He has won just about every award possible as a hitter, so the Cy Young remains the holy grail as a pitcher. And Ohtani wants it.
“The desire is high, and I think it’s realistic,” Manager Dave Roberts said not long ago of Ohtani making it through the whole season healthy as a pitcher and with those Cy Young ambitions.
Despite not pitching in his first spring training game until March 18, eight days before Opening Day, Ohtani looked in full form in his 2026 regular-season debut. The righty pitcher (lefty hitter) threw six shutout innings in a home win over Cleveland, allowing just a hit with six Ks. I had seen Ohtani generally around +3000 for the NL Cy Young entering that. Now he’s +2000 at DraftKings …. while also a -210 MVP favorite.
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Do I think Ohtani can realistically win the Cy while also hitting every single day in the lineup? Nope. Just too much wear-and-tear and injury possibility. And there’s the fact that during his three-year run as a full-time two-way player with the Angels from 2021-23, Ohtani never started on the traditional four days’ rest and made 40 of his 74 starts after at least six days off. I don’t see a scenario where he does this season, and he will be on seven days’ rest Wednesday.
“We talk to him a lot on how he’s feeling, and if there’s days that we have to kind of give him a couple extra days, we’re willing to do that,” Roberts said. “Innings aren’t all created equal. All throws aren’t created equal.”
In three career regular-season starts against the Jays, he is 2-1 with a 3.32 ERA. He also faced them twice in the 2025 Fall Classic. In Game 4 in Los Angeles, Ohtani lost in allowing four runs over six – Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hit a two-run shot in the third. He has very good career RS splits off Ohtani, as does George Springer. In that epic Game 7 in Toronto on short rest, Ohtani allowed three runs and five hits over 2.1 innings in a no-decision.
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DraftKings sets Ohtani at Over/Under 17.5 Outs Recorded today, 5.5 Strikeouts, 1.5 Earned Runs and +148 to Win. The SportsLine Projection Model sets him at only 4.5 innings, 5.3 Ks and 3.0 hits allowed.Â
I also wanted to quickly address what to expect from Ohtani’s hitting on those days he’s pitching. ESPN did a nice chart that I’m taking the information from, and his batting has taken a hit in three of four seasons.
- 2021: Ohtani season OPS .965; on pitch day OPS .817
- 2022: Ohtani season OPS .875; on pitch day OPS .730
- 2023: Ohtani season OPS 1.066; on pitch day OPS 1.220
- 2025 (includes playoffs): Ohtani season OPS 1.022; on pitch day OPS .996
Toronto is scheduled to start big-ticket free-agent acquisition Dylan Cease (0-0, 2.79 ERA) in the 3:07 ET series finale. Cease came from the Padres, so Ohtani knows him well, going 10-for-26 career off the hard-throwing righty with three homers, two doubles, four walks, 10 RBI and an OPS of 1.274 — he’s +223 to go yard today. No other Dodgers batter has close to that OPS vs. Cease career. Cease was 1-2 with a 5.28 ERA in three 2025 starts vs. L.A.
DraftKings single-game parlay (-105)
Pick: Bit of a tricky spot for the Dodgers at the end of a trip — perhaps a key hitter like Freddie Freeman sits in a getaway game — and facing a good opponent that will not want to have its lunch taken on its own field by L.A. again via sweep. I actually think the Jays might win. Cease can be as dominant on the mound as Ohtani can. Check out other expert picks in the daily newsletter.Â
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