Shohei Ohtani named 2025 NL MVP, his fourth career MVP

Shohei Ohtani did it again. On Thursday, the Los Angeles Dodgers’ superstar was named the National League MVP for the second consecutive year, cementing his legacy as one of the most unique and transformative players in the history of Major League Baseball. This marks Ohtani's fourth MVP award in just eight seasons—two with the Angels (2021, 2023) and now two with the Dodgers (2024, 2025). And perhaps most impressively, all four MVPs were unanimous selections.

Ohtani collected his fourth award, and only one other player in MLB history—Barry Bonds—has more than three.

But Ohtani's latest MVP is not just about numbers, nor is it just about his history of dominance. It's about a force of nature that has completely reshaped what we thought was possible in baseball. Let's start there: Shohei Ohtani is, simply put, the most unique player we've ever seen.

After a frustrating six-year tenure with the Los Angeles Angels, where the team failed to make a single playoff appearance during Ohtani's run, he made the leap to the Dodgers in 2024, and the results were immediate. Two seasons with the Dodgers, two World Series Championships, and now, two NL MVPs. Ohtani has shown that when you put him in a system that values excellence in all facets of the game—offense, defense, pitching, and everything in between—he's capable of things that were previously unthinkable.

His transition to Los Angeles was the beginning of a new era not just for him, but for the entire franchise. While the Angels were a team full of individual brilliance but little success, Ohtani with the Dodgers was a perfect match. The team gave him the resources and platform to fully showcase his dual-threat capabilities, and boy, did he deliver.

Let’s not forget what Ohtani did last year. In 2024, he became the first player in MLB history to reach the 50-50 mark—50 home runs and 50 stolen bases in a single season. A feat so rare and so extraordinary that it immediately became a point of conversation for baseball fans and analysts across the globe. Ohtani finished 2024 with 54 home runs, 59 stolen bases, 130 RBIs, and a .310 batting average. He didn’t even pitch that year, recovering from elbow surgery, and yet he still transformed a Dodgers offense that was already among the league’s best into an unstoppable juggernaut.

The 2025 season was a new chapter for Ohtani—one that featured a return to the mound. While rehabbing from that aforementioned elbow surgery, he was able to pitch again in the second half of the season, and he didn’t miss a beat. In fact, he took his performance to another level.

Ohtani batted .282 with 55 home runs and 102 RBIs, but it wasn’t just about the offense. Ohtani became the first player in MLB history to record both 50+ home runs and 50+ strikeouts in a single season—55 homers and 62 strikeouts, to be exact. To say Ohtani’s versatility is unmatched would be an understatement. He pitched 47 innings in 14 starts, finishing with a 2.87 ERA and, remarkably, allowing zero earned runs over his final three starts after an up-and-down stretch early in the year.

But it was in the postseason where Ohtani truly solidified his case for the 2025 MVP. In the NLCS, he was named the series MVP after his electrifying performance in Game 4. Ohtani blasted three home runs, but it was his pitching performance that stole the show—he tossed six shutout innings, striking out 10, and allowing no runs to help complete a Dodgers’ sweep of the series.

That performance was the cherry on top of what has been a historic season, and it was the kind of dominance that fans in Los Angeles have come to expect from Ohtani since he arrived. The way he impacts the game on both sides of the ball—at an elite level, no less—simply has no modern parallel.

It’s impossible to overstate just how rare and special Shohei Ohtani is. In an era where specialization has taken over the game, Ohtani does it all. He’s a world-class hitter, a dominant pitcher, and a presence that elevates everyone around him. His four MVPs are proof that his talent is not just an anomaly, but a revolution in how we view the sport.

With Ohtani's unique combination of power, speed, and pitching prowess, he’s proven to be the ultimate weapon, capable of carrying an offense and an entire pitching staff. He’s not just a player; he’s a force of nature, a once-in-a-generation talent that baseball fans will be talking about for decades to come.

So, as we reflect on his fourth MVP award, it’s important to recognize that Ohtani is not only rewriting the record books, but also pushing the boundaries of what is possible on a baseball field. He is, without question, the most unique player the game has ever seen—and the most valuable.

At this point, the only question left is: What will he do next?