In the fifth year of his utter domination of Major League Baseball, Shohei Ohtani only padded an already astounding résumé.

He hit 55 home runs and led the National League in runs scored, slugging percentage, OPS and total bases; he returned to pitching and posted a 2.87 ERA in 47 innings with 62 strikeouts; he became the first player to hit three home runs and strike out 10 batters in one game (and it came in a playoff game); he went to bat nine times in a World Series game and got on base nine times (tying a World Series record with four extra-base hits along the way); and he was the starting pitcher in Game 7 of the World Series, which his Los Angeles Dodgers won to become the first repeat champion in 25 years.

Ohtani won his fourth MVP award Thursday — and all four have been unanimous selections, making Ohtani the only player with more than one such selection. (Only Barry Bonds has won more than three.)

The latest MVP honor caps a remarkable past five seasons for Ohtani, four of which he has spent as both one of the best hitters in the game and one of the best pitchers. The postseason run was a reminder, as Jeff Passan wrote after Ohtani’s three-homer game in the NLCS, “that one of the greatest athletes in the world, and the most talented baseball player ever, is playing right now, doing unfathomable things, redefining the game in real time.”

It raises the question: How does Ohtani’s five-year stretch compare to the best five-year runs in MLB history? Is this the greatest ever? This is an impossible question to answer, but let’s explore it by picking one player to represent each decade and see how he compares to Ohtani. While we’ll focus on overall value, there are other pieces, like championships and achievements, that are part of the equation.

We’ll start with Ohtani and then go back to the 1900s and go decade by decade. The point here isn’t so much to declare the “winner” but to look at baseball’s best side by side, so consider the arguments we lay out and make your own proclamation.

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Shohei Ohtani, DH/SP, 2021-25: 45.2 WAR

Five-year average: .285 BA, 171 OPS+, 47 HR, 104 RBIs, 115 R, 27 SB, 6.0 WAR

Four-year pitching average: 9-4, 2.84 ERA, 119 IP, 87 H, 151 SO, 151 ERA+, 3.8 WAR

Led league: 3x WAR, 2x R, 2x HR, 3x OPS

Achievements: 3x MVP, 2x WS champ, 50/50 season

WAR percentage over No. 2 player in span: +8.4% (Aaron Judge)

The case for Ohtani: He does it all. He hits for power, including back-to-back 50-homer seasons. He steals bases, notching the first 50/50 season in MLB history in 2024. He hits for average in a low-average era, ranking second in the NL in 2024 and fourth in the American League in 2023.

Over the past five seasons, he’s second in the majors in home runs, first in runs, fourth in RBIs, second in OPS, first in total bases and seventh in stolen bases. Oh, and he has done a little pitching on the side, going 35-17 with a 2.84 ERA. Despite not pitching at all in 2024 and not throwing that many innings in 2025, he’s still 14th in pitching WAR since 2021. All told, his offense accounts for 30.2 WAR and his pitching for 15.2 WAR. Throw in two World Series titles and four MVP awards to go with the two-way performance and we’ve never seen anything like it.

The case against Ohtani: As we’ll see, Ohtani’s five-year WAR total — while obviously outstanding — is not at the top of this list. It’s not even in the top five. Value is value, no extra credit here just because he has been outstanding on both sides of the ball. And looming over his shoulder is this fact: Judge has had the higher WAR in three of the five seasons:

2022: 10.8 to 9.6
2024: 10.8 to 9.2
2025: 9.7 to 7.7

Can you have the greatest five-year stretch of all time when Judge is right there putting up his own historic seasons? Ohtani has been more valuable overall — and, of course, has won the titles that have eluded Judge — but it’s close.

OK, now let’s turn back the clock …

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Honus Wagner, SS, 1905-1909: 49.2 WAR

Five-year average: .349 BA, 183 OPS+, 6 HR, 93 RBIs, 101 R, 52 SB, 9.8 WAR

Led league: 5x WAR, 4x BA, 4x 2B, 2x RBI, 2x SB, 4x OPS

Achievements: 1x WS champ

WAR percentage over No. 2 player in span: +40.6% (Nap Lajoie)

The case for Wagner over Ohtani: Wagner might be better known today for his ultra-rare baseball card that has sold for as high as $7.25 million than his exploits on the field, but he dominated the NL in the first decade of the 20th century, retroactively leading NL position players in WAR all five seasons. The second-best position player in the majors was way behind Wagner, and only pitcher Christy Mathewson came within even 10 WAR of Wagner’s value over this stretch. His 1908 season is one of the all-time best: He hit .354 with a .957 OPS when the league average was .239 with a .605 OPS.

The case for Ohtani over Wagner: Wagner was fast, powerful and a well-conditioned athlete (he was an early proponent of weightlifting, with this five-year run starting when he was 31 years old), but the dead ball era was more than 100 years ago and it’s difficult to know how his game might transition to different eras of baseball. We don’t want to go too deep into making timeline adjustments, but that has to be a consideration in Ohtani’s favor.

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Ty Cobb, CF, 1909-1913: 47.7 WAR

Five-year average: .396 BA, 198 OPS+, 7 HR, 95 RBIs, 112 R, 67 SB, 9.5 WAR

Led league: 3x WAR, 5x BA, 2x RBIs, 2x SB, 4x OPS

Achievements: 1x Triple Crown, 1x MVP

WAR percentage over No. 2 player in span: +7.2% (Eddie Collins)

The case for Cobb over Ohtani: The man hit nearly .400 over this five-year period — including .419 in 1911 and .409 in 1912 — that featured mushy baseballs, pitchers throwing legal spitballs, and baggy wool uniforms soaked in dirt and sweat. As Joe Posnanski put it, “As a ballplayer, Cobb was his own species. … He was not just the dominant player [of his era]. He was the only one who mattered.” Cobb won a Triple Crown in 1909, and while home runs were scarce in the dead ball era, he still belted 79 extra-base hits in 1911, including 47 doubles and 24 triples. He mastered the science of small ball — at the plate and on the bases. In the first Hall of Fame election in 1936, it was Cobb — and not Babe Ruth or Wagner — who received the most votes.

The case for Ohtani over Cobb: As great as Cobb was, Collins wasn’t far behind in value in this stretch, and pitcher Walter Johnson was actually ahead. Joe Jackson put up similar offensive numbers in 1911 (.408) and 1912 (.395). Starting in 1912, Tris Speaker would lead the AL in WAR in three of the next five seasons, as he was close to Cobb as a hitter and better in the field. In other words, Cobb’s achievements weren’t quite singular, even if he did it in a singular, brilliant, aggressive fashion that was never forgotten.

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Babe Ruth, RF/LF, 1920-24: 56.6 WAR

Five-year average: .370 BA, 229 OPS+, 47 HR, 131 RBIs, 145 R, .777 SLG, 11.3 WAR

Led league: 4x WAR, 1x BA, 4x HR, 3x RBIs, 5x OPS

Achievements: 1x MVP, 1x WS champ

WAR percentage over No. 2 player in span: +14.3% (Rogers Hornsby)

The case for Ruth over Ohtani: You knew the Babe was going to pop up here, and his best five-year stretch begins with his first season with the New York Yankees, when he increased his own single-season home run record from 29 to 54 (and then to 59 in 1921). His 56.6 WAR during this five-year span is the highest of anyone on the list and well above Ohtani’s totals, achieved even with a down year — for him — in 1922, when he played 110 games and was worth 6.4 WAR after getting suspended for an unauthorized offseason barnstorming tour. He returned in 1923 to produce the highest single-season WAR for a position player on Baseball-Reference at 14.1, a year he hit .393 with 41 home runs. Let’s see Ohtani post a 14-WAR season.

The case for Ohtani over Ruth: There’s no doubt Ruth changed the game, from small ball to power ball, but even Ruth gave up pitching after less than two full seasons of doing both in 1918 and 1919. He would lead all players in WAR in every five-year stretch starting from 1920-24 through 1929-33, except 1921-25, when Hornsby topped him (50.1 to 48.2). Indeed, as great as Ruth was, Hornsby wasn’t too far behind as a hitter. From 1920 to 1924, Hornsby hit .395 with a 199 OPS+; from 1921 to 1925, he hit .402 with a 204 OPS+. Ruth also went just 1-2 in World Series in this stretch, so Ohtani has the edge in championships.

