Shohei Ohtani has his fourth MVP award. As expected, the two-way superstar repeated as NL MVP and has now won the award twice in each league. He’s the second player in MLB history to win a fourth MVP. Barry Bonds won the award seven times. Until tonight, he’d been the only player to earn that title more than thrice. Ohtani won the award unanimously for the third consecutive season and has gotten all 30 first-place votes in all four of his wins.
It’s a third consecutive MVP for the Dodgers slugger. He won the AL version in 2023 during his final season as a member of the Angels. He has taken the crown in both seasons as a Dodger, winning a World Series in each. His $700MM free agent contract is already among the most successful in league history. He’ll have the opportunity to match Bonds’ record of four consecutive MVP wins next season. Bonds won the award as a member of the Giants each season from 2001-04.
Ohtani beats out Kyle Schwarber and Juan Soto, the other NL finalists. He led the majors with 146 runs scored while slashing .282/.392/.622 across 727 plate appearances. Ohtani paced the NL in slugging percentage and OPS. He hit a career-high 55 home runs, one back of Schwarber for the Senior Circuit lead. Ohtani’s 102 runs batted in were “only” good for sixth in the NL, though that’s partially because he spent all but one week of the season working out of the leadoff spot.
While Schwarber matched Ohtani from a power perspective, the latter had the advantage of more than .040 points of batting average and .025 points in OBP. He also stole 20 bases and was a far more valuable overall baserunner. That’s before considering his achievements on the mound.
Ohtani finally returned after an extended layoff from pitching following his second career elbow surgery. He chipped in 47 innings of 2.84 ERA ball with 62 strikeouts over 14 starts. Ohtani probably would have won the MVP even if he were simply a DH, as he did in 2024. That he’s also capable of pitching at a top-of-the-rotation level when healthy only reaffirms his status as the sport’s greatest player today and arguably ever.
The award voting takes place at the end of the regular season. Ohtani added another eight homers with a .265/.405/.691 slash over 84 plate appearances in the postseason. He’d been only average during the Dodgers’ World Series run in 2024. That changed this October. Ohtani leveled up when the lights were brightest, hitting .333 with a .500 on-base percentage during the Fall Classic. He set a playoff record with nine times on base during the marathon Game 3, when a couple early homers led Jays manager John Schneider to intentionally walk him every time he came up in extra innings.
Ohtani’s monster showing shouldn’t take away from Schwarber’s phenomenal year. He led the NL in homers and took home the major league RBI crown by driving in 132 runs. Schwarber hit .240/.365/.563 across 724 plate appearances while starting all 162 games for the Phillies. He hit 187 home runs over the course of his four-year, $79MM free agent deal with the Phils and is now set to cash in during a return trip to free agency. Schwarber and Ohtani are tied for second in the majors in homers over the past four seasons, trailing only Aaron Judge. He has received MVP votes in four straight seasons, but this is his first time as a finalist.
Soto just wrapped up the first season of his free agent mega deal with the Mets. It was a disappointing year for the team, as they melted down in September and lost out on a playoff berth to an 83-win Cincinnati club. Soto came under some fire early after getting out to a slow start, but he was a monster from June onward. He finished the year with a .263/.396/.525 slash across 715 trips to the plate. Soto led the majors with 127 walks and paced the NL in on-base percentage. That’s to be expected for the hitter with the game’s best eye. Far more surprising is that he also tied for the NL lead with 38 stolen bases after entering the season with 57 steals over his first six and a half seasons. Soto has never won an MVP but has finished in the top three on three occasions.
FanGraphs credited Ohtani with an NL-best 9.4 wins above replacement between his pitching and hitting. Baseball Reference had him in second place at 7.7 WAR, narrowly behind Cy Young runner-up Cristopher Sánchez at eight WAR. BRef actually had Diamondbacks shortstop Geraldo Perdomo as the WAR leader solely among position players, excluding Ohtani’s pitching stats. Perdomo was second in fWAR behind Ohtani.
Schwarber received 23 of the 30 second-place votes. Four voters had Soto second on their ballot, while the other three placed Perdomo in that spot. The three finalists were the only players who appeared among the top five on all 30 ballots. Trea Turner, Pete Alonso and Freddie Freeman all received one third-place vote, with the rest split between Schwarber, Soto and Perdomo. Perdomo finished in fourth place, while Turner landed in fifth. Cy Young winner Paul Skenes came in sixth and was the top pitcher on the ballot. Corbin Carroll, Fernando Tatis Jr., Pete Crow-Armstrong and Francisco Lindor rounded out the top 10. Twenty three players received at least one vote.
Image courtesy of Kiyoshi Mio, Imagn Images. Full vote breakdown available via BBWAA.
Was there really any doubt?
Only question was whether it would be unanimous and that really wasn’t much of a question.
