Shohei Ohtani injury update suddenly puts Pete Crow-Armstrong in position to do the unthinkable

Shohei Ohtani was expected to make his first post-All Star break start on July 22, but manager Dave Roberts broke the news to reporters (including MLB.com's Sonja Chen) recently that Ohtani won't be able to pitch. Roberts indicated that a knee issue that has been bothering Ohtani in recent weeks has continued in the aftermath of the All Star break, and as a result the Dodgers will have to be without Ohtani on the mound for the foreseeable future.

An exact timeline wasn't provided, but Roberts emphasized that this wasn't "a day-to-day thing." Losing the spectacle of Ohtani's two-way talents is crushing for Dodgers fans and disappointing for baseball fans as a whole, but Chicago Cubs fans can't help but think about one question: how will this impact the NL MVP race, where Pete Crow-Armstrong is putting together one of the most impressive campaigns in recent memory?

Cubs fans are well-versed in the excellence that PCA brings to the table by now, but it's still shocking to see just how close this race already was. By the numbers, Crow-Armstrong has been able to rival Ohtani's two-way production but not quite exceed it. He's currently boasting 5.6 bWAR and 5.9 fWAR to Ohtani's 5.7 bWAR and 6.1 fWAR. With 21 homers and 25 steals to go with a .377 on-base percentage and all-world defense, Crow-Armstrong would be a shoo-in most years.

Even when he's only hitting, Shohei Ohtani shouldn't be underestimated.

Of course, 2026 isn't most years. Baseball fans have been blessed in recent years to get to watch one of the greatest players in history perform, but that's come at the cost of any and all tension when it comes to MVP races. Ohtani has won MVP in four of the last five seasons, and it took Aaron Judge breaking the AL home run record to stop him in 2022. Crow-Armstrong's second-half was already key to the Cubs' playoff hopes for this year, but now it might actually impact the MVP race as well.

"Might be" is the operative phrase there, however. Ohtani proved in 2023 that he didn't even need to pitch to win the MVP award, as he slugged 54 homers and stole 59 bases to become the first full-time DH to get the honors in baseball history. That means Crow-Armstrong will need to not just avoid the second-half slump that held his 2025 season back from true superstardom, but keep up his incredible pace from earlier this summer if he's going to compete with Ohtani.

That's especially true given Ohtani's popularity. Awards season isn't completely a popularity contest, but it would be silly to expect that a player's reputation and popularity would have no impact on the race whatsoever. Crow-Armstrong will be going against the guy who's led the league in jersey sales for three straight seasons. He may not have done himself any favors with his much-discussed fan interaction during a game against the White Sox back in May, either.

Despite those potential pitfalls, it's hard to deny that Crow-Armstrong has a real shot at winning the NL MVP award. That would've been a pleasant surprise to Cubs fans at the start of the year even if he didn't share a league with Ohtani. The two-way star's presence, healthy or not, makes it all the more impressive that Chicago's biggest star has managed to keep pace in this race.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow