by Megan Garcia
A year after he accomplished the unimaginable in his debut Dodger season, Shohei Ohtani’s encore performance was just as remarkable.
Ohtani, in his first year as a hitter and pitcher with the Dodgers, was voted as the unanimous 2025 National League Most Valuable Player. He is the first player to win the award unanimously four times in his career.
Ohtani is the first Dodger to win consecutive MVP honors.
Ohtani and catcher Roy Campanella (1951, 1953, 1955) are the only players in franchise history to win the MVP award multiple times.
This is Ohtani’s fourth time being named MVP in his eight-year career. He won the American League honors in 2021 and 2023.
The last time Ohtani was a hitter and pitcher in the same season was in 2023.
The return to his roots resulted in incredible numbers.
As a designated hitter, he slashed .282/.392/.622/1.014 with 55 home runs in 158 games. He led the NL in slugging percentage and OPS. His 146 runs and 380 total bases were the best in Major League Baseball. He ranked second in home runs and walks (109) and fourth in triples (nine) in the National League.
As a starting pitcher, he finished with a 2.87 ERA in 14 starts. He had 62 strikeouts in 47 innings pitched with a 1.04 WHIP.
Nearly one year after his iconic 50/50 game in Miami, Ohtani threw five no-hit innings against the Phillies, one of the best offensive teams in baseball, on Sept. 16. He capped off the night with a 430-foot home run to right field. It was his 50th of the season.
That night, he became the first player in Major League history with 50 home runs and 50 pitching strikeouts in the same season.
Ohtani’s 55 home runs set a new Dodger franchise record for the most in a single season. He owned the previous record, which he set last year with 54. He became the sixth player in history to record consecutive 50-plus home run seasons. Alex Rodriguez was the last to do it in 2001 and 2002.
He also became the third Japanese-born player to reach 1,000 Major League career hits this season, joining Ichiro Suzuki and Hideki Matsui. Ohtani’s milestone hit was a home run to center field on Aug. 6 against the Cardinals.
Ohtani joins Sandy Koufax (1963) as the only Dodger to win the league MVP award and a postseason MVP honor in the same year. Ohtani was named the NL Championship Series MVP after hitting .357 (5-for-14) with three homers and pitching six scoreless innings.
Ohtani (2024 and 2025), Campanella (1955), Koufax (1963) and Kirk Gibson (1988) are the only four Dodgers to win a league MVP award and a World Series championship in the same season.
Shohei Ohtani’s encore season ends with second NL MVP award was originally published in Dodger Insider on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.