Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani voted unanimous National League MVP; Mets' Juan Soto finishes third
The Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani celebrates after Los Angeles defeated the Toronto Blue Jays in Game 7 of the World Series on Nov. 2 in Toronto. Credit: AP/Frank Gunn
LAS VEGAS — Kyle Schwarber hit a National League-leading 56 home runs for the Phillies. Juan Soto hit 43 for the Mets and was two stolen bases shy of joining the 40-40 club. And still, it wasn’t close.
Because, well, an unprecedented player makes for an unprecedented achievement.
Shohei Ohtani was named the Most Valuable Player on Thursday for the fourth time in his career — second only to Barry Bonds, who earned the honor seven times. Ohtani, who was named MVP with the Angels in 2021 and 2023 and with the Dodgers the past two seasons, earned the honor unanimously for the fourth time. He’s the only player to be named MVP unanimously in multiple years.
The awards are voted on by members of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. Ohtani earned 430 points, Schwarber came in second at 260 and Soto was third at 231.
“It’s definitely special that I was able to do it so young,” Ohtani, 31, said through an interpreter in a conference call with reporters. “It was special because it was unanimous and I’d like to thank all the writers for voting for me . . . Hopefully I can end up with a couple more MVPs, but at the end of the day, it’s all about winning games.”
Ohtani slashed .282/.392/.622 for the World Series champion Dodgers and his 55 home runs were second in the NL. He drove in 102 runs and stole 20 bases, and his 1.014 OPS was second best in baseball behind Aaron Judge (who beat him out for MVP honors in 2022).
Returning from Tommy John surgery, Ohtani pitched to a 2.87 ERA in 14 starts, allowing only three homers in 47 innings with 62 strikeouts and nine walks.
Soto’s .396 on-base percentage and 38 steals were tops in the NL. This is his third top-three finish, though he’s never won the award. He came in third in 2024 and second in 2021.
“It’s great,” Soto said of Ohtani’s win. “I’m really happy to be top three again . . . Definitely, we worked hard, fell short as a team, but that’s at least something we can take from 2025 . . . We’ve just got to play better.”
Laura Albanese is a reporter, feature writer and columnist covering local professional sports teams; she began at Newsday in 2007 as an intern.
