{"id":444,"date":"2026-06-06T10:38:18","date_gmt":"2026-06-06T10:38:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movingtohawaiiguide.com\/?p=444"},"modified":"2026-06-06T10:38:18","modified_gmt":"2026-06-06T10:38:18","slug":"in-stacked-national-league-can-shohei-ohtani-win-cy-young-with-fewer-innings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movingtohawaiiguide.com\/?p=444","title":{"rendered":"In stacked National League, can Shohei Ohtani win Cy Young with fewer innings?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n

PHOENIX \u2014 After his superstar two-way player hurled yet another gem, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts gave as spot-on a summation of Shohei Ohtani\u2019s mentality as a pitcher as one could provide.<\/p>\n

Read more Hawaii National Guard on standby for wildfire season<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s literally trying to throw a shutout every time out there,\u201d Roberts said after Wednesday night, when Ohtani whiffed six hitters over six innings, scattering two hits and walking one in his 10th start of the year.<\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

One look at Ohtani\u2019s stat line \u2014 and his remarkable 0.74 ERA \u2014 and you start to see Roberts\u2019 point.<\/p>\n

Aces are running wild in the National League this year, starting with Ohtani\u2019s return to being a full-season starter. He is one of many top-of-the-line starters hurling their way into the Cy Young conversation. A dazzling May, where he allowed just three earned runs over 25 innings and limited the opposition to a .131\/.223\/.202 line has Ohtani firmly in the mix. But there are arguments to be made that for as dominating as Ohtani has been so far this season, Philadelphia\u2019s Cristopher S\u00e1nchez and Milwaukee\u2019s Jacob Misiorowski have been just as outstanding, if not more so.<\/p>\n

Or as The Athletic<\/em>\u2019s Jayson Stark put it recently: \u201cI still think this is shaping up as the greatest NL Cy Young race ever. And the spectacular May artistry of S\u00e1nchez, Misiorowski and Ohtani has just elevated that race to a whole \u2018nother level.\u201d<\/p>\n

We are roughly one-third of the way through the season, and the race is indeed on. Several hurlers are rivaling Ohtani for the league\u2019s top pitching honor. S\u00e1nchez saw his streak of 50 2\/3 scoreless innings come to an end Wednesday, but he leads the National League in innings pitched (86 1\/3) and lowest home run rate (0.313). No starting pitcher has a more powerful fastball than Misiorowski, as evidenced by his 99.5 mile per hour average velocity and near 40 percent strikeout rate \u2014 both the top marks in the league. But how do those compare to Ohtani\u2019s sparkling sub-1.00 ERA over 10 starts, even if he\u2019s thrown significant fewer innings?<\/p>\n

Expect that to be debated all summer long.<\/p>\n

Ohtani has logged just 61 innings this year, compared to S\u00e1nchez, Misiorowski (71) and Chase Burns (70). The discrepancy is not because of lack of efficiency in Ohtani\u2019s starts. He\u2019s gone six-plus innings in all but one of his outings this year. The Dodgers\u2019 commitment to a six-man rotation has guaranteed Ohtani will start fewer games \u2014 and therefore log fewer innings. Los Angeles does not intend to change this plan. The organization has its eyes set on yet another deep October run, and their top priority is ensuring their aces in Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto are healthy. The best way to do that, the Dodgers feel, is to keep both players on a five days\u2019 rest schedule. For Ohtani specifically, who is balancing a full season of two-way action for the first time since 2023, that rest could occasionally extend to six or seven days.<\/p>\n

Read more Knicks hold off Spurs, take 2-0 lead in NBA Finals<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThe chances of (Ohtani and Yamamoto) pitching on regular rest in the regular season, I won\u2019t say zero, but it\u2019s not much higher than that,\u201d Dodgers pitching coach Mark Prior said recently.<\/p>\n

