Los Angeles’ Dodgers DH Shohei Ohtani was the unanimous selection for the NL MVP award, adding a third MVP to the two he won in the American League.
Ohtani, who earned MVP honors in the American League in 2021 and 2023 with the Los Angeles Angels, becomes the second player in history to win the award in both leagues. The first was Frank Robinson, the National League MVP in 1961 with the Cincinnati Reds and the AL MVP in 1966 with the Baltimore Orioles. Ohtani is the only designated hitter to be named MVP. The DH rule was created by the AL in 1973 and adopted by the NL in 2022.
All three of Ohtani’s victories have been by a unanimous vote. He is the only player to have won the award unanimously more than once. He is the ninth unanimous winner in the NL, joining Orlando Cepeda (1967), Mike Schmidt (1980), Jeff Bagwell (1994), Ken Caminiti (1996), Barry Bonds (2002), Albert Pujols (2009), Bryce Harper (2015) and Ronald Acuna Jr. (2023). There have been 13 unanimous winners in the AL, including this year’s MVP, Aaron Judge, and Ohtani himself twice.
Ohtani is the 12th player to be named MVP at least three times. Bonds is the all-time record-holder with seven MVP Awards, all in the NL (1990, 1992-93, 2001-04). Other three-time winners in the NL: Stan Musial (1943, 1946, 1948), Roy Campanella (1951, 1953, 1955), Schmidt (1980-81, 1986) and Pujols (2005, 2008-09). Three-time winners in the AL: Jimmie Foxx (1932-33, 1938), Joe DiMaggio (1939, 1941, 1947), Yogi Berra (1951, 1954-55), Mickey Mantle (1956-57, 1962), Alex Rodriguez (2003, 2005, 2007) and Mike Trout (2014, 2016, 2019).
This is the 18th time a player has won the award in back-to-back years. Bonds did it four times in the NL (1992-93, 2001-02, 2002-03 and 2003-04). The other NL consecutive winners were Ernie Banks (1958-59), Joe Morgan (1975-76), Schmidt (1980-81), Dale Murphy (1982-83) and Pujols (2008-09). AL back-to-back winners were Foxx (1932-33), Hal Newhouser (1944-45), Berra (1954-55), Mantle (1956-57), Maris (1960-61), Frank Thomas (1993-94) and Miguel Cabrera (2012-13).
Ohtani has finished first or second in the past four MVP elections, one year shy of the record shared by Bonds and Trout. Bonds was NL MVP from 2001-04 after having finished second to San Francisco Giants teammate Jeff Kent in 2000. Trout won the AL award in 2014 and ‘16 and was the runner-up in 2012, ’13 and ’15. Stan Musial also finished 1-2 in four straight NL elections from 1948-51.
The New York Mets have never had a player win the MVP Award. Lindor became the fourth Mets player to finish second in the voting. He joins Tom Seaver (1969), Keith Hernandez (1984) and Darryl Strawberry (1988).
The Arizona Diamondbacks have also been shut out in MVP voting. Paul Goldschmidt was the runner-up in 2013 and ‘15 with Arizona and won the award in 2022 with the St. Louis Cardinals. Marte is the fourth D-backs player to finish third in the voting along with Matt Williams (1999), Luis Gonzalez (2001) and Goldschmidt (2017).
Ballots, submitted before the start of the postseason, were cast by two writers in each league city. They are tabulated on a system that rewards 14 points for first place, nine for second, eight for third on down to one for 10th.
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th | 8th | 9th | 10th | Points | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shohei Ohtani, Dodgers | 30 | 420 | |||||||||
| Francisco Lindor, Mets | 23 | 7 | 263 | ||||||||
| Ketel Marte, Diamondbacks | 5 | 13 | 9 | 2 | 1 | 229 | |||||
| Marcell Ozuna, Braves | 1 | 6 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 134 | |
| William Contreras, Brewers | 3 | 4 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 132 | ||
| Bryce Harper, Phillies | 4 | 9 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 130 | |||
| Chris Sale, Braves | 1 | 5 | 7 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 99 | |||
| Elly De La Cruz, Reds | 4 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 89 | |||
| Jackson Merrill, Padres | 2 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 57 | ||||
| Willy Adames, Brewers | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 54 | |||
| Matt Chapman, Giants | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 37 | ||||
| Zack Wheeler, Phillies | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 31 | |||||
| Mookie Betts, Dodgers | 1 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 24 | ||||||
| Jurickson Profar, Padres | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 23 | ||||||
| Kyle Schwarber, Phillies | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 15 | ||||||
| Manny Machado, Padres | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 12 | ||||||
| Freddie Freeman, Dodgers | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | |||||||
| Luis Arraez, Padres | 1 | 1 | 4 | ||||||||
| Paul Skenes, Pirates | 1 | 3 | |||||||||
| Teoscar Hernández, Dodgers | 1 | 3 | |||||||||
| Ezequiel Tovar, Rockies | 1 | 1 | 3 | ||||||||
| Jackson Chourio, Brewers | 1 | 1 | |||||||||
| Dylan Cease, Padres | 1 | 1 |