Ohtani will find out on November 21 if he wins his third MVP award in the last four years.
The Baseball Writers Association of America on Monday unveiled the top three finishers in each league for their four awards, the winners for which will be announced next week. Shohei Ohtani is the favorite to win National League MVP, while Dave Roberts will finish outside of the top three for NL Manager of the Year.
Ohtani already won two MVP awards in the American League, but both of those were years he both hit and pitched. This season, while rehabbing from elbow surgery, he did not pitch, and was only designated hitter all season, so he never played the field.
It would have taken a lot to be MVP in those circumstances, and Ohtani obliged with the first 50-50 season in MLB history, finishing with 54 home runs and 59 stolen bases, and led the NL in several offensive categories, including rWAR, fWAR, home runs, runs, RBI, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, and wRC+.
“It’s a good debate. I sort of equate it to a pitcher winning MVP,” Roberts said in September. “If you separate yourself enough from the field, I think that deserves worthy consideration. When you’re talking about somebody who has a chance to do something that hasn’t even been close to being done, 50-50. That to me is separating yourself from the field.”
The other top three finishers for NL MVP are Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor and Ketel Marte of the D-backs. If Ohtani wins, he’d join Hall of Famer Frank Robinson as the only players to win MVP in both leagues. Robinson won NL MVP in 1961 with the Reds, and captured American League honors in 1966 with the Orioles.
Roberts will finish no higher than fourth in voting for NL Manager of the Year for the fourth time. He won the award in 2016 and finished second in both 2017 and 2022.
Pat Murphy is the likely favorite to win NL Manager of the Year, after taking over a Brewers team that traded its best pitcher (Corbin Burnes) and lost manager Craig Counsell in free agency, and still won the NL Central, and tied for the fourth-best record in baseball with 93 wins.
The other two top-three finishers in the NL were managers of teams the Dodgers beat in the postseason. Mike Shildt took over a Padres team that disappointed in 2023 and cut payroll last offseason, including trading away Juan Soto, and guided San Diego to 93 wins. Carlos Mendoza in his first year as manager took the Mets from 87 losses in 2023 to 89 wins this year and a wild card spot.
Roberts navigated a Dodgers pitching staff that put 11 starters on the injured list and won 98 games, finishing with the best record in MLB for the fourth time in Roberts’ nine years at the helm.
The previous five NL Managers of the Year — beginning in 2019, Shildt of the Cardinals, Don Mattingly of the Marlins, Gabe Kapler of the Giants, Buck Showalter of the Mets, and Skip Schumaker of the Marlins — no longer work for the team they managed at the time. Roberts has the second-longest managerial tenure with his current team, having managed the Dodgers since 2016, trailing only Kevin Cash, who was hired by the Rays for the 2015 season.
All BBWAA award winners will be announced next week, with hour-long shows on MLB Network beginning at 3 p.m. PT. Rookies of the Year will be announced on Monday, November 18, Managers of the Year on November 19, Cy Young Awards on November 20, and MVP awards on November 21.