NEW YORK — Shohei Ohtani doesn’t usually need to change anything about how he carries himself to own a room. He just shows up, does the work, and lets the season speak for him. But at the BBWAA Writers Awards dinner in New York City on Saturday night (January 24), Ohtani did change one thing, and you could feel the crowd lock in a little tighter.
He accepted his 2025 National League MVP in English.
No translator at his side. Prepared remarks in hand. Calm, steady delivery. And in a ballroom full of writers, broadcasters, and baseball lifers, it landed the way a well-struck line drive does: clean, direct, impossible to ignore. Another reminder that 2025 wasn’t only a video game season for the Dodgers’ two-way superstar. It was a season that kept finding new ways to feel bigger than the last.
Verducci sets the tone: jokes first, awe second
Tom Verducci handled the introduction, and he did it the way Verducci does everything: a little humor, a little history, and then a hard turn into “you’re watching something we may never see again.”
He opened loose, working the room and giving the dais some love. “Good evening. What an amazing night. This dais is amazing,” he said, then immediately took aim at the most important subject in any ballroom: dinner. “How about the food? The food was amazing. So, shout out to our celebrity chef who whipped it up this afternoon.”
Then Verducci got to the part everybody in the room was waiting for, and he did it with a grin. “Shohei Ohtani,” he said, before tossing out a perfectly New York joke for anyone who’s ever bounced along the FDR. “For those of you who were driving home on the FDR, the potholes have been repaired courtesy of Shohei Ohtani. The guy does it all.”
It was funny, sure, but it also worked as a setup. Because Verducci didn’t just want to introduce the MVP. He wanted to frame Ohtani as a walking piece of baseball mythology.
He told a story about the late, great writer Roger Angell, who once described seeing Babe Ruth in Manhattan, “walking around” in his camel hair coat. Verducci’s point was simple: that’s what legend looks like before history has a chance to put it in a museum.
“Well, our generation, we have a legend in the making with Shohei Ohtani,” Verducci said.
And once he turned the corner into numbers, he didn’t let up.
“Just want to give you a couple of numbers here because there is no one like Sho. Never has been,” Verducci said. Then he hit the room with the kind of stat line that still sounds fake even after you’ve watched it unfold all summer: “55 home runs he hit and he had a 2.87 ERA. Crazy.”
The applause came right on cue, and Verducci kept stacking the evidence.
“202 balls he hit 100 miles an hour or more, the most in Major League Baseball,” he said. And because Ohtani can’t just be elite at one thing, Verducci pivoted straight back to the mound. “And he threw 39 pitches 100 miles an hour, second most among starting pitchers. Crazy.”
Verducci also pointed out the larger arc, noting Ohtani’s run of MVPs and how rare the voting margins have been. “Three straight MVPs, unanimously,” he said, framing it as something the sport simply hasn’t had a comparison for in the modern era.
But the sharpest part of Verducci’s introduction wasn’t a stat. It was the word he kept coming back to when he talked about what Ohtani is like in the day-to-day rhythm of the game.
“The word that comes to mind for me is respect,” Verducci said. “Respect for the game, respect for the opposition, respect for the umpires, for the fans, for competition.”
He even put it in terms every parent in the room could picture. “As parents, you can feel good about buying your kid a Sho jersey,” he said, then smiled at the obvious add-on. “Heck, we know you can buy one for yourself, too, right?”
By the time Verducci wrapped, he wasn’t really introducing a player anymore. He was warning everyone not to get numb to the nightly highlight reel.
“When I tell you he’s a generational legend in the making, it’s not hyperbole,” Verducci said. “Someday you can look back and you will tell people that you saw Sho play.”
And then the line that stuck, because it’s exactly what Dodgers fans have been telling themselves every week for two seasons: “Enjoy it. Don’t ever get used to what we are seeing, folks. No more than you would get used to seeing the Grand Canyon. It’s that special.”
Verducci ended with one more wink to the Babe Ruth story. “It’s my honor to present a guy who does it all,” he said, “and I’m sure he can even rock a camel hair coat.”
