(Images via Keith Allison, Arturo Pardavila III, Arturo Pardavila, and Ship1231)
To preface this, let me just say that hyperbolic overanalysis is paramount in the creation of hot baseball takes. That said, I’m going to assert right now that the Los Angeles Angels will have a better season than the New York Yankees, and that their combination of Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout will be better than the Yankees’ Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton.
We’re only about eight games into the season, so you may be saying there’s no way I could make any statistical argument in favor of either pair. However, I’ll combat that by saying that the Yankees are underwhelming with a 4-4 record and the Angels are soaring out of the gates at 6-2. Whether or not these win-loss totals can be boiled down to two players is up for debate, but I can assure you that right now, Trout and Ohtani are doing more for the Angels than Stanton and Judge are for the Yanks.
Shohei Ohtani has played four games in the Majors as a designated hitter; in three of those, he’s hit a home run, including a 400-foot shot off AL Cy Young winner Corey Kluber. The Japanese phenom now not only has a win as an MLB pitcher but also has the same number of home runs as Giancarlo Stanton in 15 fewer at-bats. Someone try to tell me this kid is overrated.
On the Yankees’ side of things, their starting pitching has absolutely held up––none of their four starters have allowed more than three runs in a start. Granted, the Yankees bullpen has been terrible, but when starting pitching keeps you in the game and you have the “most fearsome lineup in baseball,” run production should be at an all-time high (King III, Washington Post). However, Judge and Stanton have combined for 26 strikeouts in 62 at-bats, and neither of them is hitting over .300. Now listen, I might not know a ton about run production because I’m a Red Sox fan, but I do know that your two sluggers having a 42% chance of striking out every time they step into the box can’t help in that measure.
Mike Trout is actually off to quite the slow start––he’s only knocked two out of the park and is hitting a putrid .206, but Trout has been easily the most consistently dominant player in the MLB for the last five years, so my money’s on him catching fire soon.
At the end of the season, I promise you will be more impressed by what the Angels have done than you will the Yankees, and I guarantee it will be because of Trout and Ohtani outperforming Judge and Stanton.
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