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Joe DiMaggio, CF, 1937-41: 38.7 WAR

Five-year average: .350 BA, 168 OPS+, 34 HR, 138 RBIs, 121 R, .638 SLG, 7.7 WAR

Led league: 3x WAR, 2x BA, 1x HR

Achievements: 2x MVP, 4x WS champ, 56-game hit streak

WAR percentage over No. 2 player in span: +16.9% (Johnny Mize)

The case for DiMaggio over Ohtani: DiMaggio was the ultimate winner: In his 13 years in the majors, he played in 10 World Series, winning nine times, including going 4-for-4 in this stretch. In these five years, he finished second, sixth, first, third and first, respectively, in the MVP voting. He had more home runs than strikeouts over all five seasons (169 home runs, 121 strikeouts) and holds perhaps the greatest — or at least the most famous — record in baseball history, his 56-game hitting streak in 1941.

The case for Ohtani over DiMaggio: When you dig into the advanced metrics, DiMaggio’s value just isn’t quite as impressive as some other players here. This was a high offensive era, so DiMaggio’s adjusted OPS topped out at 185 in 1941 — a figure Ohtani matched in 2023, beat in 2024 and just missed in 2025. DiMaggio’s total WAR is also lowest on the list. The Yankees won all four World Series in this period, but DiMaggio didn’t hit particularly well at .278/.316/.403 with 10 RBIs in 18 games. Oh, and while Ohtani stole 59 bases in 2024, DiMaggio stole 30 in his entire career.

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Ted Williams, LF, 1941-48: 49.3 WAR

Five-year average: .362 BA, 212 OPS+, 34 HR, 124 RBIs, 133 R, .508 OBP, 9.9 WAR

Led league: 4x WAR, 4x BA, 3x HR, 2x RBIs, 5x OPS

Achievements: 1x MVP, 2x Triple Crown

WAR percentage over No. 2 player in span: +51.2% (DiMaggio)

The case for Williams over Ohtani: Williams’ peak was interrupted by three missing seasons while he served in World War II (as was the case with DiMaggio), but we’ll give him credit for his five consecutive seasons played when he towered over the sport, at least in value: an incredible 50% higher WAR than DiMaggio over the five seasons in question, the largest gap on the list. In 1941, he became the last player to hit .400. While he won just one MVP award in these years, he finished second three times and third in the other year — not winning it in either Triple Crown season or the year he hit .406. Williams famously said he wanted to be known as the greatest hitter who ever lived. He might have been.

The case for Ohtani over Williams: No rings. That was the knock against Williams while he was active, especially in comparison to DiMaggio, as Williams played in just one World Series in 1946. (The Boston Red Sox lost in seven games.) He was indifferent in the field and on the basepaths. While Ohtani has become one of the most riveting players in the sport — even having his dog “throw” out the first pitch at a Dodgers game — Williams never connected with the fans in the same way. “Though we thumped, wept, and chanted ‘We want Ted’ for minutes after he hid in the dugout, he did not come back,” John Updike wrote in his essay on Williams’ final home game. “Gods do not answer letters.”

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Mickey Mantle, CF, 1954-58: 47.7 WAR

Five-year average: .325 BA, 191 OPS+, 38 HR, 104 RBIs, 126 R, .451 OBP, 9.5 WAR

Led league: 4x WAR, 1x BA, 3x HR, 2x OPS

Achievements: 2x MVP, 1x Triple Crown, 2x WS champ

WAR percentage over No. 2 player in span: +4.1% (Willie Mays)

The case for Mantle over Ohtani: If part of the answer to our question is some undefinable combination of popularity, adoration and just pure presence, then Mantle rises to the top of the list. Until his knees went bad, he could run like the wind, regarded as the fastest player in the game. Nobody hit longer home runs — and he did it from both sides of the plate. “No man in the history of baseball had as much power as Mickey Mantle,” Billy Martin, his teammate on the Yankees, once said. Mantle’s Triple Crown season in 1956 — .353, 52 home runs, 130 RBIs, 11.3 WAR — is one of the greatest seasons ever. He matched that with another 11.3-WAR season in 1957, when he hit .363. He had a .935 OPS in 23 World Series games in this period.

The case for Ohtani over Mantle: Well, Billy Martin never saw Ohtani hit home runs — like the home run he hit in the National League Championship Series that became the eighth to ever leave Dodger Stadium. If only we could add Mantle’s 1961 season (10.5 WAR) to his 1955-58 peak, rather than using 1954 (6.9 WAR) or 1959 (6.6 WAR). Of course, even then, Mays would still be right there alongside him in value. The Yankees went 2-2 in the World Series in this period, losing twice when Mantle missed games with injuries. That speaks to his value but also to his inability to always be at his best.

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Willie Mays, CF, 1962-66: 52.3 WAR

Five-year average: .304 BA, 169 OPS+, 45 HR, 114 RBIs, 117 R, .601 SLG, 10.5 WAR

Led league: 5x WAR, 3x HR, 2x SLG, 2x OPS

Achievements: 1x MVP, 5x Gold Glove

WAR percentage over No. 2 player in span: +30% (Henry Aaron)

The case for Mays over Ohtani: Whoa … 30% better than Aaron? 53% more valuable than Frank Robinson? 64% more valuable than Roberto Clemente? And this is when they were all still in their peak years. Yes, Willie could ball. This stretch includes four 10-WAR seasons, and while Mays won just one MVP award, the voters could have given it to him every season. Amazingly, this also covers Mays’ age-31-to-age-35 seasons, a testament to his conditioning and durability. “I think I was the best ballplayer I ever saw,” Mays himself would say after he retired. He might be right. His five-year WAR trails only Ruth on this list and easily beats Ohtani.

The case for Ohtani over Mays: There’s no denying Mays’ all-around brilliance, but even adjusted for the low offensive environment of this period, he wasn’t as valuable a hitter as some others here and is basically equal to Ohtani: Mays created about 267 more runs than the average hitter while Ohtani is at 260. Does Mays’ defense in center field trump Ohtani’s pitching? You could also argue the biggest star in the game over these five seasons was Sandy Koufax, who won three Cy Young Awards and two World Series. (Mays’ Giants played in one in this period and lost.)

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Joe Morgan, 2B, 1972-76: 47.8 WAR

Five-year average: .303 BA, 163 OPS+, 22 HR, 85 RBIs, 113 R, 62 SB, 9.6 WAR

Led league: 4x WAR, 4x OBP, 2x OPS

Achievements: 2x MVP, 4x Gold Glove, 2x WS champ

WAR percentage over No. 2 player in span: +36.6% (Bobby Grich)

The case for Morgan over Ohtani: Perhaps the most underrated all-time great player, Morgan excelled in secondary skills: He averaged 118 walks per season in this period, stole bases at a high percentage and won four Gold Gloves. His power numbers don’t jump out, but this was a low-offense period, with the NL averaging just 4.06 runs per game from 1972 to 1976. (The MLB average in 2025 was 4.45.) Morgan’s 1.020 OPS in 1976 was more than 100 points higher than the next guy. It all added up to an enormously valuable player who was head and shoulders above the No. 2 player in WAR over this period. Oh, and like the Dodgers, the Cincinnati Reds won back-to-back World Series in 1975 and 1976, Morgan’s two MVP years.

The case for Ohtani over Morgan: OK, we understand now that Morgan was underappreciated in his own time and his skills more subtle than obvious, but it’s also true that in the 1970s, his Reds teammates Johnny Bench and Pete Rose were regarded as the bigger stars. In terms of raw numbers, Ohtani wins in a landslide: Morgan hit 108 home runs and drove in 427 runs compared with 233 and 522 for Ohtani (and Ohtani’s adjusted OPS was also higher). Again, it’s a question of whether Morgan’s defense and position was more valuable than Ohtani’s pitching.

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Mike Schmidt, 3B, 1977-81: 39.5 WAR

Five-year average: .274 BA, 157 OPS+, 37 HR, 101 RBIs, 100 R, 7.9 WAR

Led league: 3x WAR, 2x HR, 2x OPS

Achievements: 2x MVP, 5x Gold Glove, 1x WS champ

WAR percentage over No. 2 player in span: +15.2% (George Brett)

The case for Schmidt over Ohtani: As Bill James once wrote of Schmidt, “True, he didn’t hit .320. If he had, he would be the greatest player who ever lived.” Schmidt was a 2020s-type player — a Three True Outcomes slugger — trapped in an era of big, multipurpose stadiums. If he had played in a different era, like today’s with smaller parks, he would have had a bunch of 50-home run seasons. (He led the NL eight times in home runs over his career.) Schmidt also drew 100 walks a year, won 10 Gold Gloves and is regarded as the greatest third baseman of all time.

