Shohei Ohtani has done it again, cementing his place in baseball history with his fourth career MVP award — a feat that places him in the rarest of company in America’s pastime.
The Los Angeles Dodgers superstar claimed his second consecutive National League MVP on Thursday, becoming the only player in MLB history to win the award unanimously more than once. Ohtani’s fourth MVP trophy puts him behind only Barry Bonds, who collected seven during his controversial career.
A Two-League Phenomenon
What makes Ohtani’s achievement even more remarkable is the unprecedented versatility of his dominance. He’s now the first player to win MVP honors twice in both the American and National Leagues, having claimed the AL award with the Angels in 2021 and 2023 before adding NL trophies with the Dodgers in 2024 and 2025. Perhaps more impressively, he’s led the Dodgers to back-to-back World Series championships since arriving in Chavez Ravine.
“If I’m playing well as an individual that means I’m helping the team win, so in that sense, hopefully I can end up with a couple more MVPs,” Ohtani said through an interpreter. “But at the end of the day, it’s all about winning games.”
The numbers tell the story of Ohtani’s dominance in 2025: a .282 batting average, NL-leading 1.014 OPS, 55 home runs, 102 RBIs, and 20 stolen bases. And that’s just at the plate. After missing significant time on the mound due to an elbow injury, he returned to pitching in June, gradually building strength while striking out 62 batters over 47 innings.
October 17, 2025, may well have featured the greatest single-game performance in baseball history. In a pivotal NLCS matchup against Milwaukee, Ohtani delivered a performance for the ages — blasting three home runs while striking out 10 batters over six dominant innings, helping the Dodgers complete their sweep of the Brewers.
Judge Claims Third AL MVP
In the American League, the Yankees’ Aaron Judge secured his third MVP award in a nail-biter, edging Seattle’s Cal Raleigh in the closest MVP race since 2019. Judge received 17 first-place votes to Raleigh’s 13, joining Yankees legends Joe DiMaggio, Yogi Berra, and Mickey Mantle as three-time MVP winners for the storied franchise.
“It’s tough for me to wrap my head around,” Judge admitted. “It’s mind blowing from my side of things, because I play this game to win, I play this game for my teammates, my family, all the fans in New York.”
The 33-year-old outfielder’s season was nothing short of spectacular. He led the majors with a .331 batting average and 1.144 OPS while launching 53 home runs, continuing to establish himself as this generation’s premier power hitter.
But Raleigh’s breakout campaign nearly stole the show. The Mariners catcher, nicknamed “Big Dumper,” made history of his own by smashing 60 home runs — the most ever for a player primarily catching — while driving in a career-high 125 RBIs. His performance helped Seattle to one of the franchise’s best seasons ever.
What was Judge’s take on his closest competitor? “Cal’s a special player,” he noted. “I could sit here and talk all night about the player he is, but really the kind of leader and person he is really stuck out to me at the All-Star Game.”
How much higher can Ohtani climb in baseball’s pantheon? With four MVPs at age 31 and a unique two-way ability that continues to defy conventional wisdom, the only limitation may be time itself. As baseball’s ultimate unicorn keeps rewriting the record books, the question isn’t whether he belongs among the all-time greats — it’s whether we’re witnessing the greatest player who ever lived.
