by Cary Osborne
Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto were two of the best performers in the 2025 postseason. But before that, they were two of the top performers in the regular seasons.
Both are finalists for the top regular-season individual prizes in Major League Baseball.
Ohtani, the reigning National League MVP, is a finalist for the 2025 NL MVP. Yamamoto is a finalist for the NL Cy Young Award in his second Major League season.
All finalists for Baseball Writers’ Association of America awards were announced on Monday. The winner of the Cy Young Award will be announced Nov. 12, and MVPs will be announced Nov. 13.
Ohtani is looking to become the second player in MLB history to win at least three consecutive MVPs. He is also vying for his fourth MVP award, which would be the second most in MLB history. Ohtani won American League MVP awards in 2021 and 2023 to go along with his 2024 NL MVP.
Barry Bonds won a record seven MVP awards, including four consecutive from 2001–2004.
Ohtani led the Major Leagues in runs scored (146) and total bases (380) and led the National League in slugging (.622), OPS (1.014) and OPS+ (179). He also had a 2.87 ERA and struck out 62 batters over 47 innings in 14 starts as a pitcher. He is the only Major Leaguer in history with at least 50 strikeouts as a pitcher and at least 50 home runs as a batter in a single season. Ohtani hit a Dodger record 55 home runs.
His competition for the NL MVP is Philadelphia designated hitter Kyle Schwarber and New York Mets outfielder Juan Soto.
Yamamoto, the 2025 World Series MVP, had a 2.49 ERA, 0.99 WHIP, 12–8 record and 201 strikeouts in 173 2/3 innings over 30 starts for the Dodgers. He held hitters to 5.9 hits per nine innings.
The right-handed starter became the 20th pitcher in MLB history to have an ERA of 2.50 or better, at least 200 strikeouts and average fewer that 6.0 hits per nine innings.
His competition is Pittsburgh’s Paul Skenes and Philadelphia’s Cristopher Sánchez.
Ohtani and Yamamoto are finalists for MLB’s highest individual awards was originally published in Dodger Insider on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.