Ohtani Nets 4th Major League MVP Award

Las Vegas, Nov. 13 (Jiji Press)–Japanese baseball superstar Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Dodgers won his fourth Major League Baseball MVP award on Thursday. The 31-year-old two-way player was unanimously selected for the award in the National League, being named MVP for the third consecutive year from 2023, when he played for the Los Angeles Angels of the American League. He took the first-place votes of all 30 voting members of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America, submitted before the start of the postseason, winning 420 points. The Philadelphia Phillies’ Kyle Schwarber came in second with 260 points, followed by the New York Mets’ Juan Soto with 231 points. “It’s an honor for me,” Ohtani said in a telephone interview after being selected National League MVP. “I think the season MVP is something that comes after working hard for a team and achieving good results.” Ohtani became the first major leaguer named the MVP for three straight years since Barry Bonds, who was mainly on the San Francisco Giants, took the award for four years in a row from 2001 to 2004. Ohtani’s latest win put him in sole second place for the most MVP awards, behind Bonds’ seven. In the 2025 season, Ohtani marked a .282 batting average, 55 home runs and 102 RBIs. He mainly batted at the top of the lineup, notching 146 runs scored, an MLB high, and a National League-topping OPS of 1.014. He returned to the mound for the first time in two seasons, posting one win and one loss in 14 starts and an ERA of 2.87. Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara congratulated Ohtani for the MVP award win and said, “I have great hopes for his performance in the next and subsequent seasons.” “In addition to his outstanding performance as a two-way player, his constant efforts and dedication improved the morale and teamwork of the team and greatly contributed to the Dodgers’ back-to-back (World Series) victories,” Kihara said at a press conference, voicing expectations for a positive impact on the promotion of sports in Japan. In the American League, the New York Yankees’ Aaron Judge won his second-straight MVP, his third in total. Judge won the league’s batting title with a .331 average, hit 53 homers and racked up 114 RBIs. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]