Shohei Ohtani continues to make history.
Ohtani was unanimously voted the National League’s Most Valuable Player on Thursday, his fourth MVP award in the past five seasons. Only one other player in baseball history has won more than three MVP awards – Barry Bonds, who won seven.
“I never … start off a season aiming to get the MVP,” Ohtani said through an interpreter. “A lot of it, obviously everything, has to do with your teammates and you want to play good baseball. At the end of the day, we want to be playing in the World Series. I think the MVP just comes along with how you’re playing during the season. Obviously, if I’m playing well as an individual that means I’m helping my team win. So in that sense, hopefully I can win a couple more MVPs. But at the end of the day it’s all about winning games.”
Ohtani is the only player in baseball history to be the unanimous choice as MVP multiple times. He has won unanimously in each of his four MVP seasons.
After his historic 50/50 season in 2024, Ohtani became just the second player (with Frank Robinson) to win MVP awards in both leagues. He is now the only player in history to win multiple MVPs in both leagues.
Only Ohtani and Bonds (who won four in a row from 2001 through 2004) have ever won three consecutive MVP awards.
The award is the 16th time a Dodgers player has been named the MVP. Only Ohtani and Roy Campanella (1951, 1953 and 1955) have won multiple MVPs while playing for the Dodgers.
“It’s truly an honor,” Ohtani said on MLB Network. “The biggest thing is obviously being able to win the World Series. That’s first and foremost. It’s icing on the cake to be able to get an individual award, being crowned MVP.”
Only two players have ever won back-to-back MVP awards in the same seasons their teams won back-to-back World Series championships – Ohtani (2024-25) and Joe Morgan (with the Cincinnati Reds in 1975-76).
Philadelphia Phillies DH Kyle Schwarber finished second with 23 second-place votes followed by New York Mets outfielder Juan Soto, Arizona Diamondbacks shortstop Geraldo Perdomo and Phillies shortstop Trea Turner.
Ohtani, 31, continued to be an elite offensive performer in 2025. He led the National League with a 1.014 OPS, finished second to Schwarber with 55 home runs and led the majors with 146 runs scored. Ohtani didn’t approach matching his 59 stolen bases of 2024. Still, with 20 steals he became the first player in baseball history with multiple seasons of 50 or more home runs and 20 or more stolen bases.
Ohtani also returned to two-way player status in 2025. The Dodgers handled him cautiously, building him up slowly as a pitcher and limiting him to just 47 innings during the regular season. But he had a 2.87 ERA with 62 strikeouts and just nine walks.
It’s a workload on the mound that he expects to increase in 2026.
“I do plan on being able to pitch off the mound from the beginning of the season,” said Ohtani, who didn’t make his pitching debut until mid-June this past season. “For me, the biggest thing is being able to stay healthy throughout the whole season and hopefully be able to start and end the season on the mound. The goal is obviously to be healthy for the full year and be able to pitch for the whole year.
“Obviously we might have new additions and some guys might be gone. In any case, I do hope to be able to pitch however many days I need to be out there and just be healthy.”
Ohtani continued to shine in October with arguably the greatest single game in MLB history. He hit three homers at the plate while striking out 10 over six dominant innings on Oct. 17, leading the Dodgers over the Milwaukee Brewers to complete a four-game NL Championship Series sweep.
Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman and catcher Will Smith also received down-ballot votes for MVP. Freeman received one third-place vote, one fifth, two eighths, four ninths and one 10th. Smith was ninth on one ballot and 10th on another.
At last week’s World Series victory parade and rally, Ohtani was one of several players who called for a “Three-peat” in 2026.
“It’s obviously a difficult feat to repeat and win the World Series,” Ohtani said of that proclamation. “I think as a team we understand what it takes to win. It’s always good for us to have that goal of what we’re striving for. Again, my goal is to win another World Series so that’s why I made that statement.”
New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge was named the American League MVP for the third time in four years, edging Seattle Mariners switch-hitting catcher Cal Raleigh with 17 first-place votes to 13. The vote was the closest for an MVP since the Angels’ Mike Trout topped Houston’s Alex Bregman by 17-13 in 2019.
Judge, who also won the AL award in 2022 and 2024, joins Joe DiMaggio, Yogi Berra and Mickey Mantle as three-time MVPs with the Yankees. The 33-year-old led the majors with a .331 batting average and 1.144 OPS while hitting 53 homers.
MORE AWARDS
During the MLB Awards Show co-hosted by Dodgers shortstop Mookie Betts on Thursday night, Ohtani continued to collect honors.
Ohtani was named the National League winner of the Hank Aaron Award as the top offensive performer, the DH on the All-MLB team and the winner of the Edgar Martinez Award as the best DH in both leagues for the fifth consecutive season.
Ohtani and Dodgers starting pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto were named to the All-MLB first team and Smith to the second team.