It was early in the penultimate week of the regular season. The Los Angeles Angels were flailing toward the end of another disappointing campaign, and yet Joe Maddon seemed shocked at the suggestion that anybody but Shohei Ohtani could capture the American League's Most Valuable Player Award.
"It's one of the best years -- maybe the best year, in the history of the game -- by a baseball player," Maddon, the Angels' manager, was quoted as saying in the Los Angeles Times on Sept. 21. "If that's not recognized independent of championships, then I don't know when it would be.