Dodgers’ two-way player Shohei Ohtani won his second straight NL MVP award after winning twice in the American League.
Ohtani, who was honored in the American League in 2021 and 2023, is only the second player to be named MVP at least four times. The only player who won more often was Barry Bonds, the all-time record-holder with seven MVP Awards, all in the NL (1990, 1992-93, 2001-04). Ohtani is the only player to win the award twice in each league. The only other player named MVP in each league was Frank Robinson (1961 in the NL with the Reds and 1966 in the AL with the Orioles).
This marks only the second time a player has won MVP Awards in three consecutive seasons. Bonds holds that record as well with four straight MVPs from 2001-04.
All four of Ohtani’s victories have been by a unanimous vote. He is the only player to have won the award unanimously more than once. This is the 10th time the NL winner has been unanimous. The others: Orlando Cepeda (1967), Mike Schmidt (1980), Jeff Bagwell (1994), Ken Caminiti (1996), Bonds (2002), Albert Pujols (2009), Bryce Harper (2015) and Ronald Acuna Jr. (2023). There have been 13 unanimous winners in the AL, including Ohtani himself twice.
This election marks the 19th 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). Ohtani’s back-to-back victories in NL voting matches that of 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 Jimmie Foxx (1932-33), Hal Newhouser (1944-45), Yogi Berra (1954-55), Mickey Mantle (1956-57), Roger Maris (1960-61), Frank Thomas (1993-94) and Miguel Cabrera (2012-13).
Ohtani has finished first or second in his past five MVP elections, which ties the record shared by Bonds and Mike Trout. Bonds was NL MVP from 2001-04 after having finished second to 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.
With Ohtani’s second victory with the Dodgers, the club has captured the award 14 times The other winners: Roy Campanella three times (1951, 1953, 1955), Dolph Camilli (1941), Jackie Robinson (1949), Don Newcombe (1956), Maury Wills (1962), Sandy Koufax (1963), Steve Garvey (1974), Kirk Gibson (1988), Clayton Kershaw ( 2014) and Cody Bellinger (2019).
Kyle Schwarber’s second-place finish is the ninth for a Phillies player. Other runners-up were Chuck Klein in 1931 to Frankie Frisch and 1933 to Carl Hubbel, Greg Luzinski in 1975 to Joe Morgan and 1977 to George Foster, Robin Roberts in 1952 to Hank Sauer, Johnny Callison in 1964 to Ken Boyer, Lenny Dykstra in 1993 to Bonds and Ryan in 2008 to Pujols. Phillies players have won the award eight times.
Juan Soto finished third for the second consecutive year, in different leagues. He placed third last year in the AL voting behind then Yankees teammate Aaron Judge and runner-up Bobby Witt Jr. of the Royals. With the Nationals in 2021, Soto placed second in the NL voting to the Phillies’ Bryce Harper.
Ohtani, Schwarber and Soto were listed on every ballot.
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.
2025 NL MVP
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th | 8th | 9th | 10th | Points | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shohei Ohtani, Dodgers | 30 | 420 | |||||||||
| Kyle Schwarber, Phillies | 23 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 260 | ||||||
| Juan Soto, Mets | 4 | 15 | 9 | 2 | 231 | ||||||
| Geraldo Perdomo, Diamondbacks | 3 | 7 | 11 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 196 | ||
| Trea Turner, Phillies | 1 | 2 | 6 | 2 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 102 | ||
| Paul Skenes, Pirates | 2 | 7 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 83 | ||||
| Corbin Carroll, Diamondbacks | 3 | 3 | 5 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 83 | ||||
| Fernando Tatis Jr., Padres | 2 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 1 | 78 | |||
| Pete Crow-Armstrong, Cubs | 2 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 63 | ||||
| Francisco Lindor, Mets | 1 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 61 | ||||
| Pete Alonso, Mets | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 48 | ||||
| Christian Yelich, Brewers | 1 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 34 | |||||
| Freddie Freeman, Dodgers | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 29 | |||||
| Brice Turang, Brewers | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 23 | ||||||
| Cristopher Sánchez, Phillies | 1 | 4 | 3 | 16 | |||||||
| Michael Busch, Cubs | 1 | 1 | 11 | ||||||||
| Manny Machado, Padres | 1 | 1 | 2 | 11 | |||||||
| Matt Olson, Braves | 1 | 3 | 7 | ||||||||
| Nico Hoerner, Cubs | 1 | 5 | |||||||||
| Seiya Suzuki, Cubs | 1 | 3 | |||||||||
| Will Smith, Dodgers | 1 | 1 | 3 | ||||||||
| Ketel Marte, Diamondbacks | 1 | 2 | |||||||||
| Elly De La Cruz, Reds | 1 | 1 |