Thursday, November 13, 2025

Copyrighted by Sarah Morris, 2025

For the second consecutive year, Shohei Ohtani was named the National League MVP. It was a unanimous selection.

This year, Ohtani returned to the mound after having his second Tommy John surgery, including getting an internal brace. Since he had offseason left shoulder surgery to repair a labrum, the return to the mound was delayed. He was the Los Angeles Dodgers’ DH, so he must do the rehabilitation process, building up his endurance, at the major-league level. Ohtani never blinked.

 In his 14 starts, with a new windup, Ohtani had one win and a loss with a 2.87 ERA. While he has had two Tommy John surgeries, he regularly threw 100+ miles per hour. Against the Philadelphia Phillies in September, Ohtani allowed no hits in five innings. When Tyler Glasnow couldn’t go in Baltimore because of his back spasms, Ohtani took his spot without blinking. He struck out 62 batters while walking 9. His control was fantastic. All his pitches are of the highest quality. On most major-league pitching staffs, Ohtani would be their ace, but on the World Champion Dodgers, he is the fourth-best starter.

Without Ohtani’s offense, the Dodgers wouldn’t win the National League Western Division. Ohtani produced while both Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman slumped and when Max Muncy was on the IL with various injuries. He didn’t have enough base runners in front of him, so he had only 102 RBI. Every time Ohtani stepped in the batter’s box, he was already in the scoring position.

In the 2025 season, Ohtani had a .282 batting average, 55 home runs, 102 RBI, 1.014 OPS, and 6.6 WAR. He hit the ball hard 90 percent of the time. He had a good eye for the strike zone with 109 walks. He needs to decrease his strikeouts as a hitter, as he struck out 187 times.

In the 2024 season, Ohtani stole 59 bases, but he injured his left shoulder on a stolen base attempt during the 2024 World Series against the New York Yankees.. He needed to conserve energy somewhere, so he decreased his stolen bases to 20. Ohtani tried to pick the time to steal a base when the Dodgers needed a stolen base to create a scoring opportunity.

In the 2025 regular season. Ohtani scored 146 runs, the most runs scored in Major League Baseball.

Ohtani has 4 MVPs. Barry Bonds is the only player who has more MVPs than Ohtani. is the only player to have two MVPs in the American League and two in the National League.

While the National League MVP doesn’t count the play in the postseason, Ohtani had the best performance ever in Game 4 in the NLCS against the Milwaukee Brewers. He enabled the Los Angeles Dodgers to sweep the Brewers by pitching six scoreless innings and striking out ten. In the same game, Ohtani blasted three home runs, including one that went out of Dodger Stadium. This jaw-dropping performance earned Ohtani the NLCS MVP.

During the World Series against the Toronto Blue Jays, Ohtani contributed greatly. As a pitcher, Ohtani made two starts. In Game 3, the 18-inning marathon, Ohtani reached record-setting nine times, including two home runs and a double.

Ohtani, “The Unicorn,” continues making everyone shake their heads at his unbelievable baseball accomplishments. Watch out, Bonds, Ohtani is coming!