I like when Mattingly announced it, Ohtani kissed Decoy instead of his bear.., I mean, wife.
Deserved
Congratulations Ohtani-san.
It was an easy bet for him to win it.
I see what you did there…
In the words of the late Pete Rose , “I wish I had an interpreter,”
Definitely earned all two million dollars the dodgers (cheaters) paid him
@mad They paid him $46M. $2M Ohtani collected this year, the other $44M was paid to a third party where the investment will accrue to the future value Ohtani will one day collect.
Lack of (Financial) compenetence does not make them cheaters…
World would have been just so much better if it was corrected reported as a 10 year/$460 million deal.
I don’t care how or when they pay him. Baseball terms it’s 10/460…just leave it at that.
I wish I could put 95% of my pay in an account and collect it in 15 years at its future value.
Shohei Ohtani signed a 10-year, $700 million contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers that includes a significant deferred payment structure. The contract pays him a low base salary of $2 million per year for the first 10 years, with the remaining $680 million to be paid out in equal installments of $68 million per year from 2034 to 2043.
He will be living large or betting high stakes when he retires
Oh so now he’s aware of where all his money is going. Hmmm
That’s not how it works.
Dodgers pay him $2 million now, remaining $68 million is deferred until 2034. Teams have to fund that deferral at 95% within 2 years with the assumption that interest will cover the added 5%, which in Ohtani’s case seems extremely conservative given the timeframe.
Your $46 million number is the luxury tax average annual value of the contract.
@tiger
Serious Q
Do they know for certain the $460 investment will become 700? Whats the investment? Or is just a high interest acct?
Nancy Pelosi is investing the money.
@chandler Yes there is a federal rate it is tied to and that dictates the amount that is needed that funds the deferrals annually as they happen.
She never misses on her stock market investments….NEVER. must be nice
@Chandler $ typically doubles in about 7 or 8 years when invested conservatively. And they are securing at least a portion of the period that $ is accruing when the deferalls in contract are being bargained and they decide with whom it will be invested. Now if that rate fluctuates at all after the fact Im not certain.
Since these are rather conservative investments and there are these huge predetermined amounts being invested for a fixed predetermined time frame Id imagine the rate is set. Thats $44M annually the investment firm or bank is collecting that they can lend out at much higher rates in small portions for various types of loans.
For the typical person if they are truly disciplined that almost always do far better taking the $46M annually and investing themselves.
In Ohtanis case I think the deferrals were used mainly to inflated the reported value further boosting his lore and marketability. Im sure it will provide some tax advantages to recoup some of the unrealized gains he is forgoing and obviously provides piece of mind.
Most players would never defer to the extreme Ohtani has, but no other player has ever brought in the type of endorsement income he brings in, which the inflated value of contract even further bolstered. It was brilliant job by his agents, his contract gets more free press and mention then even Bonilla who has long been the poster boy for deferred contracts.
@tiger
Lots of insight, appreciate it
But i know a little bit abt high yield interest accts
Something doesnt add up
Ive never heard of any bank that will turn 460 into 700 mil in 15 yrs. Thats 240mil. Theres no such rate that exists in the world. Its impossible. There is another element here or mayb youre missing abt the way the deal works. It never rly made sense from the beginning. The theory of putting $ away makes sense. The idea that you could earn $240mil after 15 yrs does not. There is no sure thing in investments which is by naturr a very risky endeavor that may yield positive or negative results. I also know abt investments, ive made many, and lost alot unfortunately. So again theres no guarantee here which again makes this contract and the details very confusing
Its not a typical high yield savings account. In investing it is called the tule of 72 which determines how long til $ doubles.
I’m not a dodgers fan and these comments are boring. Teams have been deferring for decades. The Reds paid Griffey Jr until last year. Every team should do it. Dodgers are just a better run org
Not sure why I even bother to reply but this whole discussion is dumb. The implication seems to be that if the Dodgers didn’t do the deferrals then they couldn’t get all these players. They can afford all these contracts without deferrals. But, if they did that, you’d still have complaints. Dodgers didn’t offer this weird contract to Ohtani. Ohtani asked for this. You think the Dodgers or any org would have the nerve to say, how about we pay you tiny amounts for 10 years and pay the rest later? Also, nobody was going to sign him for $700 million over 10 years two years ago when there were still lingering questions about whether he’d ever pitch gain. The CBT value of $47 million per year is about what a different contract would have been, $470m over 10. Two years later we can see that even this was a ridiculous bargain and with Soto’s contract you could say that if Ohtani was a free agent right now he’s probably get $550 over 8 years or maybe even more.
At least a few people here get it
Wow! let’s keep going and aim for 8th!
A phenom. A generational talent. The best player in MLB and the MVP…again.
Are you alone in the bathroom?
Kyle Schwarber got snubbed
How many innings did he pitch?