The case for Ohtani over Schmidt: Ohtani’s total value easily eclipsed Schmidt’s run. Indeed, it was difficult coming up with a player to represent the 1980s. Rickey Henderson spread out his three best seasons (1980, 1985, 1990). Wade Boggs had a great five-year stretch from 1985 to 1989, when he averaged 8.4 WAR, but nobody would call Boggs the player of the decade. As for Schmidt, his best season would have been 1981 — when he hit .316, the only time he hit .300, and his second of back-to-back MVP years — but the strike interrupted the season, and he played just 102 games. If we could pick Schmidt’s five best nonconsecutive seasons, he’d have a better argument.

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Barry Bonds, LF, 1990-94: 42.9 WAR

Five-year average: .310 BA, 185 OPS+, 35 HR, 107 RBIs, 105 R, 38 SB, 8.6 WAR

Led league: 4x WAR, 1x HR, 1x RBIs, 4x OPS

Achievements: 3x MVP, 5x Gold Glove

WAR percentage over No. 2 player in span: 26.9% (Ken Griffey Jr.)

The case for 1990s Bonds over Ohtani: Let’s call this Bonds I. For most of the decade, the argument was Bonds vs. Griffey. Well, even Griffey’s five best seasons from the 1990s (41.6 WAR) don’t quite match Bonds’ five-year run from 1990 to 1994, which includes the strike-shortened 1994 season. Bonds won three MVP awards (and probably should have won a fourth in 1991) and posted OPS+ figures over 200 in 1992 and 1993 — which Ohtani has never done. This Bonds was an annual Gold Glove winner and one of the best baserunners in the game (stealing as many as 52 bases in 1990).

The case for Ohtani over 1990s Bonds: As good as Bonds was, and as terrific as his all-around game was, Ohtani’s still had more value. And we have to factor in Ohtani’s two titles here versus Bonds’ zero. The Pittsburgh Pirates made the playoffs three straight years from 1990 to 1992, and Bonds completely flopped, hitting .191/.337/.265 with six RBIs in 20 games. Case closed.

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Barry Bonds, 2000-04: 51.1 WAR

Five-year average: .339 BA, 241 OPS+, 52 HR, 109 RBIs, 123 R, 10.2 WAR

Led league: 4x WAR, 1x HR, 4x OPS

Achievements: 4x MVP, record 73 HRs

WAR percentage over No. 2 player in span: +17.5% (Alex Rodriguez)

The case for 2000s Bonds over Ohtani: And now we have Bonds II, when he put up a five-year run at the plate that neither Ruth nor Williams even matched. In 2001, Bonds mashed 73 home runs with an 0.863 slugging percentage. The next year, he hit .370 with a .582 OBP. He “slumped” all the way to .341 with a 1.278 OPS in 2003 and then hit .362 with 232 walks, a .609 (!) OBP and 1.422 OPS in 2004. The numbers don’t seem real. His combined WAR, including 11.9 in 2001, 11.7 in 2002 and 10.6 in 2004, is third behind Ruth and Mays and still significantly ahead of Ohtani. Bonds is the only player to win four straight MVP awards — oh, and he finished second the year he didn’t win.

The case for Ohtani over 2000s Bonds: Well, Bonds didn’t pitch. His defense and baserunning had declined. He still didn’t win — although the San Francisco Giants did reach the World Series in 2002 and Bonds had one of the best postseasons ever. And he certainly couldn’t match Ohtani in popularity.

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Five-year average: .310 BA, 173 OPS+, 33 HR, 96 RBIs, 116 R, 28 SB, 9.4 WAR

Led league: 5x WAR, 4x R, 1x RBIs, 1x SB, 1x OPS

Achievements: 2x MVP

WAR percentage over No. 2 player in span: +44.9% (Robinson Cano)

The case for Trout over Ohtani: Young Trout was truly something, deservedly drawing comparisons to the best players of all time, starting with a 10.5-WAR season as a rookie in 2012 and another 10.4-WAR season in 2016 (both figures slightly higher than Ohtani’s best of 10.0). He won his two MVPs in this stretch and finished second in the voting the other three years. He hit for average, drew walks, stole bases and played solid defense. (And when the ball got a little livelier later in the decade, his OPS would climb even higher.) His five-year WAR crushes Cano, the No. 2 position player, and also beats out Ohtani’s five-year total. While the Los Angeles Angels made the playoffs only in 2014, Trout was still unquestionably viewed as the best player in the game, a title he would hold down all the way through 2019, when he captured his third MVP award. Alas, injuries would mar his career after that.

The case for Ohtani over Trout: Ohtani left the Angels, Trout stayed. The two World Series titles add a vital element to Ohtani’s legacy and stardom that Trout will always lack. As good as Trout was, it’s also probably fair to say he lacked the magnetism of Ohtani (or the charisma of Griffey, to whom he was so often compared early on).

TORONTO — A 66-year-old man with a pierced left ear and a backward cap stood in the outfield at Rogers Centre early Sunday morning and beheld all that surrounded him. Tri-color confetti littered the turf, the videoboard in center field touted the Los Angeles Dodgers‘ latest World Series championship, and Osamu Yada — the man who made it all possible — grinned at his great fortune.

Yada Sensei, as he is known, plays a number of roles for Dodgers right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto, whose performance in Los Angeles’ 5-4 victory in Game 7 of the World Series will go down in the annals of baseball history. Yada is a biomechanist first and foremost, obsessive about how the body’s movement patterns apply force to a baseball. Beyond that, he is a philosophical guru, a bridge between the ocean-wide chasm that separates Japanese baseball, where Yamamoto formed his foundation, and American baseball, where he erected his masterwork upon it.

“He’s the person who built me,” Yamamoto said.

What Yada shaped blossomed into something mythical during an all-time great World Series that culminated with a Game 7 for the ages, requiring 11 nerve-wracking, drama-filled innings. Working on no rest after a six-inning, 96-pitch effort to set up the Dodgers for a Game 6 victory and send the series to a winner-takes-all seventh game, Yamamoto materialized from the Dodgers’ bullpen to spread 34 pitches over 2⅔ scoreless innings and secure the win that delivered Los Angeles its second consecutive championship and third in six years. All of that on the heels of Yamamoto’s complete-game triumph in Game 2, which followed a start-to-finish effort in his previous outing in the National League Championship Series.

The only other pitcher in baseball history to chase a Game 6 start with a Game 7 relief outing on zero days’ rest and emerge with victories in both was Randy Johnson in the 2001 World Series, widely regarded among the best ever. Both pitchers won World Series MVP awards, riding fastballs that neared triple digits and off-speed pitches that bedeviled the hitters hubristic enough to offer at them. The similarities end there. At 5-foot-10, Yamamoto stands a full foot shorter than Johnson, who leveraged his size into five Cy Young Awards and a first-ballot Hall of Fame induction. Yamamoto, at 170 pounds, learned through Yada to find his power from the place where body meets nature and the two coalesce harmoniously.

“Think about a tree,” Yada said. “A tree has a trunk, it has branches, it has roots. In the sports world, we tell people to move their hands this way, their feet this way, and that’s just moving the branches. The most important thing with the tree is the trunk. It can’t just be firm, either. If the trunk is hollow, then it might just snap in half easily. So you can think about what I’m doing as building a strong trunk that can stand up to strong rain and wind. There’s nothing wrong with any individual thing that’s being taught over here. It’s just that I’m trying to have a perspective of the whole, and I don’t give him any specific instruction on any individual thing. Just trying to keep an eye on the whole, the bigger vision.”

That vision registered 20/10 during this postseason, a monthlong love letter to baseball. The 2025 World Series started with the Blue Jays, seeking their first championship since 1993, dropping a nine-run inning and sending the whole of Rogers Centre into a frenzy and ended with the Dodgers salvaging their season with a game-tying home run from the unlikeliest hitter with one out in the ninth inning and going ahead with another homer in the 11th. It dispensed memorable moments like an IV drip, consistent and satiating. For Game 7 to live up to the standard set by the previous six, which included an 18-inning classic Game 3 won by the Dodgers on a walk-off home run and a star-making Game 5 by Toronto rookie right-hander Trey Yesavage, only reinforced the 121st World Series’ place among its most extolled brethren.

