Kyle Schwarber's efforts to dethrone Shohei Ohtani continues on Wednesday

Rodney Knuppel

Kyle Schwarber's efforts to dethrone Shohei Ohtani continues on Wednesday image

Ask anyone around Major League Baseball and they will tell you Shohei Ohtani is the National League MVP heading into the final days of August.....

But it is closer than many think. That is because Kyle Schwarber continues to assault pitching, and Wednesday was just another day at the ballpark for the Philadelphia Phillies star.

Schwarber had three hits and drove in five runs, along with hitting his league-leading 45th home run of the season. Schwarber also leads the National League with 107 runs batted in, after driving home three on Wednesday.

Trae Turner, who leads the National League in hits, was also hot for the Phillies, who pounded out 20 hits on their way to a series sweep at home over the Seattle Mariners. The final was 11-2.

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With the win, Philadelphia is now 74-53 on the season. They continue to sit atop the National League East, with the Mets six games back of them. Philadelphia will take Thursday off, before hosting the Washington Nationals on Friday for the start of a three-game series.

Ohtani, who is projected to take Wednesday's game off comes into the day hitting .284 on the season with 44 home runs and 83 runs batted in. He leads all of Major League Baseball with 120 runs on a Dodgers team that is battling with the San Diego Padres for the National League West division.

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Rodney Knuppel

Rodney Knuppel is a freelance writer for The Sporting News. When not watching, listening or writing about sports, Rodney enjoys following the travels of his three kids, who are all active in their own sports and activities. A huge St. Louis Cardinals fan, Rodney also enjoys St. Louis Blues hockey and is a big Kansas Jayhawks basketball fan.