Shohei Ohtani AL MVP Bets Declared Winners by Sportsbook With Nearly 2 Months to Play

If you bet on Shohei Ohtani to win American League MVP, congratulations, you're already a winner even though the MLB regular season doesn't end until Oct. 1.

Per Darren Rovell of The Action Network, PointsBet took down the market for AL MVP betting on Thursday night and declared all bets for Ohtani to be winners.

Rovell noted by the All-Star break, Ohtani's had 87.5 percent implied odds to win the award when the line dropped to -700 (bet $700 to win $100).

"That price was even inflated from its true figure," Rovell wrote. "That's because if Ohtani was traded to the National League before the deadline, the AL MVP was very likely to have been given to someone else, with more than two months of the season left to go. So, the -700 baked in that risk."

After the Angels opted to keep Ohtani at the trade deadline, Rovell pointed out his AL MVP odds moved to -10000.

If Ohtani was only a position player, he would still be the overwhelming favorite to win his second MVP award. His 5.6 FanGraphs' wins above replacement as a hitter is 1.5 WAR better than the No. 2 position player in the AL (Luis Robert Jr. of the Chicago White Sox).

When you add in the 2.0 fWAR that Ohtani has been worth as a pitcher, his total value (7.6) dwarfs every other player in MLB. Atlanta Braves star Ronald Acuña Jr. is his closest competition at 5.8 wins above replacement.

Ohtani leads MLB in homers (40), slugging percentage (.685), OPS (1.098). total bases (276) and leads the AL in on-base percentage (.413). He's also sporting a 3.43 ERA with 156 strikeouts in 120.2 innings on the mound.

The 29-year-old is looking to win his second AL MVP award in the past three seasons. He was a unanimous pick for the award in 2021.