Last year was a historic one for Kyle Schwarber and the Philadelphia Phillies, but it was also defined by second-place finishes to Shohei Ohtani. In case it wasn't bad enough that he finished as the runner-up in both NL MVP and designated hitter Silver Slugger voting to the Dodgers' two-way phenom, L.A. then took down the Phillies in a four-game NLDS (even though Ohtani only hit .056).
Schwarber is in the midst of another monstrous campaign here in 2026, leading all of MLB in homers (37) while earning his second consectuive trip to the All-Star Game. Unfortunately, he's lagging a bit in the MVP race, which is currently a two-man show featuring Ohtani and all-galaxy defender Pete Crow-Armstrong.
Still, the Silver Slugger race is available for the taking, which could be a nice opportunity for comeuppance after Schwarber's career year went largely unrewarded.
Kyle Schwarber is lagging in Silver Slugger race behind Shohei Ohtani, but he's close enough to make a charge
Thankfully, unlike PCA, Schwarber doesn't have to contend with Ohtani's pitching prowess. The Silver Slugger award is purely based on hitting stats, which gives everyone else in the NL a fighting chance to win.
If you want to feel optimistic about Schwarber's chances, the first place you should look is the traditional power categories. His MLB-leading homer total is seven clear of where Ohtani currently hits, and they're neck-and-neck in total extra-base hits (53 to 57, with Ohtani in the lead). Likewise, he leads all eligible NL designated hitters in walk rate (14.7%) and isolated power (.279).
Unfortunately, that ISO is a direct reflection of his poor batting average (.242), which is far below the .300 mark Ohtani has been challenging for much of the year. And even if you want to disregard a stat that has largely been phased out of the voting process, it's impossible to ignore Ohtani's advantages in OPS (.943 to .882), wRC+ (152 to 138), and batting fWAR (4.1 to 2.7).
It's also just a fact that Schwarber is selling out for power now more than ever; he leads all MLB hitters in strikeouts this season, which will hurt his case considering Ohtani's strikeout rate is more than 10 percentage points lower.
As things stand, it's hard to not conclude that the Phillies' star will, once again, finish second to perhaps the best player ever. There's no shame in that -- Ohtani has won Silver Slugger awards in four of the past five seasons -- but it is frustrating considering how prolific Schwarber has been in recent seasons.
Thankfully, it's not over yet. There's still a good six or so weeks for Schwarber to make a charge, and all it takes is one homer binge for him to open up an insurmountable lead in that all-important category. It might require a miracle, but Ohtani's Silver Slugger dominance can't be written in stone for another year just yet.
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