Shohei won it in AL with pitching more. They just had to give it to him in the NL. Which I feel now it’s just unfair. With Angels he pitched the whole year and not only couple innings. That’s deserved. Dh’s shouldn’t be winning it yearly. I loved him in the Angels, but they can’t just keep giving it to him just cause he’s doing both. With Angels he did both ELITE. Not this year.
What the hell are you guys talking about? Even without the pitching Ohtani’s offensive stats were better than Schwarber’s. DHs shouldn’t win it? Well I’m glad you don’t decide this. None of the position players came close to Ohtani’s offensive numbers. There was no one in NL that deserved it more than Shohei. Pitching or not. And it wasn’t close. That’s why it was unanimous Einstein. All these rules to prevent him from winning it is stupid. Enjoy the once in a generation player whether you’re a Dodger fan, bitter Angel fan or not. Geez. And pitching 47 innings is not nothing. He’ll obviously pitch more next year, which I’m sure many will hate that because it will only increase his chances of winning an MVP. Lots of hate.
Pitching has their own reward called Cy Young. His pitching should be irrelevant.
Pitchers are eligible for MVP too and have actually won before….
This is dumb. Hank Aaron award is for hitting. So they should just have this be a baserunning/defense award.
Boom!
But they have Gold Glove awards, the MVP is unnecessary
Unless…
…
…what if the MVP award encompassed all the above? Hitting, base running, and fielding and pitching?
What a crazy idea
He wins it easily even without the pitching. Anything else you want to prevent him from winning it?
No serious person actually believes that. Even disregarding Ohtani’s pitching entirely, he was still the better player this year.
He’d like to thank his interpreter and Rob Manfred for juicing his baseballs
And let’s not argue about the greatest player ever…(whispers) it was Willie Mays.
Babe & ted
Cap Anson
The league is becoming a joke. Glorifying a DH like this. They are going to rob Cal in the AL. What Cal did at the catcher position is more impressive than any season Ohtanj has ever had. It is a popularity contest
Watch baseball much?
How many innings did the other DH’s pitch?
Mamss here is clearly livid about Kyle Schwarber
Guarantee you that Shohei plays a better RF than Soto today. Glad you’re not voting. Then it would really be stupid voting. I’m sure there are bad voters with similar biases and yet Ohtani won it unanimously. What do you think that means?
Whoa what were the odds
Nobody could have seen that coming!
Total BS
Not only was he not the best player in the NL
But he’s a degenerate gambler
go sniff grass, troll.
Who was the best player in the NL?
I would have voted for soto
The #s were all around spectacular
But also
Take away shohei from 2025 dodgers & they’re still elite tm capable of winning WS
Take away soto from 2025 mets & they’re the 2025 rockies
“Take away shohei from 2025 dodgers & they’re still elite tm capable of winning WS
Take away soto from 2025 mets & they’re the 2025 rockies”
Before you said Ohtani simply was “not the best player.” Now you want to make this hypothetical standings game? I mean, you could easily argue “the Mets were a non-playoff team with or without Soto.”
Trade the players for a second: put Ohtani on the Mets, Soto on the Dodgers.
Are the Dodgers better or worse? Are the Mets better or worse?
Check the standings again. Take Ohtani off the Dodgers, and they don’t win the division. They may not even make the playoffs.
Nothing you said is true
Another author muted. Congrats chandlerbing. Trying to do this so I don’t get dumber reading dumb stuff like this.
A leadoff hitter with 187 strikeouts is the “MVP”? I’d say he highlights everything that’s wrong with baseball today.
Yucki would be the expert, uh, example of, everything that’s wrong in the world today.
A leadff hitter with 55 HRs, 20 SB and an 1.014 OPS plus 47 innings with a 2.87 ERA. Go kiss a frog Princess
Yeah, after all these years they’ve finally realized, thanks to sabermetrics, that power, OBP, and increased launch angles win games. Not singles, base stealing, bunting, and all that situational hitting BS that worked in the deadball era, which some of you are still stuck in.
With the numbers he puts up I would say, they don’t make them like this anymore. But they really have never made anyone like this ever. Unless you want to invoke the name Babe Ruth and compare two very different eras which is extremely difficult if borderline impossible. So for my part hats off to the guy, its unlikely I’ll see someone capable of what he does, as a hitter and a pitcher at the same time, in my lifetime.
Finally the Dodgers win something.
I hope his “translator” bet big on him…
BEST.PLAYER.EVER.
He won’t accumulate the counting stats to be the greatest, but he’s the best all around player ever.
LMFAO!
Apt screen name.
Wow funny retort….well not really, but good try.
Which player is actually better then Ohtani? No one in the history of MLB can do the combination of things he does. He’s like that kid in every LL team that pitches, plays SS and bats 3rd because he was just better then everyone else on the diamond.
