Shohei Ohtani has been announced as an MVP finalist in the American League. This comes as no surprise as Ohtani has had one of the best seasons in MLB history. The last time we saw anybody do anything close to what Ohtani did, was back when Babe Ruth played. Ohtani's stats were simply incredible. He finished the season with a 9-2 record on the mound with a 3.18 ERA with 156 strikeouts in 130.1 innings pitched. Oh, and he also hits. Ohtani also had an incredible season at the plate. He slashed .257/ .592/ .965. He finished with 46 home runs, 100 RBIs, and a 4.9 WAR.

If his stats don't convince you, let's take a look at three other reasons why he's the MVP.

Three reasons Shohei Ohtani is the MVP

3. He did it on both sides of the ball

There's some questioning about if this is fair to the other MVP candidates in Vladimir Guerrero Jr and Marcus Semien. Ohtani does things incredibly well from the mound and at the plate. Unfortunately for Semien and Vlad, they only do one of those things.

The MVP is supposed to be whoever helps their team the most. It would be insane to say that anybody in the last 50 years has ever come close to helping their team as much as Shohei Ohtani has done. Even when players had 50 plus home run seasons, or won 20 games on the mound. What Ohtani did is the perfect definition of what the MVP should be. If Ohtani only did both of these things at an average rate, the questions about him being the MVP would make sense.

Ohtani has done both at the highest level possible and there's no question why he should be the MVP.

2. He might have won it just because of his hitting alone

This is a very good possibility. Obviously, his pitching makes him the clear-cut and MVP, but if he didn't, he might have still won the award. He hit near .260 which is above League average and also added 46 home runs and a .965 OPS. He had the third-most home runs in baseball, and a top-five OPS, too.

3. We haven't ever seen this in baseball

Unless we go back many years, no one has ever been able to do what Shohei Ohtani did this year. The last person who's ever done anything close to what Ohtani did was Babe Ruth. That's incredible company to be in if you're Ohtani, as Ruth is regarded as one of the best players in MLB history. The craziest part about all of this? Ruth didn't even put up the numbers that Ohtani did.

It's clear that Shohei Ohtani deserves this award and if he can do even half of what he did this season in future seasons, there's a chance he wins the next 10 MVP awards. Other players in the MLB who want to win the MVP award better start getting on the mound sometime soon because if you don't, you aren't going to win the MVP.