Cody Snavely
The National League Most Valuable Player Award returns to Los Angeles as two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani has officially been announced as the award winner for the third time in his illustrious career, capping off what is arguably the greatest first season with a new team.
It comes as no surprise that Ohtani ran away with the National League Most Valuable Player Award voting. Despite being exclusively a designated hitter this season, the two-way player, who was rehabbing from his second career Tommy John Surgery, put together one of the greatest offensive seasons of all time.
With Ohtani not on the mound, he was set to wreak havoc on the base paths, setting a career-high in stolen bases with fifty-nine and also setting a career-high in home runs with fifty-four, becoming the first Major Leaguer to join the 50/50 club.
Overall, Ohtani set the standard in the National League with a .310/.390/.646 slash line while leading the National League in runs (134), home runs (54), RBI (130), OBP (.390), SLG (.646), and OPS (1.036). And despite a particular fanbase trying to argue who led the league in WAR, Ohtani led in both fWAR (9.1) and bWAR (9.2).
With the award win, Ohtani is now a three-time MVP winner and is tied for second-most all-time with Jimmie Foxx, Joe DiMaggio, Stan Musial, Roy Campanella, Yogi Berra, Mickey Mantle, Mike Schmidt, Alex Rodriguez, Albert Pujols, and former Angels teammate Mike Trout.
Ohtani is only the second player in Major League Baseball history to win the award in both the American League and National League joining Frank Robinson, who won the NL MVP in 1961 with the Cincinnati Reds and the AL MVP in 1966 with the Baltimore Orioles.
As mentioned already, with the win, Ohtani is now the first designated hitter to win the award, which has sparked major controversy across the league as he is only doing half of what the runner-ups, Francisco Lindor and Ketel Marte, do on a daily basis. But the offensive stats speak for themselves.
Regarding the Los Angeles Dodgers, Ohtani is the fifteenth player in franchise history to win the award and the first since 2019, when Cody Bellinger beat Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Christian Yelich.
Brooklyn
- 1913 – Jake Daubert
- 1924 – Dazzy Vance
- 1941 – Dolph Camilli
- 1949 – Jackie Robinson
- 1951 – Roy Campanella
- 1953 – Roy Campanella
- 1955 – Roy Campanella
- 1956 – Don Newcombe
Los Angeles
- 1962 – Maury Wills
- 1963 – Sandy Koufax
- 1974 – Steve Garvey
- 1988 – Kirk Gibson
- 2014 – Clayton Kershaw
- 2019 – Cody Bellinger
- 2025 – Shohei Ohtani
In the first year of his massive 10-year $700 million contract, Ohtani has lived up to his already lofty expectations generating an enormous amount of wealth on the business side of the Los Angeles Dodgers brand along with expanding their international market, winning the Hank Aaron Award, Sliver Slugger, All-MLB First Team, 2024 National League all-star, 2024 National League Most Valuable Player Award and becoming a World Series champion helping the Dodgers secure their first full-season title since 1988. What will year two bring?
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