Shohei Ohtani, Aaron Judge are baseball's historic most valuable players

Source: Washington Post

MLB
Shohei Ohtani, Aaron Judge are baseball’s historic most valuable players

Ohtani became just the second player to win a fourth MVP award, and Judge edged Cal Raleigh in a tightly contested race to earn the honor for a third time.

November 13, 2025 at 7:58 p.m. EST 20 minutes ago
4 min


Los Angeles Dodgers two-way star Shohei Ohtani became the second player in major league history to win a fourth MVP award. Only Barry Bonds, with seven, has more. (Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)

By Chelsea Janes
https://www.washingtonpost.com/people/chelsea-janes/

As a gripping postseason made clear in recent weeks, this is a lustrous baseball era, one molded by titans and enjoyed across oceans. Thursday night’s crowning of Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Dodgers and Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees as this year’s National League and American League most valuable players offered a reminder of its rarity.

One race yielded as tough a call as anyone can remember, with another huge season from one of the greatest hitters of the century in Judge pitted against what might have been the best all-around season ever by a catcher from Cal Raleigh.

The other race was over almost as soon as Ohtani stepped on a major league pitching mound in June, provided he stayed healthy. He has won four MVP awards in the past five seasons and three straight since 2023. He is alone behind only Barry Bonds, who won seven, for the most MVP awards in MLB history. Last year, Ohtani joined Frank Robinson as the only player to win an MVP award in both leagues. This year, Ohtani became the first player to win the award in both leagues twice. He was a unanimous choice by Baseball Writers’ Association of America voters.

Ohtani’s achievements remain impossible to overstate. He is a legend in his prime, who has won World Series titles in both years he played with a team that matched his effort.

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By Chelsea Janes
Chelsea Janes is the national baseball writer in sports. She was The Washington Post's beat writer for the Washington Nationals from 2014 to 2018 and was a sports intern for The Post in 2013. She also previously covered the 2020 presidential campaign. follow on X@chelsea_janes
https://www.washingtonpost.com/people/chelsea-janes/

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2025/11/13/shohei-ohtani-aaron-judge-cal-raleigh-mvp-awards/