Then he made it official.
“Your 2025 National League Most Valuable Player, Shohei Ohtani.”
Ohtani accepts in English, and sounds like himself
Ohtani stepped up and did what he always does in big moments: he stayed simple. No theatrics. Just gratitude, names, and a clear sense that he understands how many people it takes to pull off a season like this.
“Thank you, Tom. I appreciate the introduction and kind words,” Ohtani began. Then he turned immediately to the people who run the night. “BBWAA, thank you once again for hosting this great event and always making us feel welcomed.”
He also acknowledged the long history of the dinner itself, congratulating the group on the milestone. “Congrats on your 101st gala to all the writers who voted for me. Thank you.”
“This MVP award is very meaningful and winning it again means so much to me,” Ohtani said. “A deep appreciation goes out to all of you writers for recognizing the hard work and efforts that were put forth in achieving this NL MVP award.”
If Verducci’s introduction was about the myth, Ohtani’s remarks were about the people. He made a point of sharing the stage with everyone else being honored, and he gave a special nod to a team that clearly meant something to him in the room.
“To my fellow recipients, congratulations to all of you and your achievements,” he said, “especially to the 86 Mets team.” (The Mets alumni were in attendance in honor or their 40th anniversary of the win)
Then came a sentence directed to the Mets, but one that Dodgers fans still probably haven’t gotten tired of hearing, because it sounds just as good in January as it did in October.
“I now know the feeling of what it’s like to become a world champion and it’s great,” Ohtani said. “So, congrats on your 40th anniversary.”
From there, he went straight to the Dodgers. Not in vague, sponsor-friendly language, but in the way he usually talks when he’s comfortable: appreciative, specific, and generous with credit.
“Thank you to the Dodgers organization for believing in me and embracing my vision,” he said, then added that he wanted to honor ownership and the people running the baseball operation. He specifically thanked “the entire front office,” calling out “Andrew Friedman and Ron Rosen,” and then widened the circle to where it always has to go for a season like this. “To all my teammates and the coaching staff for helping and encouraging me throughout the year,” Ohtani said. “I felt your support every day.”
He also made sure the behind-the-scenes group got their moment.
“A huge shout out to the entire Dodgers staff behind the scenes,” he said, adding thanks to individuals in the room. You could hear in the phrasing that this was written carefully, the way you write something when you truly don’t want to forget anybody.
Then he shifted to his personal support group, including his agent and others who help manage the gravity that follows him everywhere. And finally, he closed where you’d expect him to close, with family.
“Lastly, my family in Japan,” Ohtani said, “and most importantly to my loving wife Mamiko and my daughter and Decoy… for making my life whole. I appreciate you always being there for me. Thank you.”
The applause sounded warm in the transcript, but the moment reads even warmer when you remember what made it different. He delivered all of it in English. Not because he had to. Because he chose to.
What it meant, and why Dodgers fans should savor it
For Dodgers fans, the MVP itself is the headline. Second straight NL MVP. Another stamp on a 2025 season that somehow managed to be both outrageous on paper and strangely normal once you got used to him doing the impossible three times a week.
But there was something else here, too. Verducci spent his entire introduction telling the room that Ohtani is one of one, that this is history happening in real time. Ohtani answered by spending his time doing the opposite of a victory lap. He thanked writers. He thanked other honorees. He thanked the Dodgers front office by name. He thanked teammates and staff. He thanked his family.
That’s part of what makes the whole thing work. The numbers are wild, and the hype is loud, and the legend talk is already here. And yet Ohtani still shows up like a guy who’s trying to earn it again next year.
If you’re a Dodgers fan, you don’t need the BBWAA dinner to tell you what you’re watching. You’ve been watching it. Night after night. Summer into fall.
Still, it’s pretty satisfying to hear it said out loud in a New York ballroom by one of the sport’s best storytellers, and then to hear Ohtani accept it in English, steady as ever, sounding like a superstar who understands exactly what this meant, and exactly who helped him get there.
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