Shohei Ohtani was named the MLB Player of the Year by Sporting News after his historic first season with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The award, which is voted on by players, showed that Ohtani earned the respect of his peers once again. It’s the second time in his career he’s earned the honor and Ohtani is just the 11th player to win more than one Sporting News Player of the Year award.
In his first season with the Dodgers after signing a record-breaking 10-year, $700 million contract, Ohtani put together a record-breaking offensive season while being restricted to a designated hitter role as he continued to recover from Tommy John surgery.
Ohtani became MLB’s first 50-50 club member while he was also in contention for the Triple Crown until the final day of the season. Ohtani finished his campaign hitting .310/.390/.646 with 54 home runs, 130 RBI and 59 stolen bases. It was his second consecutive season with an on-base plus slugging percentage of more than 1.000.
Ohtani was the lynchpin of the league’s best offense in terms of runs scored with 842 and helped guide the Dodgers’ to the best record in baseball, despite the many injuries and struggles they endured throughout the year.
It is not the only award that Ohtani has won this season and it likely won’t be his last. Ohtani earned Player of the Week honors four times this season, including two back-to-back weeks to end September. That also lead to him closing out the year with Player of the Month honors.
Ohtani also figures to be in the mix, if not the outright favorite, for some more hardware once the season ends. He will likely end up with the National League MVP Award, along with a Silver Slugger and Hank Aaron Award.
Shohei Ohtani sets Dodgers postseason record
Ohtani’s scorching hot performance from the end of the season has carried over into the postseason. The moment has not been too big or the lights too bright for him during his first taste of October baseball.
He was instrumental in helping the Dodgers advance past the New York Mets with a record-setting performance.
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