With their pitching running on fumes, the Dodgers had turned to Shohei Ohtani, Yamamoto’s countryman and the finest talent the game has ever seen, to start Game 7 on three days’ rest. In the third inning, Bo Bichette blasted a 442-foot, three-run home run off him, igniting the 44,713 in attendance and forcing Los Angeles into scramble mode. Things got hairy in the fourth, when Justin Wrobleski hit Andrés Giménez with an up-and-in pitch that prompted the benches and bullpens to clear. The tension intensified in the eighth, when a Max Muncy solo home run cut Los Angeles’ deficit to 4-3. And it never relented during the game’s final innings, when the Dodgers, who batted .203 and were outscored 34-26 in the series, turned to Yamamoto to play savior.

All the while, Yada remained calm, a palliative presence. While Yada says to “just think of me as a loudmouth grandpa,” he is the key that unlocked the whole of Yamamoto. During a presentation to Dodgers employees in the spring of 2024, Yamamoto’s first with the team after signing a 12-year, $325 million contract upon his departure from Nippon Professional Baseball’s Orix Buffaloes, Yada tried to explain Yamamoto’s training habits using comparisons from the world of anime. Yamamoto, he said, was like Goku in “Dragon Ball Z” or One-Punch Man, what they do and who they are indistinguishable. Yamamoto was forever seeking to harness the power of nature that takes a man and makes him something more.

“There are things that are natural in nature, and then there are things that are normal in the sports world,” Yada said. “And what I’ve been able to do is teach Yoshinobu about things that occur in the natural world. And because the general philosophies and the things that are accepted are so different when you look at it from a sporting sense, it seems like something that’s outrageous.”

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IN OSAKA, JAPAN, sits a two-story building, about 1,200 square feet total, that serves as the nerve center of Yada’s operation — “Japan’s No. 1 Spiritual and Physical Strength Shop,” its website proudly states. The path to growth, the site says, is through tariki hongan (relying on other power) and jiriki hongan (self-reliance). Yada ends every post on the website with the same two sentences: “I hope you have a good day today. Don’t forget your childhood and pursue your dreams!”

Yamamoto met Yada in Osaka, where the pitcher arrived in 2017 as an 18-year-old selected in the fourth round of the NPB draft by the Buffaloes. Yada works outside the professional-baseball infrastructure in Japan and is regarded by some as an interloper. In Yamamoto, he found a willing and eager pupil. With a natural curiosity and voracious work ethic, Yamamoto’s greatest quality, Yada said, was his patience.

“Yoshinobu will say things like, ‘I want to be able to do this,’ ” Yada said. “And I’ll tell him, ‘OK, in two years you’ll be able to do that.’ And then in two years he is actually able to do that.”

Within two years of joining the Buffaloes, Yamamoto was a fixture in their rotation and atop ERA leaderboards in NPB. He won the Sawamura Award, given to the best starting pitcher in Japan, in 2021, 2022 and 2023, the first to capture three consecutive in more than 60 years. During the 2023 season, his closest friend, Yoichi Ishihara, spent the summer in Toronto to be able to tell Yamamoto what life in a major league city looked like. Yamamoto had conquered Japanese baseball and set his eyes on the big leagues.

For years, Dodgers scouts had admired him. They marveled not only at his stuff but the methods that extracted it from him. Yamamoto was the antithesis of the muscled-up, high-effort pitchers the American youth-development system churned out. He never lifted a weight under Yada’s tutelage. Instead, they focused on mobility and balance, breathing and pliability. He did handstands and threw mini-soccer balls. Yada introduced him to a featherweight javelin so light that any deviation from proper mechanical sequencing would cause it to flutter and die. Over time, Yamamoto learned to launch it great distances with a delicate touch.

“It’s easy to use one muscle at 100% output,” Yada said, “but what Yoshinobu is trying to do is to use 600 different muscles at 10% output. You can’t think about 600 things at once and throw. So it’s learning to prioritize which parts of the movement are the most important. And learning to have that conversation with yourself about where there might be imbalances and how to correct those things.

“We often talk about moving specific joints in certain ways, and when you try to approach what we’re trying to do, you always run into these conflicts between various things. The way of approaching things that way can be explained by Newtonian physics. What he’s trying to do is explained more by Eastern philosophies. And so it’s difficult to find a common language, and it’s difficult to talk about.”

Front office executives and scouts flocked to Osaka in 2023, aware that Yamamoto was likely to enter Major League Baseball’s posting system — the portal through which Japanese players are transferred to big league teams — that forthcoming winter. Yada invited officials to his headquarters to better understand the ideology that seemed so foreign.

“Watching people work at his clinic in Osaka is special,” said Galen Carr, the Dodgers’ vice president of player personnel and a fixture in international scouting. “They do things with their bodies — contortions and twisting and balance and strength — and it’s body weight, not stuff we do here. And somehow that kid throws 98 and he’s 5-10. … Maybe we can learn something from him.”

Andrew Friedman, the Dodgers president of baseball operations, wasn’t sold until he saw it himself. At the Kyocera Dome in Osaka, he watched Yamamoto long-toss from the right-field corner to home plate. Yamamoto wasn’t taking crow hops or hurling parabolic throws. “I wish someone had videoed me watching that before the game,” Friedman said, “because my mouth was agape.” Even if the list of short, slim, front-line right-handed pitchers could be counted on one hand, the Dodgers were already perfectly happy to get into the outlier business, giving Ohtani a 10-year, $700 million contract Dec. 9.

The 45-day posting window for Yamamoto had opened by then, and a bidding frenzy was underway. What started in the $175 million range quickly ascended past $200 million. The New York Mets, New York Yankees, San Francisco Giants and Philadelphia Phillies felt the same way about Yamamoto as the Dodgers. They looked past the questions of whether he was too short or his hands too small to spin a major league ball. They believed.

The shockwaves from his contract rippled with similar ferocity to Ohtani’s. At least Ohtani had dominated MLB for six years and won a pair of MVPs. Yamamoto hadn’t thrown a single big league pitch, and the Dodgers guaranteed him more money than any pitcher in the game’s history. And when he arrived at spring training flanked by a sexagenarian whose standard uniform was a blazer over a T-shirt, teammates initially side-eyed him, struggling to fathom the multitudes Yamamoto contained.

Soon enough they cherished the whole of Yamamoto. His diligence astounded them. His pitches — fastball, sinker, splitter, cutter, slider, curveball — wowed them. Yada endeared himself quickly to the rest of the pitching staff as well as former MVP Mookie Betts, all of whom learned to appreciate that behind the endless appetite for Sprite and lemonade and other break-room foodstuffs was a professor of the craft, someone set upon making Yamamoto every bit as good in MLB as he was in NPB.

“It’s the most meticulous game plan I’ve ever seen,” Dodgers right-hander Ben Casparius said. “He’s the best, purest pitcher I’ve ever seen in my life. And I don’t think it’s close.”

The ups and downs of Yamamoto’s debut season — he spent three months on the injured list with arm issues — vanished by the postseason last year, when he helped carry an injury-depleted Los Angeles to a championship. He resisted the urge to alter his training methodologies over the winter, sticking with Yada’s program and long tossing almost daily. Greatness found him this season, when he finished fourth in MLB with a 2.49 ERA over 173⅔ innings, and his back-to-back complete games in the playoffs marked the first such feat for pitchers in nearly a quarter century.

It was no surprise, then, that Yamamoto volunteered to pitch in Game 7 a day after he kept Los Angeles’ season alive. Following Game 6, Friedman received a text from Will Ireton, the team’s interpreter, that indicated Yamamoto was receiving treatment with the intention of pitching the next day. Yada indicated that Friedman need not worry about injury or effectiveness. Yamamoto’s stuff was going to be the same regardless of rest. Another text arrived Saturday morning, saying trainers were preparing Yamamoto to pitch, and one more after he played catch, affirming his ability to get meaningful outs for manager Dave Roberts.

