Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hit three homers against the Yankees with a gash in his hand that required two stitches and as a result, he's now in control of the AL MVP title race.
Two of those homers came against one of the premier aces in Major League Baseball in Gerrit Cole, too.
As recently as Sunday, Guerrero Jr. had been the third-best favorite behind Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout for the American League's Most Valuable Player.
2022 AL MVP Odds (April 10)
| Player | Odds |
|---|---|
| Shohei Ohtani | +330 |
| Mike Trout | +475 |
| Vladimir Guerrero Jr. | +550 |
| Byron Buxton | +1400 |
Now, Guerrero Jr. has leapfrogged the two, who have had relatively inconsequential starts to the season so far.
2022 AL MVP Odds (April 14)
| Player | Odds |
|---|---|
| Vladimir Guerrero Jr. | +300 |
| Shohei Ohtani | +350 |
| Mike Trout | +500 |
| Byron Buxton | +1200 |
Ohtani is hitting just .160/.160/.200 over 25 plate appearances. On the mound, he's had one start, in which he went 4 2/3 innings with one earned run and nine strikeouts. He was awarded the loss in that outing. He starts again Thursday against the Rangers.
The 30-year-old Trout is hitting .200/.368/.467 with a homer in 19 plate appearances.
Meanwhile, Guerrero has a league-leading four home runs along with a .391/.417/.957 slash line over a small sample size of 24 plate appearances.
Fourth-best contender Byron Buxton has improved his odds slightly despite a mediocre year from the plate so far. It's his leather in outfield that may move the needle in this race — Buxton is again among the league leaders in defensive runs saved above average with two on the season.
The rest of the board bunches up between +2000 and +2500, with names like Luis Robert, Rafael Devers, Wander Franco, Aaron Judge, Jose Ramirez and Bo Bichette filling that part of the leaderboard.
