Shohei Ohtani has his third MVP. The Baseball Writers Affiliation of America 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 your entire 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 massive league historical past to win the award thrice 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 leaderboard as he goes into his age-30 season.
Whereas Ohtani’s first two MVPs mirrored his two-way potential, this yr’s honors are solely about his offensive dominance. He had arguably his greatest 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 share 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 profitable the Triple Crown.
Monstrous as his energy numbers had been, Ohtani was additionally maybe the league’s greatest 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 probably the greatest 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 ascertain 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 Sequence in 5 years.
For some time, it appeared as if Lindor would pose an actual menace to Ohtani profitable the award. He hit 33 homers and stole 29 bases with a .273/.344/.500 exhibiting over 689 journeys to the plate. As a plus defensive shortstop, Lindor clearly supplied important defensive worth. Ohtani’s historic offensive achievements proved decisive in the long run, although that is Lindor’s first prime three MVP end. Marte raked at a .292/.372/.560 clip with 36 homers to earn the very best MVP placement of his profession.
Lindor obtained 23 of 30 second-place votes. Marte completed second on 5 ballots. Braves DH Marcell Ozuna and Cy Younger winner Chris Sale every received one second-place nod themselves. Ozuna and Milwaukee catcher William Contreras rounded out the highest 5 in total balloting. Giants third baseman Matt Chapman obtained one third place vote, although he positioned eleventh in balloting total. Bryce Harper, De La Cruz, Jackson Merrill, Willy Adames, Zack Wheeler, Mookie Betts, Jurickson Profar, Kyle Schwarber, Manny Machado, Freddie Freeman, Arraez, Paul Skenes, Teoscar Hernández, Ezequiel Tovar, Jackson Chourio and Dylan Stop all obtained votes.
Picture courtesy of Imagn. Full voter breakdown from BBWAA.
