There have been 25 pitchers who have won the MVP award. But there was just one instance where two pitchers won the MVP award.
That was in 1968 when Bob Gibson finished with an ERA of 1.12 for the Cardinals in 1968 and Denny McLain finished with a 1.96 ERA for the Detroit Tigers that same season. Gibson’s ‘68 performance has been touted as the greatest individual season by anyone ever. His 1.12 ERA is by far the best single-season ERA as he contributed 13 shutouts and allowed just 11 home runs that season. McLain reached over 30 wins and is just one of four pitchers to ever accomplish that. He won all 20 first-place votes and won the Cy Young that year for the American League.
The last time we even saw a pitcher win an MVP award was in 2014. Clayton Kershaw finished with a 1.77 ERA and went 21-3 on the season. Could you imagine? Just three losses through an entire season throwing nearly 200 innings? In that same season, Kershaw threw a no-hitter against the Rockies and that was one the more dominant outings we’ve ever seen in baseball.
But this season, there’s a legitimate chance we see two pitcher MVP’s.
For the NL side, Jacob deGrom is 7-2 with a .50 ERA on the season. He’s got a WHIPP of .51 and is basically doing things that the MLB has never seen before. He struck out 117 batters and even missed some time due to injury. He’s also been limited per start and hasn’t been able to rack up the strikeouts as much as he would like.
On the AL side, Shohei Ohtani is leading the AL for the MVP. He’s not only a starter every fifth day for the Angels, but he’s a power slugger too. This is what makes him so dynamic as an athlete and truly an MVP. He’s hitting .272 with 23 home runs and 54 RBI’s. He’s got an OPS of 1.005 as of June 22 and is tied for home runs.
If Ohtani put up those types of numbers as a hitter, he’d already be in the running for the MVP as a hitter. But he’s also started 10 games this season and has an ERA of 2.7 while holding batters to a .180 OBA. He’s struck out 73 batters in just 53.1 innings and has absolutely dominated on the mound along with his pitching ability.
If the season ended today, deGrom and Ohtani would be the league’s MVP’s. Ohtani might not be a Cy Young award winner like deGrom, but because of his production as a hitter, there’s no question he’s the most valuable player in baseball.
Sometimes we get caught up in what the most valuable player really is. To me, the most valuable player is the player that helps his team the most ways possible every single time they’re out on the field. You can’t tell me that Ohtani isn’t the most valuable player. He’s literally in the lineup daily in the two hole, leading the league in home runs and on the other hand, he’s pitching every fifth day and has an ERA below 3. That’s absurd.
And then there’s deGrom, who has a .50 ERA on the season and continues to pitch lights out. As of June 22, deGrom hasn’t allowed a single run in 30 innings and is touching 101 on the gun. On top of that, deGrom has more runs batted in than earned runs allowed on the season and we’re close to the mid-point of the season. If Gibson’s 1968 performance was the best ever, deGrom is well on his way to having the greatest pitching season of all time. That certainly deserves an MVP award.
So this season, in 2021, we might just see two pitchers win the MVP award for the second time in MLB history.