From hitting the leadoff homer to bringing the Dodgers within a run of tying the game, Shohei Ohtani did everything he could to avoid a sixth straight defeat. But the Los Angeles Dodgers eventually fell short, suffering another series sweep with a 7-6 loss in the finale. The defeat also overshadowed the two-way superstar’s performance at the plate. With the Dodgers yet to set a date for his return to the mound, Ohtani was asked about going “head-to-head” with Pete Crow-Armstrong as the NL MVP race heats up. Turns out, he is focused on something else.

“Just over the course of the season there’s a lot of ups and downs, and it’s still a little too far away to think about [MVP race],” Ohtani revealed after the loss, according to Dodgers Nation on X. “For me it’s more important for the team to win and for me to contribute to that win.”

The four-time MLB MVP praised PCA, admitting what a great player he is, but said he would rather focus on his own swings than compare his numbers to someone else’s.

On Wednesday, he kickstarted the offense with a home run and hit a 2-run home run in the eighth to close the game against the Chicago Cubs. Overall, this season, Ohtani is batting at .298 with a .956 OPS this season.

With that, he has managed 70 RBIs and 26 home runs over 109 games so far. While those are impressive numbers, he isn’t even halfway to matching the home run totals he posted in his last two seasons with the Dodgers (54 and 55). That’s why, despite fans and the media focusing on his MVP chances, he seems more concerned about his swing.

“Two of the homers were pretty low line drive homers,” he added. “So I wasn’t quite sure if it was going to go out of the park in some of the other stadiums.”

But that’s not the only concern. 

Shohei Ohtani pitched for the last time on July 3. It’s been over a month, and he is still not fully recovered from his knee injury. He also dealt with some elbow issues. Although he mentioned that the knee is getting “pretty good, day by day,” neither he nor the franchise was able to provide a timeline for his return to the mound. 

In fact, Ohtani left the decision to the front office. And while some fans hoped that the Japanese superstar might be back on pitching duties with a limited workload, the manager wasn’t fully on board with that idea.

“I certainly see him as a starter,” Dave Roberts said. “But how much he could give us to then have somebody behind him, that we don’t know yet.”

While the Dodgers fans are eagerly waiting for Ohtani to be a part of the rotation aside from Tarik Skubal, they are no less excited about the current MVP race. 

The reigning NL MVP winner has a slash line of .298/.400/.556 with a .956 OPS. He also has 26 HRs, 70 RBIs, and 6 stolen bases with a 3.3 WAR. Crow-Armstrong, on the other hand, is slashing at .288/.386/.552 with a .938 OPS. His HR and RBI numbers are almost the same as the Dodgers star’s (26 & 69), but the number of stolen bases is 28.

Both these extraordinary players recorded 2 home runs in the final game while the Cubs outplayed the back-to-back champions. We still have over a month to see who reigns at the top.