The American League MVP race has been over for a while now.

Shohei Ohtani is in a class of his own.

Ohtani’s unrivalled arsenal was on full display again on Wednesday night.

He struck out eight over eight innings of work – the longest outing of his career – in a 3-1 win over the Detroit Tigers.

Ohtani also became the fastest player in franchise history to reach 40 home runs, adding to his major league-leading total.

Flashback to June 29th, Ohtani was +105 to win AL MVP.

Entering last night's start, he was -1100.

After a memorable performance in last night's win, he's currently -2200 to win that award.

Here is the Morning Coffee for Thursday, Aug. 19, 2021.

Ohtani continues to wow

Mike Trout has hit 40 home runs in a season twice in his career. He’s never done it as fast as Ohtani.

In addition to leading the majors in home runs, Ohtani ranks fourth in RBI (87), ninth in runs scored (80) and ninth in stolen bases (18).

Ohtani’s batting stats alone are good enough for him to win AL MVP.

Then there is what he’s done on the mound.

Ohtani improved to 8-1 and lowered his ERA to 2.79 in Wednesday night’s win. Since July 1, he’s 5-1 with a 1.58 ERA.

Is it a stretch to start talking about Ohtani as a potential AL Cy Young award contender?

As of this morning, he’s the fifth choice to win it at 36-to-1. He’s still a long shot, but keep in mind that number is down from 80-to-1 just two weeks ago.

Lance Lynn remains the AL Cy Young favourite at -150. Gerrit Cole (+165), Carlos Rodon (+750) and Robbie Ray (+1600) all have shorter odds to win it than Ohtani.

However, if he continues to produce at the level he has over the past two months, Ohtani could certainly force his way further into the AL Cy Young award conversation. 

Blue Jays’ slide continues in Washington

The Toronto Blue Jays can’t be trusted right now. It’s that simple.

The Jays headed to Washington with a golden opportunity to gain some ground in the American League wild-card race with two games against one of the worst teams in baseball.

Instead, they were dealt back-to-back losses.

The Nationals (+140) wrapped up a sweep of their two-game series with an 8-5 win on Wednesday night.

Toronto has now dropped five of its past six. The Blue Jays were favourites in each of those six games and came away with one win.

They also won’t have one of their best hitters available for the foreseeable future after George Springer was placed on the 10-day IL with a left knee sprain.

Fortunately for Toronto, they are still four games back of a wild-card spot with a relatively favourable schedule the remainder of the way compared to the teams that they are chasing.

Next up, the Blue Jays return home for seven in a row, beginning with a three-game set against the Detroit Tigers that starts on Friday night.

Considering what they did in their first home stand, a return to Toronto can’t come soon enough.

Right now, the Blue Jays are a stay away for me.

Elks, Lions kick off CFL Week 3

The B.C. Lions and Edmonton Elks will kick off Week 3 of the CFL season tonight on TSN.

Michael Reilly is expected to start for the Lions, but kickoff isn’t until just after 10 p.m. ET, so let’s just wait and see.

The Lions are currently a 3.5-point favourite, with the total set at 46.5.

While I don’t have a lean right now towards either side, I’ll be watching to see what both offences have in store tonight.

Seven of the first eight CFL games have stayed under the total.

Our CFL stats guru Jon Perlberg went Inside The Numbers with a closer look at how scoring is down across the league through the first two weeks of the season.

Despite the uncertainty at quarterback, B.C. has averaged 22.0 points per game.

Meanwhile, Edmonton has managed just 12.5 points per game, which seems almost inconceivable based on the talent they have on that side of the football.

Following a 0-2 start, the Elks can’t afford another letdown from their offence this week.

Still, I’m not taking any CFL overs until I see some results.