LOS ANGELES -- While Shohei Ohtani did not finish the season strong as injuries took their toll on him, the two-way superstar was still recognized as one of the best of the best in the National League.
Ohtani was named the runner-up in NL MVP voting to the Cubs' Pete Crow-Armstrong, whose unanimous finish was announced on Thursday night on MLB Network. The second-place finish snapped a streak of three consecutive MVP Awards won by Ohtani, who has won two in the AL and two in the NL overall.
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Crow-Armstrong became the 25th player to win an MVP Award unanimously since the Baseball Writers' Association of America began voting on the honor in 1931. All of Ohtani's MVP Awards have been unanimous, and his four honors are second only to Barry Bonds' seven in MLB history.
Ohtani appeared on all 30 NL MVP ballots cast by BBWAA members, receiving 26 second-place votes, two third-place votes and two for fourth. He was the only Dodger to finish as a finalist for any of the five BBWAA awards this year. Andy Pages received one sixth-place vote for NL MVP as well.
Other Dodgers to appear on BBWAA awards ballots this year include Yoshinobu Yamamoto (fourth, NL Cy Young Award), Tanner Scott (eighth, NL Reliever of the Year) and Dave Roberts (fifth, Manager of the Year).
Only two players have finished in the top three in their league's MVP voting in six straight seasons played, according to the Elias Sports Bureau: Ted Williams (1941-42 and '46-49, interrupted by his military service from '43-45) and Ohtani (2021-26).
Through the first half of the regular season, Ohtani appeared well on his way to capturing another MVP Award. He had hit his groove after a slow start at the plate and was dominant on the mound, going 8-2 with a 1.79 ERA through 14 starts and striking out 95 across 85 2/3 innings. He was worth a 237 ERA+.
But Ohtani did not pitch in a game again after July 3 due to recurring soreness in his left knee. Around the same time, he dealt with a minor injury to his right biceps. The two ailments never really went away, leaving Ohtani noticeably physically compromised later on and landing him on the 15-day injured list in September.
As Ohtani began to scuffle in mid-August, Crow-Armstrong turned up the heat. Ohtani still put together a strong campaign overall, recording an .889 OPS, leading the Dodgers with 30 homers and being worth a 143 OPS+, in addition to the elite innings he contributed on the mound in the first half. But Crow-Armstrong was better, authoring a 40-40 season while being considered -- by many measures -- the best defender in the game.
Last year, Ohtani joined Roger Maris (1960-61) as the only players to win MVP in each of their first two seasons with a team. No one has done it in their first three seasons with a team.
In spite of his injuries, Ohtani was still able to produce the kind of two-way season that only he can -- but it was not the best performance in the NL this year. Sustaining Ohtani as a two-way player through an entire regular season will be a focus for the Dodgers in 2027 and beyond.