Ohtani has made it known he covets a Cy Young award. No pitcher of Japanese descent has won it, though Yu Darvish finished runner-up twice. But the Dodgers won\u2019t deviate from their blueprint for the sake of an award \u2014 no matter how meaningful \u2014 because of the competition.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, I can be mindful of it,\u201d Roberts said when asked if the performances of S\u00e1nchez and Misiorowski could mean Ohtani needs to throw more innings. \u201cBut I still think that you still have to play the game. I have to manage the game accordingly, to what\u2019s best for the team. And I just don\u2019t think, with those three guys, you\u2019re not gonna win it on June 3. So there\u2019s a lot of baseball left.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s not to suggest it can\u2019t be done. Corbin Burnes, then of the Brewers, took home NL Cy Young honors in 2021 with a 2.43 ERA over 167 innings pitched, the lowest innings total for a Cy Young winner not counting relievers or the shortened 2020 season. He beat out Zack Wheeler, who posted a 2.78 ERA to go with his league-high 213 1\/3 innings and 247 strikeouts, and Max Scherzer, who had a 2.46 ERA with 236 strikeouts over 179 1\/3 innings.<\/p>\n

But who\u2019s to say this year\u2019s race will be limited to three? There are plenty of players outside of Ohtani, S\u00e1nchez and Misiorowski compiling their own cases as well. Burns has a 2.05 ERA for the Reds and K-9 rate over 10. 2024 winner Chris Sale has dominated for the NL East-leading Atlanta Braves with a 2.23 ERA. Only nine relievers have won the Cy Young in MLB history, and none since Eric Gagne in 2003, but San Diego\u2019s Mason Miller is certainly a worthy candidate. Miller already has 17 saves, has allowed only two earned runs in 24 appearances and has nearly twice as many strikeouts (49) as innings pitched (25). And let\u2019s not forget the reigning winner, Paul Skenes, who hasn\u2019t been as dominant this year but is still carding a 3.09 ERA with the lowest walk rate in the circuit.<\/p>\n

There are still roughly 100 games left in the regular season. Plenty can \u2014 and will \u2014 change about the current Cy Young picture. But after the way Misiorowski and S\u00e1nchez asserted themselves in May, the ante is on Ohtani to respond. If it won\u2019t be by tacking on innings, then it will have to come from his sustaining his dominance.<\/p>\n

Read more County seeks to acquire land to expand Puna road despite resistance from owner<\/a><\/p>\n

