It is rare in sports that excitement and expectation are fulfilled in such a wholesome way as has been the case with Shohei Ohtani and the Dodgers. By securing his second straight NL MVP, Ohtani is two for two in World Series rings and Most Valuable Player awards since joining the Dodgers. What else could anyone possibly ask for? Furthermore, its Ohtanis second straight MVP in unanimous fashion, receiving all 30 first-place votes in the National League.
Its only year two of his tenure in Los Angeles, and were already at a point of running out of adjectives to describe the greatness of Ohtani. What he did as a hitter in 2025, much like it was the case last year, wouldve been enough to put him in the lead for the NL MVP. Sprinkle on top the terrific nearly 50 innings of starting pitching, as the Dodgers were very methodical in his return to the mound, and his performance stands out even further. Getting to the playoffs in the best form was always the priority, even as the Dodgers dealt with a plethora of pitching injuries, which ultimately led to such a low innings tally for the Japanese superstar.
Unlike in 2024, Ohtani had some company atop the hitting leaderboards in the National League, with Kyle Schwarber narrowly beating out the Dodgers DH for the most home runs, with 56 to Ohtanis 55. Still, Ohtani was vastly superior to Schwarber in nearly every hitting category (AVG, OBP, SLG). Ohtanis 3.92 OBP and .622 SLG to Schwarbers .365 and .563 leave no doubt as to who was the superior hitter.
The most notable difference in Ohhtanis game was a drastic cutdown in steals, which was to be expected, given his preparation to pitch this year, something he started doing in games in mid-June. Still, its not as if Ohtani quit running as a whole; he did steal 20 bags as one of the 20 players in the National League to do that this year.
Cementing his place in this teams history, Ohtani becomes the first Dodger to win back-to-back Most Valuable Player awards. Roy Campanella is the only other Dodger with multiple MVP awards, but he spread his three awards across a five-year period between 1951 and 1955, never winning it back-to-back.
Looking at the National League as a whole, Ohtani joins a list of Barry Bonds and Albert Pujols as the only players to win this award on back-to-back occasions in the 21st century. Speaking of Bonds, Ohtani still has a long way to go before reaching those 7 MVP awards, but by collecting a fourth one, Ohtani separates himself from that group of 10 three-time winners. Ohtani is also the first player to win this award twice in each league.
The other two Dodger players involved in the voting were Will Smith and Freddie Freeman, with the latter receiving a pair of top-5 votes.