Ohtani obviously deserved it. But Schwarber should’ve been second unanimously.
can’t beat ‘em .. join ‘em .. Kevin Durant’s been there .. done that
Who else but the unicorn?
He’s probably wagering $2 million that he wins in 2026
Congrats to Ohtani!
The reason why MLB is lifeless and losing public attention is no salary cap.
What will it finally take to get this to happen? When the Dodgers win 5 World Series in a row?
Ignore the 70 million attendance, the postseason TV viewership and the vast majority of fans who take a view opposite to yours. Do you even watch the games?
There will never be a salary cap.
Don’t know if there ever will or not, but plenty of NFL, NBA, and NHL fans said the same things before they restructured their games.
MLB total attendance year-by-year:
2025 – 71,409,421
2024 – 71,348,366
2023 – 70,747,365
2022 – 64,556,636
2021 – 45,304,709
2020 – 0
The game is in a very good place. Sure, the Dodgers have had their run. Between getting the additional Japanese/Canadian fans and the series going 7 games, the World Series built some momentum for 2026.
Money can’t buy championships. The Mets payroll was almost as high and they missed the playoffs. The Dodgers are just better at it.
Complain instead about the owners of your favorite team being cheapskates. *More* teams should be like the Dodgers – not fewer.
“Money can’t buy championships”
It can certainly help you have more chances, though
I guess everyone else will have to wait for Shohei to retire to qualify for the MVP.
And?
@Bivouac-Sal
…and what? Do you have anything of substance to say or just trolling as usual?
As if you ever have anything of substance to say other than the obvious, the mundane or the patently incorrect including your assessment of my comments.
@Bivouac-Sal
I always have informative and logical things to say. I guess you don’t read my posts much. Maybe you’re too busy posting about Trump on Reddit? Hilarious!
Is this an example of your informative and logical things to say? Perfect.
@Bivouac-Sal
I’m just replying to slop from you. Either go read my informative posts or go back to Reddit.
As I said earlier I have read the the obvious, the mundane or the patently incorrect that you peddle. You are typically wrong about baseball just as you have no idea what you’re talking about regarding me.
@Bivouac-Sal
I’ll quote you in response:
“You are typically wrong about baseball just as you have no idea what you’re talking about regarding me”.
LOL! You’re such a troll.
Cal Raleigh would’ve won the MVP if he were in the NL. Now you guys can use the DH argument here.
If Judge was in the NL he would not have won the MVP. Word.
Greatest Of All Time.
Without question…
This article could serve as a template a year from now.
It’s remarkable how many supposed baseball fans seem to suffering the torture of having to watch one of the greatest players the game has ever produced.
Can they defer giving him the award until the Dodgers finish paying off his contract?
As a Phillies guy, Ohtani as a batter isn’t the scary guy when we face the Dodgers but he must tee off on somebody to get those numbers….hes definitely a much more complete player than Shwarber and this was a no brainer. Shwarber hits a lot of beautiful HRs but hes not in Ohtanis class at all…
“As a Phillies guy, Ohtani as a batter isn’t the scary guy when we face the Dodgers but he must tee off on somebody to get those numbers”
He had a .855 OPS (OPS? I know. Sorry) against the Phillies this year. That was 31% worse than his overall performance and 42% better than league average.
He’s one of the top 5 hitters in the league. That the Phillies have had some small sample success against him, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be scared*.
*The Phillies lefty starters definitely help. And being “scared” of a player is kind of weird phrasing
Scarey…meaning I don’t get that sense of dread when he’s at bat or on deck. Not sure why that was weird to you.You make a good point about the Phillies quality lefties. Has had a lot to do with why he doesn’t dominate against us…and looks pretty lost sometimes. More of a nod to the Phillies than a knock on him…and for fairness.. Shwarber can look downright foolish at times..its the nature of his approach at the plate.
Ohtani is an amazing player and should be the MVP with the season he just had but, unfortunately, it should have never happened. He should be in the same predicament as Clase and Ortiz – paid administrative leave while MLB takes their own sweet time investigating. No scapegoats.
Not only did the MLB but the govt completed their investigations and found that Ohtani was not involved.
Be as pissy as you want, but if the DoJ cleared him, he is likely cleared of any wrong doing.
Now why Clase or Ortiz would potentially get more time than Ippai blows my mind.
Here you go, Mr Sad Face. 🙁
Another mute! Like cockroaches they’re all out.
Lots of Pete Alonso fans believe that Pete is one of the best players in the league. Judging by the fact Soto and Lindor got more votes than Alonso, should be a wake up call to these “fan girls” what Pete isn’t the best player on his team. The fact that Alonso wan not on any team speaks to how the league views the aging, one dimensional slugger.
Very underpaid. What a bargain for the Dodgers.
David Fletcher says hi.
how did Alejandro Kirk not get a gold glove?