Still, the entire conceit felt too good to be true, a self-laid trap-in-waiting. Even if Yamamoto did enter the game, how long could he go? How sore would his arm feel? As much as the Dodgers believed in Yamamoto and Yada Sensei, surely there were limits to the power of their partnership.

At 11:31 p.m., after one of the most implausible home runs in World Series history, they would learn the answer.

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DURING THE ON-FIELD celebration of Los Angeles’ 3-1 victory in Game 6, teammates moshed around Miguel Rojas, who had caught a dart of a throw from Kiké Hernández to complete a game-ending double play. Amid the hugs and backslaps, Rojas felt a sharp pain in his rib area. The timing could not have been worse.

The 36-year-old Rojas spent nearly a decade in the minor leagues before debuting with the Dodgers in 2014. Los Angeles traded him to the Marlins that winter — in a deal that sent Hernández back to the Dodgers — and saw him grow into a beloved utility man, the conscience of the clubhouse. He returned to Los Angeles in a January 2023 trade and spent the past three seasons as a versatile option for Roberts. He was slated to start at shortstop before Betts’ switch from outfield to the position resigned Rojas to a part-time role.

Nonetheless, Dodgers starter Tyler Glasnow said, “Miggy is the glue of our team.” He wields the microphone on team flights and bus rides. He is, Glasnow said, “the curator of s–t-talking in the best possible way.” And in Game 6, with center fielder Andy Pages in an October-long slump, Rojas — without a hit since Oct. 1 — was named the starting second baseman and No. 9 hitter, with Roberts moving super-utility man Tommy Edman to center and benching Pages.

On Friday night, the revival of that lineup for Game 7 was in question. The Dodgers went to bed believing Rojas would not be available and that they might need to replace him on the roster with outfielder Michael Conforto. Rojas woke up Saturday morning still in pain. He went to the stadium at 1:30 p.m., received “a lot of meds and injections,” he said, and tested out the rib in the batting cage. The pain was dulled enough that Rojas told Roberts he wanted to play. Roberts acceded. Rojas took another round of painkillers before first pitch and found himself at the plate in the ninth inning, with the Dodgers trailing, 4-3, and one out.

What happened next defined a Dodgers team outhit, outscored and outplayed by the Blue Jays for the majority of the series. Rojas was looking for a fastball from Toronto closer Jeff Hoffman to hit up the middle. He swung over a first-pitch slider in the dirt. Hoffman bounced a slider and fastball to move the count to 2-1 before Rojas fouled off a pair of fastballs. He stared at a slider just above the strike zone to work the count full. On the seventh pitch of the at-bat, Hoffman hung a slider. And Rojas, who in 4,159 career plate appearances has hit only 57 home runs, uncorked a swing for eternity.

Only once before had a player in Game 7 of the World Series hit a game-tying or go-ahead home run in the ninth inning or later. As the ball sailed into the Blue Jays’ bullpen in left field, Rojas joined Bill Mazeroski, author of the homer that ended the 1960 World Series. The score was 4-4. The World Series that had played even for six games had reached that state in the ninth inning of its seventh.

“When he wasn’t getting his playing time, he went to the coaches and said, ‘Hey, how can I help out?’ ” Muncy said. “And he did everything that they asked him to do. He’s the ultimate team guy, and for him to get that home run to tie it up — it brings tears to my eyes just thinking about it.”

The tears of joy nearly morphed into those of sadness come the bottom of the inning. Bichette singled with one out off Dodgers starter Blake Snell, on in relief, and was pinch run for by Isiah Kiner-Falefa. Addison Barger drew a walk in a nine-pitch plate appearance. Roberts went to the mound. The bullpen door swung open. Out came Yamamoto.

“My heart was jumping out of my chest,” said Ishihara, Yamamoto’s close friend, “because I didn’t think it would actually happen.”

On his first pitch to Blue Jays catcher Alejandro Kirk, Yamamoto ripped a 93-mph splitter for a strike. Immediately it was clear Yada was correct: the quality of Yamamoto’s stuff would not be a question. His command of it, on the other hand, was tested on the next pitch, a sinker that ran inside and clipped Kirk’s hand, loading the bases for Blue Jays center fielder Daulton Varsho.

Roberts’ strategic acumen, honed over nearly 120 postseason games, went into overdrive. He inserted Pages, a better defender with a far better arm than Edman, into center field, knowing a sacrifice fly could end the World Series. He pulled the infield in. And he let Yamamoto and catcher Will Smith go to work, knowing they needed to keep the ball down in the strike zone and hopefully induce a groundball. A splitter missed low. Varsho fouled off another. He stared at a 97 mph fastball for strike two. And on a third splitter, at the bottom of the zone and away from the left-handed Varsho, he yanked a grounder toward Rojas, who reached across his body to snag it — the pain searing in his side — and made an off-balance throw home. Had Kiner-Falefa taken even a one-step secondary lead off third base, he would have been safe. He didn’t. Smith leaned to grab Rojas’ throw that just beat a sliding Kiner-Falefa for the force.

Toronto wasn’t done. Ernie Clement stepped to the plate. He already had three hits, pushing him past Randy Arozarena for tops on the single-postseason hit list with 30. And he golfed a first-pitch Yamamoto curveball into deep left-center field. Pages and Hernández converged and collided, just as the ball settled into Pages’ glove. Hernández lay face down on the warning track, convinced the ball had skittered away and the series was over. Pages asked him if he was OK. Hernández wasn’t, because he thought they’d lost the World Series. Instead, Game 7 was headed to extra innings.

Like Toronto the previous half-inning, Los Angeles loaded the bases in the 10th with one out. Pages grounded into a force play at home, and three pitches later, reliever Seranthony Dominguez fielded a flip from first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr., danced around the first-base bag and toe-tapped it just before Hernández’s foot struck. Replay review upheld the call and sent the game to the bottom of the 10th, when Yamamoto emerged from the dugout for a second inning of work. He sat down three hitters on 13 pitches and surpassed Johnson’s four relief outs the day after his Game 6 start.

With a chance to play hero again in the top of the 11th, Rojas grounded out to third and, with the pain meds wearing off, felt a twinge in his side in the process. Ohtani, so brilliant all postseason, the one hitter upon whom the Dodgers could rely, grounded out. Up stepped Smith, who entered the postseason with a hairline fracture in his right hand. Elevated to the No. 2 spot because of Betts’ struggles, Smith worked the count to 2-0 against Toronto’s Game 5 starter, Shane Bieber, like so many others cosplaying as a reliever, and got a slider that settled in the middle of the zone. He did not miss. One step out of the batter’s box, he yelled, “Go ball,” imploring it to breach the fence. The ball bounced from the bullpen into the stands. Los Angeles led, 5-4.

“I’m just hoping I got enough,” Smith said. “I knew I hit it pretty good. But we’ve hit a lot of balls hard here in this stadium that just haven’t got out. They just kind of came up a little short. So it was nice to finally get one.”

The Dodgers’ ninth championship beckoned, and Yamamoto emerged from the dugout to put the ultimate stamp on it. Pitching is about milliseconds and millimeters. Any minuscule change in timing, movement, grip and dozens of other factors runs the risk of frying a pitcher’s wiring. No such concern existed with Yamamoto, even in circumstances unfathomable to other pitchers. He is unbothered. He made himself for this moment.

“He put on his cape,” Hernández said, “and he took us to the promised land.”

A Guerrero leadoff double in the 11th, followed by a Kiner-Falefa sacrifice to get him to third with one out? It happens. A Barger walk on four splitters out of the zone? No worries. Because after getting Kirk down 0-2 on a cutter and curveball, Yamamoto unleashed a splitter — the pitch brought back into vogue by Japanese pitchers — and shattered Kirk’s bat. The ball trickled toward Betts, who scurried over to second, stepped on the bag with his left foot and flipped the ball to Freddie Freeman for the first World Series-ending double play since 1947.

“It’s about betting on players and people,” Roberts said. “There’s this narrative where people think that we’re scripting s— based on numbers, and it couldn’t be further from that. There’s a separation between the regular season, where the numbers make sense, the long view, but then when you’re trying to win 13 games, it’s about players and people and who you’re going to bet on. It’s not all about the matchups.

“I bet on Yama because I just felt there’s just something inside of his soul that I completely believed in. And even Miggy Ro in a different context, where everything says you hit for him, I just believed that he was going to do something special.”

