Shohei Ohtani just keeps doing Shohei Ohtani things.
This year, the four-time MVP has somehow found a way to elevate his game even further, as he’s developed into a truly elite starting pitcher this season with the Dodgers.
In his first seven starts of 2026, Ohtani had posted a 0.82 ERA, allowing four earned runs across 44 innings of work. If that holds up, it would easily be the best ERA of his career and would put him on a collision course with Paul Skenes and Chris Sale for the NL Cy Young.
Ohtani has won plenty of awards already, but one award he has not won is the Cy Young. It seems as if he is trying to change that this year.
While his offensive numbers are down across the board, Ohtani’s arm seems to have gotten better over the offseason. It might help that the Dodgers are no longer having him hit on the days he throws, allowing him to focus solely on pitching when he is on the mound. Sure, it takes his bat out of the lineup for thirty or so games of the year, but if that’s what turning him into a Cy Young contender on the mound, it’s a sacrifice worth making.
Ohtani’s hot start continued with another dominant outing on May 13th against the Giants, that makes his Cy Young dreams feel more and more like a real possibility.
Ohtani’s Dominant Start
The NL Era leader took the mound against the division rival San Francisco Giants, and casually put together one of the most impressive starts of the season from any starter.
Ohtani threw seven scoreless innings, allowing six baserunners (four hits and two walks) while striking out eight.
Ohtani’s ERA is now 0.80, still the best in the National League. He’s thrown 51 innings in eight starts, averaging more than six innings per start.
If he can do this over a full season, it’s not a matter of if he wins a Cy-Young. He’d be on pace for a sub-1.00 ERA and around 200 innings. The question would be if he would win the award unanimously.
Of course, there are plenty of pitchers who will want nothing more than to prevent Ohtani from winning this award. Skenes and Sale, the past two NL recipients of the award, are likely the two biggest competitors with Ohtani for the award this year as well.
Ohtani’s Bat Has Declined
While Ohtani has morphed into one of baseball’s best starting pitchers this season, his bat has actually been declining.
Ohtani is hitting.240, his worst batting average since 2020, when he hit .190. His .370 OBP would be his worst since 2022, and his .427 slugging percentage would be his lowest since 2020. His 128 OPS+ is still well above league average, but it feels low compared to the 171 OPS+ he put up between 2021 and 2025.
Ohtani has hit seven home runs in 2026, which is still good, but when you consider he’s hit 40 home runs in four of the past five seasons, it does not feel as impressive that Ohtani is on pace to hit 28 home runs in 2026.
At the same time, no Cy Young Award winner has ever hit 28 home runs before, so if that’s what the season has in store for Ohtani, it will still be historic.
Shohei Ohtani Continues to Build On Cy-Young Case