Shohei Ohtani has won the fourth Most Valuable Player Award of his storied career, which is an achievement stuffed inside another achievement.
Ohtani is just the second player in MLB history to win more than three MVPs, with Barry Bonds — who stands atop the mountain with seven MVPs.
Here are three other ways Ohtani’s MVP is historically significant — not just in baseball, but in all North American sports:
1. Four MVPs
Only Barry Bonds has as more MVP awards in MLB history as Shohei Ohtani.
Ohtani joins an elite group across the major North American sports with his fourth MVP, as well. In the NBA, only Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (six), Michael Jordan (five), Bill Russell (five), LeBron James (four) and Wilt Chamberlain (four) have as many or more MVPs as Ohtani.
In the NFL, it’s just quarterback legends Peyton Manning (five) and Aaron Rodgers (four) who have managed to collect at least as many year-end honors.
Wayne Gretzky was named NHL MVP nine times, with Gordie Howe earning the award on six occasions and Eddie Shore four times. And in the WNBA, A’ja Wilson’s most recent MVP season broke her out of a tie for what had been the most in league history, and into the same company as Ohtani with four.
2. Unanimous greatness
(Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
While Bonds, Abdul-Jabbar, Jordan, Russell, Manning and Gretzky have won more MVPs in their respective leagues than Ohtani has, he has managed something none of them have: he has won four MVP awards unanimously.
MLB has had MVP awards in both leagues since 1931, and on just 24 occasions has a player received every possible first-place vote. Four of those seasons belong to Ohtani, who also happens to be the only MLB player to unanimously win the MVP more than once.
This is not just an MLB rarity, but rare in North American sports. Warriors superstar guard Stephen Curry is the only unanimous MVP in NBA history, achieving as much for his 2015-2016 season. LeBron James, while with the Miami Heat, fell short of a unanimous vote in 2012-2013, while Los Angeles Lakers center Shaquille O’Neal missed out by a single vote in 1999-2000. In the NFL, Tom Brady’s 2010 win as the New England Patriots quarterback provided a unanimous MVP decision, while Baltimore Ravens QB Lamar Jackson received every first-place vote in 2019 … and just missed a second unanimous MVP win in 2024 by one vote.
Wayne Gretzky’s 1981-1982 MVP with the Edmonton Oilers and Connor McDavid’s 2020-2021 MVP — also with the Oilers — are the NHL’s two unanimous campaigns. The WNBA’s inaugural MVP in 1997, Cynthia Cooper, was a unanimous selection for her season with the Houston Comets, while A’ja Wilson’s 2024 season with the Las Vegas Aces was just the second in league history. And MLS has never had a unanimously chosen MVP.
Which is to say that Ohtani has more unanimous nods than every other major sports league in North America has managed.
3. Three-peat
(Photo by David Crane/MediaNews Group/Los Angeles Daily News via Getty Images)
Ohtani has also now earned three straight MVP awards, which included the 2024 season in which he became the first in MLB history to win as a full-time designated hitter. That puts him just one shy of Bonds in at least this regard, as the Giants’ slugger won four in a row from 2001 through 2004.
But Ohtani is now tied with the NFL’s Brett Favre and the three NBA legends – Wilt Chamberlain, Larry Bird and Bill Russell.
Favre won the MVP in 1995, 1996 and 1997 with the Green Bay Packers; Chamberlain was named MVP in the 1965-66, 1966-67 and 1967-68 seasons with the Philadelphia 76ers; Bill Russell won in 1961-62, 1962-63 and 1963-64 for the Boston Celtics, while Larry Bird matched the both those records in the 1983-84, 1984-85 and 1985-86 seasons.
Wayne Gretzky is on an island here: of his nine MVPs, he won eight of them in a row, starting with the 1979-80 season, and ending in 1986-87.
All that is to say is that Ohtani still has worlds to conquer.
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