Ohtani wins his 3rd MVP in four years, and is the second player to win the award in both leagues, joining Frank Robinson
Shohei Ohtani signed the biggest contract in baseball history, and is first season with the Dodgers was a smashing success, authoring the first 50-homer, 50-steal season ever and winning a World Series in his first-ever taste of an MLB postseason. On Thursday, he capped off his 2024 campaign by winning the National League MVP.
Ohtani captured all 30 first place votes, giving him three unanimous wins in all three of his MVP awards, including 2021 and 2023 with the Angels in the American League. He joins Frank Robinson as the only players to win MVP in both leagues, and Ohtani is just the eighth player to win an MVP award with multiple teams.
There are only 23 unanimous MVPs since the BBWAA began voting on the award, and Ohtani is the only player to do so more than once. Both Ohtani and Aaron Judge won MVPs unanimously this year, the second straight season both MVPs received every first place, the first two seasons both awards were won unanimously.
In both of his MVP seasons with the Angels, Ohtani was both hitting and pitching, but in 2024 he was not on the mound while rehabbing from elbow surgery. But even though he was limited to being only an offensive player, Ohtani’s production was off the charts.
He led the National League in home runs (54), RBI (130), runs scored (134), on-base percentage (.390), slugging percentage (.646), OPS (1.036), OPS+ (190), wRC+ (181), total bases (411), extra-base hits (99), rWAR (9.2), and fWAR (9.1). Ohtani also finished second in the league in batting average (.310) and stolen bases (59), the latter the most by a player born in Japan in MLB history.
Ohtani is the first primary designated hitter to win MVP, making all 159 of his starts at DH this season. That surpassed Don Baylor’s 65 starts as designated hitter for the Angels while winning the 1979 American League MVP, but Baylor last year also started 97 games in the outfield.
Ohtani is the first Dodger to win MVP unanimously, and is the 13th different player in franchise history to win the award. He joins first baseman Jake Daubert (1913), pitcher Dazzy Vance (1924), first baseman Dolph Camilli (1941), second baseman Jackie Robinson (1949), catcher Roy Campanella (1951, 1953, and 1955), pitcher Don Newcombe (1956), shortstop Maury Wills (1962), pitcher Sandy Koufax (1963), first baseman Steve Garvey (1974), outfielder Kirk Gibson (1988), pitcher Clayton Kershaw (2014), and outfielder Cody Bellinger (2019).
In all, four Dodgers received MVP votes somewhere on a ballot, with Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman, and Teoscar Hernández joining Ohtani.