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
Still can’t believe PCA thought he could MVPmax and PlatGlovemax when Goatani and Daddy Nando mog Peter in every way
At least he enjoyed the Cubs’ deep playoff run XDDDD
I mean whose going to challenge him in the NL I feel like we’ve seen Sotos offensive ceiling same with Acuna, Schwarber, Turner, Mookie, and others. PCA potential is a 40/40 + season and be one of the best defensive CF in a while.
Still a big bar to clear and Ohtani is showing no signs of slowing down.
Acuna’s best is good enough to rival anyone… but can he really steak that many bases again and would it even matter? Honestly, even if Ohtani was only average as a pitcher, with the way people look at these things, I don’t know how anyone could ever beat Ohtani, as long as he’s healthy.
My condolences for David Fletcher passing.
Thank you. When he died in my arms and told me “carry on my legacy and love one another,” I felt kinda sad but also relieved
I feel like I should tell you this now. He had scheduled a letter to be mailed to me upon his death. In it he said that if you ever become DominicFletcherFan69 you aren’t getting anything in the afterlife.not even hand stuff
Don’t talk like that
Sorry. Hand stuff is probably still on the table.
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.
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?
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.
Pitching has their own reward called Cy Young. His pitching should be irrelevant.
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
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?
As opposed to the two DHs he was up against? Let’s not pretend Soto plays the field. Maybe Soto or Schwarber should learn to deliver two handfuls of elite starting pitching each year.
Repetitive awards can be boring but it’s a testament to the utter dominance the player displays. Usually you look back on these things and say how sick it was but not in the moment if you aren’t a fan of the team.
At least now they aren’t terrible choices like Jeters gold gloves or Juan Gone’s mvp.
With all that said, Cal should 100% win.
How many innings did the other DH’s pitch?
Mamss here is clearly livid about Kyle Schwarber
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
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.
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.
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!