Shohei Ohtani was named American League Most Valuable Player for the second time on 16 November 2023. He received all 30 first-place votes. That made him the first player in major league history to win the award unanimously more than once.
A clean sweep, cast before September ended
Ohtani collected all 30 first-place votes and 420 points. He finished 156 points clear of Corey Seager of the Texas Rangers, who took 264. Marcus Semien came third with 216.
He earned it in a season cut short. Ohtani had right elbow surgery on 19 September, and the Angels said he would not pitch again until 2025. He still hit an AL-best 44 home runs despite missing almost all of September.
At the plate he slashed .304/.412/.654 and led the majors in slugging and OPS. On the mound he went 10-5 with a 3.14 ERA and 167 strikeouts across 23 starts. Baseball Reference credited him with 10.0 Wins Above Replacement, the best in the majors.
Twenty unanimous winners, and only one has done it twice
Ohtani was the 20th unanimous MVP in the writers' balloting, and the first to repeat after his 2021 sweep. He is the second Japanese-born winner, after Ichiro Suzuki in 2001. Ronald Acuña Jr. swept the National League ballot, the first time both leagues went unanimous in one season.
"My rivals Semien and Seager had great seasons – congrats to them for winning the World Series – but my goal was to come out on top and it all paid off, all my hard work," Ohtani said through his interpreter on the MLB Network broadcast.
A free agent that winter, Ohtani carried this two-way form into the next chapter of his career.
