Up until Freddie Freeman squeezed Mookie Betts‘ throw to end Game 7 of the World Series, the Dodgers’ chances for a repeat were a source of enormous suspense.
There was no such sense of doubt before the news came down Monday that Shohei Ohtani is one of three finalists for the National League Most Valuable Player Award, along with the Phillies’ Kyle Schwarber and the Mets’ Juan Soto. Not only that, but Ohtani is considered a strong favorite for the award, after a season in which he posted a 1.014 OPS and hit 55 home runs at the plate. He also returned to the mound for the first time since 2023 and delivered a 2.87 ERA and 62 strikeouts in 47 innings over 14 starts.
We won’t know the final results of the BBWAA voting for certain until the MVP Awards are announced live on MLB Network, beginning at 4 p.m. PT on Nov. 13. But for now, we can look ahead and preview some of the history Ohtani would make if he hears his name called again that night.
Here are five ways Ohtani’s latest MVP Award would be a significant achievement.
1) Four total MVP Awards
Ohtani is already in select company when it comes to the most career MVP wins. He took AL MVP honors with the Angels in 2021 and 2023, then earned NL honors for the first time after last season, his first with the Dodgers. That makes Ohtani, at present, one of 11 players with exactly three MVP trophies. Of the other 10, seven are in the Hall of Fame, another is headed there soon (former Ohtani teammate Albert Pujols), and one more is still active (another former Ohtani teammate, Mike Trout). The final name on the list is Alex Rodriguez.
If Ohtani wins his fourth, he would pull ahead of that group, as just the second player in history with at least four MVP wins. Only Barry Bonds (seven) has more than that.
2) Third straight MVP Award
We’ve already established that Ohtani is one of just 12 players to win at least three total MVP Awards, so it should be no surprise that winning three in a row is extremely rare. In fact, Bonds is the only one to do it, having won four straight with the Giants from 2001-04. Ohtani is currently one of 13 players — not counting a different Bonds streak (1992-93) — to win exactly two straight since the BBWAA began handing out MVPs in 1931. But none other than Bonds ever made it three. The most recent player to come close was Pujols, who finished second to Joey Votto in the 2010 NL race after winning in both 2008 and ‘09. Can Ohtani get over that hump?
3) Back-to-back champ + MVP
So winning consecutive MVP Awards is rare. But what about doing it at the same time you also win consecutive World Series titles? That’s nearly unprecedented. Among that aforementioned list of back-to-back MVPs, only Joe Morgan of the 1975-76 Reds has pulled off that feat, which Ohtani could be on the verge of matching. Ohtani is already one of six players (along with Morgan, Mike Schmidt, Roger Maris, Mickey Mantle and Hal Newhouser) to even win one World Series title that overlapped with back-to-back MVP seasons.
And while we’re on the subject of the Dodgers’ postseason success, there’s also this: Ohtani was named MVP of this year’s NLCS against the Brewers. If he adds the 2025 NL MVP Award to that accomplishment, he’d be only the seventh player — and first since 2010 (Texas’ Josh Hamilton) — to claim an LCS or World Series MVP Award in the same year as a regular season MVP. The list already includes one Dodger: Sandy Koufax, who was the NL and World Series MVP in 1963.
4) Two MVP Awards as a Dodger
You won’t be surprised to know that a franchise with as long and proud a history as the Dodgers is not exactly hurting for MVPs. With 13 wins, they are tied with the rival Giants for the third most, behind only the Yankees (22) and Cardinals (18). Interestingly, though, those awards have been spread out across 10 different players. Since the team moved to Los Angeles, its seven MVP trophies have been claimed by seven different players, Ohtani included. Legendary catcher Roy Campanella — who won with Brooklyn in 1951, ‘53 and ‘55 — is the only player to win multiple times in a Dodgers uniform.
Not only would Ohtani join Campanella in that select group, but he also would become only the second player in history to win back-to-back MVP Awards in his first two seasons with a franchise. The other was Maris, who was AL MVP in 1960 and ‘61 after the Yankees acquired him in a trade with the Kansas City Athletics in December 1959.
5) Third MVP Award as a (part-time) pitcher
Before we go any further, let’s state it plainly: Ohtani defies comparison to any other player in Major League history, including Babe Ruth. With that said … if he wins his fourth MVP next week, it also would be his third earned after a season in which he was a two-way player. (Last year’s came as a full-time DH while he was recovering from elbow surgery.) While Ohtani obviously isn’t an MVP candidate on the strength of his pitching alone, that is part of his case.
That’s notable, in the context of recent MVP Awards. In the 28 years prior to Ohtani’s first MVP win (1993-2020), there were 56 individual MVP seasons, and only two of those were put together by players who pitched (Justin Verlander in 2011 and Clayton Kershaw in 2014). Should Ohtani win in 2025, he would pass that total on his own.