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ON THE DAY of Game 7, the Instagram page for Yada Sensei’s clinic posted three emojis of people bowing with sheepish looks on their faces. Above them was a message in Japanese thanking its patients for their patronage and informing them Yada will soon return to Osaka and that he will start taking appointments Nov. 5.

“We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience caused by our prolonged business trip,” the post said.

Describing the greatest World Series as a “prolonged business trip” encapsulates how Yada sees himself, an ethos he has passed along to Yamamoto. What the Dodgers so adore about Yamamoto is just how normal he is. For all of the novelties of his training, he is a regular dude. He loves his dog. He cracks jokes.

“He’s genuine. He’s responsible. He’s very straightforward,” Yada said. “He doesn’t lose sight of his dreams.”

Dreams are important to Yada, windows into the ethereal place where he believes athletes must go to mine the materials within. In the end, all of the Dodgers unearthed that in a season that started March 18 in Japan and ended just after midnight Nov. 2 in Canada. They won 93 games, cruised through the National League bracket and ran into a Blue Jays unit certain destiny was riding shotgun until its engine faltered. Los Angeles became the first team to win two straight World Series since the New York Yankees triumphed three straight years from 1998-2000. The Dodgers sent Clayton Kershaw, their Hall of Fame ace, into retirement with his third ring and prevented Max Scherzer, Kershaw’s nearest modern analog and Toronto’s Game 7 starter, from winning his third. Los Angeles did it with talent, and with persistence, and with $500 million-plus in salaries and taxes, every dollar spent worth it, particularly the $16 million this year that went to Yamamoto.

“For him to do three ups and hold his stuff the way he did — it was every bit as good as it was in Game 6 — is literally the most impressive thing I’ve ever seen on a Major League Baseball field,” Friedman said.

At the Dodgers’ party following the win, highlights from the night played on a screen and the high of the night never lost its sheen. Yamamoto was feted as a legend, a hero, but all that mattered, Yada said, is “he just really, really wanted to be a champion with his teammates.”

He is, for the second time, still on that path to growth, embracing tariki hongan from the 25 men surrounding him and manifesting jiriki hongan with his own will, desire, fortitude. It’s true, yes, that Yada built Yoshinobu Yamamoto into what he is today. But outrageous things take more than a sensei or a code. They take a man willing to do things others wouldn’t dare dream of.

That’s officially a wrap on the 2025 MLB season.

The hot stove season is already burning, but even amid the roster shuffling for the 2026 season, we had one last bit of 2025 business: handing out the major awards.

The most prestigious are the four major honors determined by BBWAA voting. These awards will have a lasting impact on baseball history books and Hall of Fame résumés.

On Monday, Athletics first baseman Nick Kurtz was unanimously selected as the American League Rookie of the Year, and Atlanta Braves rookie catcher Drake Baldwin earned the National League honor.

Milwaukee Brewers manager Pat Murphy and Cleveland Guardians manager Stephen Vogt each won their second consecutive Manager of the Year Award on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, Detroit Tigers ace Tarik Skubal won his second straight AL Cy Young Award. In the NL, the Pittsburgh Pirates‘ Paul Skenes won his first Cy Young — unanimously.

Thursday capped off awards week as the Los Angeles Dodgers‘ Shohei Ohtani secured his third consecutive MVP award — and fourth in five years, all unanimously — in the NL. In the AL, New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge narrowly beat out Seattle Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh to win his second straight MVP.

Jump to:
MVP: AL | NL
Cy Young: AL | NL
Rookie of the Year: AL | NL
Manager of the Year: AL | NL

American League MVP

Winner: Aaron Judge, New York Yankees

Final tally: Judge 355 (17 first-place votes), Cal Raleigh 335 (13), Jose Ramirez 224, Bobby Witt Jr. 215, Tarik Skubal 139, Julio Rodriguez 136, George Springer 125, Garrett Crochet 74, Junior Caminero 37, Jeremy Pena 32, Byron Buxton 30, Nick Kurtz 29, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. 14, Cody Bellinger 7, Maikel Garcia 7, Bo Bichette 5, Riley Greene 3, Aroldis Chapman 1, Yandy Diaz 1, Jacob Wilson 1

Doolittle’s pick: Raleigh

Takeaway: In the race between numbers and narrative, the numbers won in this case. But as I wrote leading up to Thursday’s announcement, there was no wrong answer here. Since we’ve already delved into the Judge vs. Raleigh debate, let’s focus here on Judge’s win and what it means for a career resume that keeps getting more impressive.

With a third MVP, Judge becomes the 13th player to win at least three MVP awards. Fittingly for a Yankees captain, he joins a club that features a trio of the franchise’s all-time greats — Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle and Yogi Berra also won three MVP awards. Alas, Judge didn’t gain on Shohei Ohtani, who won his fourth MVP on Thursday, but now that MLB’s star duo have both repeated in winning the honor, it only cements their co-status as the game’s biggest stars and best players.

Judge, somehow, just keeps getting better. His move out of center field paid off in improved defensive numbers, at least until the elbow injury that limited him in the field during the second half. Judge will never be a low-strikeout hitter but as he has aged, he has continued to slice into his whiff rate while maintaining his all-time elite power numbers and, at the same time, becoming one of baseball’s best hitters for average. Through the age of 28, Judge had a career batting average of .272; since then, he has hit .306. In 2025, he hit .331 to win his first batting title, part of a career-first sabermetric Triple Crown (leading the league in all three slash categories).

Judge’s 9.7 bWAR gives him three seasons of 9.5 or better, one of just 11 position players to do that. The list Judge joins serves as a signpost for where he’s headed when he retires: Babe Ruth, Rogers Hornsby, Willie Mays, Barry Bonds, Ted Williams, Lou Gehrig, Ty Cobb, Mike Trout, Mickey Mantle, Carl Yastrzemski. And where is it that Judge is headed? Cooperstown.

You can’t take it for granted that Judge will keep going at this clip for much longer, as he turns 34 next April. But over the last four seasons, he has hit .311/.439/.677 with an average of 59 homers, 131 RBIs and 133 runs per 162 games played. If Judge has begun to slow, you sure can’t see it in the results.

Here’s how my AXE leaderboard had it:

1. Aaron Judge, Yankees (164 AXE, finalist)
2. Cal Raleigh, Mariners (150, finalist)
3. Bobby Witt Jr., Royals (145)
4. Jose Ramirez, Guardians (138, finalist)
5. Julio Rodriguez, Mariners (134)
6. Jeremy Pena, Astros (132)
7. George Springer, Blue Jays (131)
8. Byron Buxton, Twins (129)
9. Maikel Garcia, Royals (128)
10. Gunnar Henderson, Orioles (128)

Note: AXE is an index that creates a consensus rating from the leading value metrics (WAR, from FanGraphs and Baseball Reference) and contextual metrics (win probability added and championship probability added, both from Baseball Reference), with 100 representing the MLB average.

MVP must-reads:

What it’s really like facing Aaron Judge

Can Yankees build a title-winning team around Aaron Judge?

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National League MVP

Winner: Shohei Ohtani, Los Angeles Dodgers (unanimous)

Final tally: Ohtani 420 (30 first-place votes), Kyle Schwarber 260, Juan Soto 231, Geraldo Perdomo 196, Trea Turner 102, Paul Skenes 83, Corbin Carroll 83, Fernando Tatis Jr. 78, Pete Crow-Armstrong 63, Francisco Lindor 61, Pete Alonso 48, Christian Yelich 34, Freddie Freeman 29, Brice Turang 23, Cristopher Sanchez 16, Michael Busch 11, Manny Machado 11, Matt Olson 7, Nico Hoerner 5, Seiya Suzuki 3, Will Smith 3, Ketel Marte 2, Elly De La Cruz 1

Doolittle’s pick: Ohtani

Takeaway: You know that old saying about how you shouldn’t say things can’t get any worse because, before you know it, they will? What’s the opposite of that? Because whatever the term is for that phenomenon, it serves as a warning for ever thinking that we’ve seen peak Ohtani.

This MVP award — Ohtani’s third in a row, and fourth in five years — gives him more than any player in history not named Barry Bonds. Bonds won seven times and if you don’t think Ohtani can catch him, you haven’t been paying attention. That’s especially true now that Ohtani has moved to the NL, where he’s no longer competing with Aaron Judge or Bobby Witt Jr., among others, for what promises to be a high bar in the AL MVP races to come.

