Joe Maddon sees Shohei Ohtani as an easy choice for the American League's Most Valuable Player Award.

"To me, it's not even close," Maddon said. "When people talk about it being close -- it's not. It's not. What he's doing is so unique. It's just so different compared to anybody else right now."

Ohtani pitched seven innings of one-run ball against the Colorado Rockies on Monday night. He also had an RBI single and stole a base.

With four of six regular-season months nearly complete, Ohtani has combined a .277/.361/.679 slash line in 382 plate appearances with a 3.04 ERA, 1.13 WHIP and 30.1 strikeout percentage in 80 innings.