Shohei Ohtani Wins NL MVP

Shohei Ohtani has his third MVP. The Baseball Writers Affiliation of American introduced that Ohtani received the Nationwide League MVP in his first season as a Dodger. Francisco Lindor landed in second place, whereas Ketel Marte rounds out the highest three. Ohtani obtained all 30 first-place votes.

Ohtani turns into the primary full-time designated hitter to win MVP, as he was unable to pitch for the complete season after present process elbow surgical procedure late final yr. He joins Frank Robinson as the one gamers to win an MVP in each leagues and he’s solely the twelfth participant in huge league historical past to win the award 3 times in his profession. Barry Bonds is the one participant with greater than three MVPs — he received the award seven occasions — so Ohtani has an opportunity to maneuver into second place on the all-time leaderboard as he goes into his age-30 season.

Whereas Ohtani’s first two MVPs mirrored his two-way means, this yr’s honors are solely about his offensive dominance. He had arguably his finest hitting season ever. Ohtani hit a career-high 54 homers and drove in 130 runs. He posted a .310/.390/.646 slash line, main the Nationwide League in each on-base proportion and slugging. Ohtani additionally paced the Senior Circuit in homers and RBI whereas rating second amongst certified hitters in batting common. Luis Arraez hit .314 to narrowly forestall Ohtani from successful the Triple Crown.

Monstrous as his energy numbers have been, Ohtani was additionally maybe the league’s finest baserunner. He stole 59 bases, trailing solely Elly De La Cruz in that class. Whereas De La Cruz was caught stealing 16 occasions along with his 67 profitable makes an attempt, Ohtani was minimize down on simply 4 events. No participant in historical past had ever posted a 50-homer, 50-steal season. Ohtani broke each marks simply, getting there with among the finest single-game performances in historical past. He went 6-6 with three homers, two steals and 10 RBI in a 20-4 drubbing of the Marlins to determine the 50-50 membership.

Ohtani helped the Dodgers to one more NL West title — their eleventh division crown in 12 years. Los Angeles went 98-64 to safe the highest seed within the Nationwide League. Playoff efficiency is irrelevant to awards voting, which happens on the finish of the common season. Ohtani was comparatively quiet in his first October motion, hitting .230/.373/.393 in 16 video games. That didn’t maintain L.A. again from knocking out the Padres, Mets and Yankees en path to their second World Collection in 5 years.

Extra to come back.