Ohtani’s bat has reached another level since he moved over from the Los Angeles Angels. In two seasons with the Dodgers, he has managed one unthinkable feat after another. Last year, there was the 50/50 season that included the 6-for-6, three-homer, 10-RBI, two-steal game that got him into the club. This year, Ohtani reached a new career high in homers (55) while, as a leadoff hitter, scoring 146 runs. After two seasons in Chavez Ravine, Ohtani now owns the top two single-season home run totals in franchise history, and his 2025 run total is a Dodger record for the modern era.

And he pitched! Ohtani eased back into mound work in 2025 after coming back from surgery but was effective when he threw, with a 2.87 ERA over 14 appearances for 1.1 fWAR. The Dodgers probably won’t push him into a heavy pitching load at any point, but there is more WAR on that side of the ball in his future.

Ohtani is just indescribably good. After another historic regular season, he went on to post two of the greatest performances in postseason history, all while helping the Dodgers repeat as World Series champs.

In the NLCS clincher against the Milwaukee Brewers, he went six shutout innings and struck out 10 batters to earn the win — and hit three homers along the way. Then, in the epic 18-inning Game 3 of the World Series against the Toronto Blue Jays, he homered three more times and doubled twice, convincing Jays manager John Schneider to avoid him like a mime with a bad cough: Ohtani was walked five times. His nine times reaching base tied the record for any game and was three more than had ever been done in the postseason.

So was that peak Ohtani? Don’t bet on it. Because when you think things can’t get any worse — for Dodgers opponents — Ohtani will make sure they will.

Here’s how my AXE leaderboard had it:

1. Shohei Ohtani, Dodgers (157 AXE, finalist)
2. Geraldo Perdomo, Diamondbacks (141)
3. Juan Soto, Mets (140, finalist)
4. Francisco Lindor, Mets (137)
5. Fernando Tatis Jr., Padres (136)
6. Corbin Carroll, Diamondbacks (135)
7. Trea Turner, Phillies (134)
8. Pete Crow-Armstrong, Cubs (131)
9. Nico Hoerner, Cubs (130)
10. Matt Olson, Braves (129)
11. Kyle Schwarber, Phillies (128, finalist)

MVP must-reads:

2025 MLB most exciting player bracket: Ohtani, Judge, more

The improbability of Shohei Ohtani’s greatness

American League Cy Young

Winner: Tarik Skubal, Detroit Tigers

Final tally: Skubal 198 (26 first-place votes), Garrett Crochet 132 (4), Hunter Brown 80, Max Fried 61, Bryan Woo 26, Carlos Rodon 5, Aroldis Chapman 4, Jacob deGrom 2, Trevor Rogers 1, Drew Rasmussen 1

Doolittle’s pick: Skubal

Takeaway: Skubal becomes the first back-to-back Cy Young winner since Jacob deGrom with the Mets in 2018 and 2019, and the first in the AL to do it since Pedro Martinez in 1999 and 2000. The only other Tigers hurler to win multiple Cy Young Awards was Denny McLain (1968 and 1969). Not bad for a pitcher who entered last season with a career record of 23-27.

Skubal’s dominance and efficiency have become must-see viewing during the regular season. His average game score (64.2) led the majors, and he led the AL in ERA and FIP for a second straight season while again making 31 starts. Although he didn’t repeat as the circuit’s strikeout king, he upped his total from 228 to 241 while posting a ridiculous 7.3-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio. That’s pure dominance.

Skubal has reached the point where he can attack the strike zone with precision and without giving up damage, allowing him to get deep into games even as his strikeout total soars. Skubal had six starts in which he struck out at least 11 batters without throwing 100 pitches. Against Cleveland on May 25, he threw a two-hit shutout and struck out 13 on just 94 pitches while putting up a game score of 96, tied for the highest of 2025.

Despite all of this, I didn’t see this race as a no-brainer. That’s how good Crochet was during his first Red Sox season and the first in which he made the transition from a potential ace to a right-now stopper. His league-leading total of 205⅓ innings nearly doubled his career total, and his 255 strikeouts topped Skubal for the MLB lead.

That Crochet did all of this while winning 18 games and not winning the Cy Young is another data point underscoring the demise of the win statistic. But his breakout showed that if Crochet can stay healthy, the considerable prospect haul the Red Sox sent to the White Sox to acquire him will have been worth it.

Here’s how my AXE leaderboard had it:

1. Tarik Skubal, Tigers (153 AXE, finalist)
2. Garrett Crochet, Red Sox (151, finalist)
3. Hunter Brown, Astros (143, finalist)
4. Trevor Rogers, Orioles (136)
5. Max Fried, Yankees (135)
6. Nathan Eovaldi, Rangers (134)
7. Carlos Rodon, Yankees (130)

Cy Young must-reads:

The extraordinary mystery of the Tigers’ Tarik Skubal

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National League Cy Young

Winner: Paul Skenes, Pittsburgh Pirates (unanimous)

Final tally: Skenes 210 (30 first-place votes), Cristopher Sanchez 120, Yoshinobu Yamamoto 72, Logan Webb 47, Freddy Peralta 44, Nick Pivetta 7, Jesus Luzardo 5, Andrew Abbott 4, Zack Wheeler 1

Doolittle’s pick: Sanchez

Takeaway: The pitcher win is truly dead. And that’s fine. Never again will we have a stretch like the early 1980s when a string of AL Cy Young trophies were handed out to pitchers with relatively pedestrian run prevention figures but inflated win totals. Skenes wins because he is the game’s most dynamic young pitcher who, with a measure of health, is on track to become an all-time great.

That Skenes went 10-10 is but an amusing footnote and an indictment of the team with which he was surrounded. Still, his Cy Young is historic in that he becomes the first starter to land a Cy Young with a non-winning record. Here’s another historic note that ranks all pitchers in history by ERA with a minimum of 50 games started since 1901:

1. Ed Walsh, 1.82 (1904 to 1917)
2. Addie Joss, 1.89 (1902 to 1910)
3. Paul Skenes, 1.96 (2024 to 2025)

We’re looking at two complete careers compared with Skenes’ first two campaigns, but you still have to go back to the dead ball era to find this kind of career-long run prevention. When you shift the leaderboard to ERA+, which adjusts for league and ballpark context, and stick with the 50-start minimum, here’s what you get:

1. Paul Skenes, 215
2. (tie) Clayton Kershaw, 154
Pedro Martinez, 154
4. Jacob deGrom, 151
5. Jose Fernandez, 150

Sure, Skenes has nowhere to go but down from here — probably. But he already has built up a heck of a buffer against the pack. He’s the fifth pitcher to win a Cy Young within his first two big league seasons, and just the third Pirates hurler to win, joining Vern Law (1960) and Doug Drabek (1990).

As for my pick, Sanchez: He and Skenes were very close in terms of total runs prevented. Skenes had a decided edge in ERA, but their FIP figures were close, and Sanchez had more volume, which allows him to catch Skenes in the runs-prevented aggregate. So, if their runs prevented are similar, then what you have left is consistency and context.

In terms of consistency, Sanchez had a better quality start percentage, but I don’t put much stock in that because you have to go six innings to get a QS, and the Pirates weren’t letting Skenes go deep over the last months of the season. But their contexts were very different, as Sanchez starred for a division champion, whereas Skenes toiled for a cellar-dweller.

Not Skenes’ fault, but it’s what happened.

Here’s how my AXE leaderboard had it, with the decimals broken out for Sanchez and Skenes, who were in a virtual tie for the top:

1. Cristopher Sanchez, Phillies (159.5 AXE, finalist)
2. Paul Skenes, Pirates (159.4, finalist)
3. Andrew Abbott, Reds (138)
4. (tie) Freddy Peralta, Brewers (137)
Zack Wheeler, Phillies (137)
6. Nick Pivetta, Padres (136)
7. Logan Webb, Giants (135)
—
13. Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Dodgers (123, finalist)

Cy Young must-reads:

How young aces Skenes, Skubal dominate

American League Rookie of the Year

Winner: Nick Kurtz, Athletics (unanimous)

Final tally: Kurtz 210 (30 first-place votes), Jacob Wilson 107, Roman Anthony 72, Noah Cameron 54, Colson Montgomery 23, Carlos Narvaez 21, Jack Leiter 6, Will Warren 5, Luke Keaschall 3, Braydon Fisher 2, Shane Smith 2, Cam Smith 2, Chandler Simpson 1, Luis Morales 1, Jasson Dominguez 1

Doolittle’s pick: Kurtz

Takeaway: Before the season, Kurtz’s name wasn’t near the top of the list for AL Rookie of the Year candidates. He didn’t lack hype — he was viewed by many as the Athletics’ top prospect — but his meteoric rise was unexpected.

