Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Shohei Ohtani can make MVP statements when they face each other in Los Angeles

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This article was published 12/08/2021 (1562 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

In the head-to-head battle between the two clear contenders for this year’s most valuable player award in the American League, how good would a two-out, game-tying grand slam in the bottom of the last inning have looked?

That’s the position Shohei Ohtani was in Tuesday night, in the second game of a doubleheader. A chance for the major leagues’ home-run leader to provide a signature moment in what’s been an incredible season.

Instead, Blue Jays closer Jordan Romano blew a 99.4-miles-per-hour fastball by the Angels slugger for strike three. Game over.

“That’s why we love the game, it’s great,” Jays manager Charlie Montoyo said afterward. “It was even a better win because of the way it ended. Nobody wanted Ohtani to come up with the bases loaded, but (Romano) went right after him, did a good job and got him out. One of the best hitters in baseball.”

Could Ohtani have sealed the MVP had he had another Hollywood moment right there? Not quite. Did he open the door for someone to come take the award from him just a little bit more? Maybe.

Ohtani is having a season for the ages, but so is Vladimir Guerrero Jr., and while the Jays and Angels are facing off in a four-game series this week, with each one trying to outslug the other, Thursday’s series finale will add a whole other dimension to the competition, when Ohtani takes the mound.

“Matchups like this are what make our game awesome,” said Jays coach John Schneider, who managed Guerrero in both Dunedin and New Hampshire on their way up the ladder. “It’s two very dynamic players going at it.”

It will be the first time this century that serious MVP contenders have faced each other as pitcher and hitter this late in a season. The last time was when Pedro Martinez and Roberto Alomar squared off in Cleveland on Sept. 15, 1999. Alomar singled twice, but Pedro struck him out twice. They wound up finishing second (Martinez) and third (Alomar) to MVP winner Ivan Rodriguez.

The case for Guerrero is that, despite his recent offensive struggles, he still could very well be on his way to winning baseball’s triple crown at the tender age of 22. He currently leads the American League in runs batted in, is second in home runs and is fourth in batting average. He’s also leads in on-base percentage and is second in slugging percentage, and he and teammate Bo Bichette have been going back and forth for the league lead in runs scored.

Among the more advanced metrics, Guerrero leads the league in OPS and fWAR (Fangraphs’ wins above replacement) and is second among position players to teammate Marcus Semien in bWAR (Baseball Reference’s version). Don’t ask.

As for Ohtani, the Babe Ruth of the 21st century leads the league in home runs and slugging percentage and is second to Guerrero in OPS. If that were the end of it, the MVP would go to Guerrero in a landslide, but there’s more.

In addition to the big offensive numbers, the 27-year-old Ohtani has also made 16 starts on the mound this season, with a sparkling 2.93 ERA and a WHIP of just 1.093. He has struck out 106 batters in 86 innings and the league is hitting just .190 against him. It’s all but unheard of that the same guy is one of the best hitters and also one of the best pitchers in the game.

The right-hander fireballer/left-handed slugger is doing something that no one has done since Ruth began his transition from full-time pitcher to full-time outfielder in 1918, which is why he’s the clear leader for the MVP right now.

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As though the 2015 vibes around this Jays team weren’t strong enough, this series takes one back to a meeting of these same teams in Anaheim, also in August, when the Jays swept the Angels by a combined score of 36-10 in three games.

MVP contenders Josh Donaldson and Mike Trout went head to head over that weekend. Donaldson was 8-for-13 with nine RBIs, while Trout went hitless in the first two games before a three-hit day in the finale, a game the Blue Jays won 12-5. That series gave Donaldson’s MVP case a major boost, and he wound up winning the award with 23 first-place votes to Trout’s seven, despite Trout finishing with a higher batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage and WAR, and the same 41 home runs.

Part of that was because the Jays made the playoffs and the Angels didn’t, though they only finished one game out of a wild-card spot. This season the Jays are playoff contenders and the Halos are not, though that might not be enough for many voters to overcome Ohtani’s two-way dominance.

What could, though, is if Guerrero has a big day at the plate against him. It may only be one game and. given the fact that Ohtani is averaging just 5 1/3 innings per start, only two at-bats, but if Guerrero wins those head-to-head battles that could leave a big impression in voters’ minds. Either way, it’s going to be some kind of fun to watch, and something we might not get to see again for a couple of decades.

Mike Wilner is a Toronto-based baseball columnist for the Star and host of the baseball podcast “Deep Left Field.” Follow him on Twitter: @wilnerness