It\u2019s shaping up to be a good summer to sit back and enjoy the Sho.\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In stacked National League, can Shohei Ohtani win Cy Young with fewer innings? – Sports | Hawaii Tribune-Herald<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":443,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-444","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"yoast_head":"\nIn stacked National League, can Shohei Ohtani win Cy Young with fewer innings? - Moving to Hawaii Guide<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/movingtohawaiiguide.com\/?p=444\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"In stacked National League, can Shohei Ohtani win Cy Young with fewer innings? - Moving to Hawaii Guide\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In stacked National League, can Shohei Ohtani win Cy Young with fewer innings? - Sports | Hawaii Tribune-Herald\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/movingtohawaiiguide.com\/?p=444\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Moving to Hawaii Guide\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-06T10:38:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingtohawaiiguide.com\\\/?p=444#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingtohawaiiguide.com\\\/?p=444\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingtohawaiiguide.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/aab134479722ebfc548519f5ae92ff84\"},\"headline\":\"In stacked National League, can Shohei Ohtani win Cy Young with fewer innings?\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-06T10:38:18+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingtohawaiiguide.com\\\/?p=444\"},\"wordCount\":989,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingtohawaiiguide.com\\\/?p=444#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingtohawaiiguide.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/359cd668b94002ebcfdcbc7c30bab0ce.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"Sports\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/movingtohawaiiguide.com\\\/?p=444#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingtohawaiiguide.com\\\/?p=444\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingtohawaiiguide.com\\\/?p=444\",\"name\":\"In stacked National League, can Shohei Ohtani win Cy Young with fewer innings? - Moving to Hawaii Guide\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingtohawaiiguide.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingtohawaiiguide.com\\\/?p=444#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingtohawaiiguide.com\\\/?p=444#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingtohawaiiguide.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/359cd668b94002ebcfdcbc7c30bab0ce.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-06T10:38:18+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingtohawaiiguide.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/aab134479722ebfc548519f5ae92ff84\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingtohawaiiguide.com\\\/?p=444#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/movingtohawaiiguide.com\\\/?p=444\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingtohawaiiguide.com\\\/?p=444#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingtohawaiiguide.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/359cd668b94002ebcfdcbc7c30bab0ce.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingtohawaiiguide.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/359cd668b94002ebcfdcbc7c30bab0ce.webp\",\"width\":507,\"height\":760},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingtohawaiiguide.com\\\/?p=444#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingtohawaiiguide.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"In stacked National League, can Shohei Ohtani win Cy Young with fewer innings?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingtohawaiiguide.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingtohawaiiguide.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Moving to Hawaii Guide\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingtohawaiiguide.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingtohawaiiguide.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/aab134479722ebfc548519f5ae92ff84\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/movingtohawaiiguide.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingtohawaiiguide.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"In stacked National League, can Shohei Ohtani win Cy Young with fewer innings? - Moving to Hawaii Guide","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/movingtohawaiiguide.com\/?p=444","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"In stacked National League, can Shohei Ohtani win Cy Young with fewer innings? - Moving to Hawaii Guide","og_description":"In stacked National League, can Shohei Ohtani win Cy Young with fewer innings? - Sports | Hawaii Tribune-Herald","og_url":"https:\/\/movingtohawaiiguide.com\/?p=444","og_site_name":"Moving to Hawaii Guide","article_published_time":"2026-06-06T10:38:18+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/movingtohawaiiguide.com\/?p=444#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/movingtohawaiiguide.com\/?p=444"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/movingtohawaiiguide.com\/#\/schema\/person\/aab134479722ebfc548519f5ae92ff84"},"headline":"In stacked National League, can Shohei Ohtani win Cy Young with fewer innings?","datePublished":"2026-06-06T10:38:18+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/movingtohawaiiguide.com\/?p=444"},"wordCount":989,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/movingtohawaiiguide.com\/?p=444#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/movingtohawaiiguide.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/359cd668b94002ebcfdcbc7c30bab0ce.webp","articleSection":["Sports"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/movingtohawaiiguide.com\/?p=444#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/movingtohawaiiguide.com\/?p=444","url":"https:\/\/movingtohawaiiguide.com\/?p=444","name":"In stacked National League, can Shohei Ohtani win Cy Young with fewer innings? - Moving to Hawaii Guide","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/movingtohawaiiguide.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/movingtohawaiiguide.com\/?p=444#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/movingtohawaiiguide.com\/?p=444#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/movingtohawaiiguide.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/359cd668b94002ebcfdcbc7c30bab0ce.webp","datePublished":"2026-06-06T10:38:18+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/movingtohawaiiguide.com\/#\/schema\/person\/aab134479722ebfc548519f5ae92ff84"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/movingtohawaiiguide.com\/?p=444#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/movingtohawaiiguide.com\/?p=444"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/movingtohawaiiguide.com\/?p=444#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/movingtohawaiiguide.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/359cd668b94002ebcfdcbc7c30bab0ce.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/movingtohawaiiguide.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/359cd668b94002ebcfdcbc7c30bab0ce.webp","width":507,"height":760},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/movingtohawaiiguide.com\/?p=444#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/movingtohawaiiguide.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"In stacked National League, can Shohei Ohtani win Cy Young with fewer innings?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/movingtohawaiiguide.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/movingtohawaiiguide.com\/","name":"Moving to Hawaii Guide","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/movingtohawaiiguide.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/movingtohawaiiguide.com\/#\/schema\/person\/aab134479722ebfc548519f5ae92ff84","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/movingtohawaiiguide.com"],"url":"https:\/\/movingtohawaiiguide.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movingtohawaiiguide.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/444","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movingtohawaiiguide.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movingtohawaiiguide.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movingtohawaiiguide.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movingtohawaiiguide.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=444"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/movingtohawaiiguide.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/444\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movingtohawaiiguide.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/443"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movingtohawaiiguide.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=444"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movingtohawaiiguide.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=444"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movingtohawaiiguide.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=444"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}