Will LA Angels end up screwing Shohei Ohtani like they did Mike Trout?

The LA Angels missing the playoffs may impact Shohei Ohtani‘s legacy the way it has impacted the legacy of his buddy Mike Trout.

Trout has made the playoffs just once in his career, in 2014. He’s been the best player of the last ten years, but hasn’t had the chance to prove his worth and prove how clutch he truly is because he hasn’t been awarded the opportunity due to lackluster teammates.

Now, despite Ohtani having the greatest season in baseball history, the Angels’ supporting cast will once again not be good enough to make the postseason. It’s resulted in outrageous takes about Ohtani, such as Dan Plesac of MLB Network claiming that he is apparently not even deserving of the AL MVP.

Shohei Ohtani may have to pay the price that Mike Trout has been paying for the last 10 years on the LA Angels.

I’m not saying that Shohei Ohtani won’t win the AL MVP this year because his LA Angels’ teammates are so bad. He will win the award, as Mike Trout was never penalized to that extent due to his bad teammates. Two of Trout’s three MVPs were on non-playoff teams.

However, we unfortunately can’t seem to celebrate Ohtani’s accomplishments this season as much as we should because his teammates can’t play. The fact that we even have people claiming that Ohtani isn’t the MVP is disgusting in itself.

For instance, Plesac would take Vladimir Guerrero Jr. as the MVP due to his team being in the playoff race, and him proving how dominant he is in more high-pressure situations.

This of course makes no sense, as Ohtani has faced much more pressure than Guerrero this year. Being forced to carry an entire franchise comes with much more pressure than having the luxury of being able to play for a solid team that can compete. It’s a horrible take from Plesac, but it’s unfortunately not the first time I’ve heard it.

Apparently, winning the Triple Crown means that a player is more valuable than being a top two hitter in baseball, a top five pitcher in the American League, and the fastest baserunner in the game all at the same time. I have no idea who made those rules, but folks like Plesac are buying into it.

Unfortunately, fools will continue to make these takes until the Angels simply can make the postseason. The jokes about the Angels wasting Trout’s career have already run rampant around Ohtani’s career, and he’s only been playing for not even four full seasons yet.

The Halos not making the playoffs will not keep Ohtani and Trout from winning MVPs. It hasn’t yet, and I can tell you right now that it’s not going to this year. Not all of the voters are idiots.

The Halos not making the playoffs will, however, continue to drive the narrative that Trout and Ohtani don’t help their teams win the way other players do, and can’t reach the very highest of all-time levels because they haven’t proven themselves when the pressure is on. Most will ignore this narrative, as most already have with Trout. We’ve already seen most people ignore this with Ohtani this season.

However, there are some that are buying into this ridiculous narrative this season, and enough to the point where I’m not surprised that it’s reaching the likes of MLB Network.

As loved as ShoTime is, he is still somehow underrated.