Talk about barking up the wrong tree. Chris “Mad Dog” Russo has weighed in on the 2023 AL MVP discussion, and if it were up to him, Los Angeles Angels star Shohei Ohtani would not take home the hardware.

Russo acknowledged that Ohtani will win it, but still allowed himself to “go off the deep end” on an appearance on MLB Network. An area that Russo is quite familiar with.

The radio legend offered up a half-hearted defense for his opinion, although none of the counterarguments were particularly persuasive. His first was a familiar one, parsing (or trying to) the difference between the “most valuable” and “best” player. Russo didn't bother to explain how the sport's best player wouldn't deliver the most value, even though that seems like a contradiction.

Russo pointed out that the Angels are currently 18 games under .500. Certainly a fact, but not one that says much about Ohtani's case for MVP, does it? After all, this is an individual player award, not one based on the record of the team a player suits up for.

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Ohtani not having taken the mound since August 1st was another point against the two-way star. And maybe even a fair one, until Russo offered up a name instead of Ohtani's to win: Texas Rangers SS Corey Seager. Russo immediately undercut his point about Ohtani's availability as a negative by pointing out that Seager has “barely played”, making an appearance in 113 games so far this season.

Mad Dog also threw out Tampa Bay Rays 3B Yandy Diaz's name for consideration. Seeing as how Diaz is second on his own team in Baseball Reference's WAR, he seems like a longshot.

Most sportsbook odds currently have Ohtani at -20000 to win the MVP. The player with the second-best odds is Seager, who is listed at +2000 to win. (Figures as of Monday.) Suffice it to say, this is Ohtani's award.

The radio legend prefaced his comments on the MVP race three times with “who cares what I think?” disclaimers. It was perhaps the most fair question raised by his appearance.