Kyle Schwarber's 40 homers this season put him well ahead of the pace to best his career-high of 47 set in 2023, one better than the 46 he hit in 2022 in the first season of a four-year, $79 million free-agent contract with the Philadelphia Phillies.

Even though the Philadelphia Phillies added a much-needed right-handed bat at the trade deadline — center fielder Harrison Bader —

Well, it looks like all roads lead to Shohei Ohtani repeating as NL MVP this season and he's going to have a decent enough sample of innings on the mound to be considered a two-way player. That would be his third MVP as a two-way player along with the MVP from last season when he was only a DH.