Not that there was much doubt after the historic season he had, but Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani is the National League’s MVP for the 2024 campaign.
The Baseball Writers’ Association of America announced Thursday that Ohtani won the NL MVP award unanimously. It marks his third MVP win and first in the National League. He won the AL MVP award in 2021 and 2023, both unanimously, when he played for the Los Angeles Angels. Ohtani is the first player in MLB history to win the MVP award unanimously more than once. He also joins Frank Robinson as the only players to win the award in both leagues.
New York Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor finished second in the voting, receiving 23 of 30 second-place votes. Ketel Marte of the Arizona Diamondbacks got five of the others, while Marcell Ozuna and Chris Sale of the Atlanta Braves each got one.
New York Yankees star Aaron Judge won AL MVP honors, also unanimously.
Although Ohtani did not pitch in 2024 while recovering from surgery, he had a remarkable season with the Dodgers as a full-time DH. Ohtani became the first player in MLB history to join the 50-50 club, hitting 50 home runs and stealing 50 bases, and he flew past that once improbable benchmark with ease.
He ended the regular season with 54 home runs and 59 stolen bases on 63 attempts. Before him, the closest player to hit the 50-50 mark was Alex Rodriguez, who had 42 home runs and 46 stolen bases in 1998.
Ohtani also had a career-high 130 RBI while holding a .390 OBP and a .310 batting average across 731 plate appearances. He cleared the 50-50 threshold in September when he had three homers, two stolen bases, five extra-base hits, six hits and 10 RBI in one game. No player had ever posted all of those totals in one game before Ohtani pulled it off against the Miami Marlins.
But perhaps most importantly, Ohtani secured his first championship ring in 2024. Ohtani and the Dodgers beat the Yankees 4-1 in the World Series to claim the franchise’s eighth title and first since 2020. Ohtani spent his first six seasons in the league with the Angels and didn’t make the playoffs once. In the World Series, Ohtani was rather quiet. He went just 2-for-19 over the five World Series games, and he injured his shoulder while trying to steal second in Game 2. He didn’t miss a game, but he ended up needing surgery for a torn labrum.
Now that his MVP award is official, Ohtani is the first player in MLB history to have 50 home runs, 50 stolen bases, an MVP award and a World Series title in the same campaign. All of that came not only after he signed a record $700 million deal but also after he was thrust into a gambling scandal when it was revealed that his former interpreter and best friend had allegedly stolen millions of dollars from him.
Ohtani is expected to take the mound again next season, which will be his first time pitching for the Dodgers after he needed surgery to repair a torn UCL in his pitching arm at the end of his run with the Angels. While it’s unclear what will happen throughout the rest of his career once he’s back to full strength as a two-way player, Ohtani delivered one of the best overall seasons in baseball history while recovering from injury and putting a scandal behind him in the best way possible.
He’s now a three-time MVP with a World Series ring.
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