Kurtz, the fourth pick in 2024, played just 12 minor league games and another 13 in last year’s Arizona Fall League before this season. So, it made sense that he began the season in Triple-A, where he posted a 1.000-plus OPS, which he has done every step of the way.

Kurtz debuted in the majors April 23, and 117 games later, his 1.002 rookie-season OPS ranks as the fifth best for a rookie (minimum 480 plate appearances) behind Aaron Judge, Ted Williams, Albert Pujols and Ryan Braun. But none of those greats matched Kurtz’s accomplishment against the Astros on July 25, when he hit four homers, finished with six hits and tied Shawn Green’s big league record for total bases in a game (19).

The ninth Rookie of the Year in Athletics history, Kurtz’s slash line (.290/.383/.619) at 22 is evidence that he’s the complete package at the plate and still might improve. But even if he doesn’t, and this is what he is going forward, he’s one of the best hitters in the majors.

The other two finalists — Anthony and Wilson — were both high on preseason lists for the award and validated that anticipation with fine rookie seasons. Wilson’s .311 average ranked third in the majors. He was one of seven qualifying hitters in the majors to hit at least .300. Anthony lived up to massive hype upon his arrival at Fenway Park, but he suffered an oblique injury Sept. 2, ending his chances of overtaking Kurtz for the award.

Here’s how my AXE leaderboard had it:

1. Nick Kurtz, Athletics (126 AXE, finalist)
2. Jacob Wilson, Athletics (118, finalist)
3. (tie) Roman Anthony, Red Sox (115, finalist)
Noah Cameron, Royals (115)
Colson Montgomery, White Sox (115)
6. Carlos Narvaez, Red Sox (110)
7. Shane Smith, White Sox (109)

ROY must-reads:

Passan Awards: Nick Kurtz wins ‘Individual Performance of the Year’

How a swing tweak has Red Sox rookie Roman Anthony rolling

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National League Rookie of the Year

Winner: Drake Baldwin, Atlanta Braves

Final tally: Baldwin 183 (21 first-place votes), Cade Horton 139 (9), Caleb Durbin 69, Isaac Collins 62, Daylen Lile 17, Agustin Ramirez 10, Chad Patrick 9, Jakob Marsee 8, Jack Dreyer 4, Matt Shaw 4, Jacob Misiorowski 2, Nolan McLean 2, Heriberto Hernandez 1

Doolittle’s pick: Baldwin

Takeaway: The voters favored Baldwin’s full-season production over Horton’s remarkable second half. It was a tough call, but Baldwin established himself as one of the game’s outstanding young catchers. Baldwin hit .274/.341/.469 over 124 games, numbers strong enough to earn him regular DH time on days he wasn’t catching. That’s key, because Atlanta still has veteran Sean Murphy under contract for three more years.

Like his AL counterpart Kurtz, Baldwin was considered his organization’s top prospect by many when the season began, but he was expected to make his big league debut late in 2025 or in 2026. Baldwin got his chance when Murphy suffered a cracked rib in spring training. The Braves had several journeyman backups in camp, but Baldwin was so impressive that he started behind the plate on Opening Day.

Baldwin is the first catcher to win NL Rookie of the Year since Buster Posey in 2010. The only other Braves catcher to win the award was Earl Williams (1971), though Williams divided his time between catching and the infield.

If Horton had a first half that matched his post-All-Star-break performance, he might have been a unanimous pick and even entered the Cy Young debate. In 12 second-half starts, Horton went 8-1 with a 1.03 ERA, allowing just 33 hits while striking out 54 over 61⅓ innings. He allowed one run or fewer in 11 of those outings. Horton’s efforts helped the Chicago Cubs, who were scrambling to make the postseason with a short-handed rotation. This shows up in his probability stats: Horton ranked 12th among all NL pitchers in win probability added and 13th in championship probability added.

Durbin was a vital cog in the Brewers’ run to a franchise-best 97 wins. He was also one of several rookies in Milwaukee who were key contributors to the Brewers’ run to the NLCS. If “Brewers rookie” was an option on the ballot, “Brewers rookie” should have won.

Here’s how my AXE leaderboard had it:

1. Drake Baldwin, Braves (115 AXE, finalist)
2. Caleb Durbin, Brewers (113, finalist)
3. Cade Horton, Cubs (112, finalist)
4. Isaac Collins, Brewers (111)
5. Chad Patrick, Brewers (110)
6. Jakob Marsee, Marlins (109)
7. Braxton Ashcraft, Pirates (108)

American League Manager of the Year

Winner: Stephen Vogt, Cleveland Guardians

Final tally: Vogt 113 (28 first-place votes), John Schneider 91 (10), Dan Wilson 50 (2), Alex Cora 7 (1), A.J. Hinch 6, Joe Espada 3

Doolittle’s pick: Schneider

Takeaway: The AL Manager of the Year race remained murky to me up to and including the day that awards finalists were announced. EARL, an algorithm that seeks to create order out of the chaotic process of rating managers, was all over the place through the season. Hinch, who was favored in many of the betting markets until he turned out to not be a finalist, was submarined by his team’s drastic midseason fall-off (though he should have received credit for side-stepping a complete collapse and earning a playoff spot).

That left last year’s winner, Vogt, whose Guardians made a stirring run to overtake the Tigers in the AL Central, as well as Wilson, skipper of the AL West champion Mariners, and Schneider, who guided the Blue Jays to the East crown. In the end, the voters were picking between the AL’s three division-winning managers.

Worst to first is always a great narrative — and perhaps the best argument in favor for Schneider after the Blue Jays rebounded from 2024’s last-place finish to win Toronto’s first division title in a decade, one that was validated with a postseason run all the way to extra innings of Game 7 of the World Series. Schneider was strong in wins versus Pythagorean-based expectation (94 wins for a win expectation of 88.5) and record in one- and two-run contests (43-30).

But Vogt beat him in both areas, and the same held true in terms of preseason expectations. Toronto beat its preseason over/under consensus by 10 wins, the fourth-best performance in the majors. Third best? Vogt, at 10.5. Vogt becomes the fourth manager to win back-to-back awards, minutes after the Murphy in the NL became the third.

Worst to first: Great story. Coming back from 15½ games back on July 8? Even better.

Here’s how my EARL leaderboard had it:

1. A.J. Hinch, Tigers (108.3 EARL)
2. John Schneider, Blue Jays (107.8, finalist)
3. Joe Espada, Astros (107.0)
4. Stephen Vogt, Guardians (105.2, finalist)
5. Dan Wilson, Mariners (103.5, finalist)
6. Matt Quatraro, Royals (101.8)
7. Mark Kotsay, Athletics (99.6)

Note: EARL is a metric that looks at how a team’s winning percentage varies from expectations generated by projections, run differential and one-run record. While attributing these measures to managerial performance is presumptive, the metric does tend to track well with the annual balloting.

Manager of the Year must-reads:

How the high-contact, high-octane Blue Jays nearly took down a baseball superpower — and could change MLB

The magic chemistry of the Blue Jays clubhouse

How Mariners got their mojo

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National League Manager of the Year

Winner: Pat Murphy, Milwaukee Brewers

Final tally: Murphy 141 (27 first-place votes), Terry Francona 49 (2), Rob Thomson 32 (1), Craig Counsell 24, Clayton McCullough 22, Torey Lovullo 1, Mike Shildt 1

Doolittle’s pick: Murphy

Takeaway: The measures that feed EARL anointed Murphy pretty early in the season. Though the Brewers were a division winner in 2024, when Murphy won the award in his first full season as a big league manager, they were pegged for a .500-ish baseline entering the season. Instead, Milwaukee raced to a franchise record, a 17-win surplus against expectation that was the most in the majors. (McCullough’s Marlins were plus-15, hence his presence in the EARL leaderboard below.)

Murphy creates a fun, positive clubhouse atmosphere, keeping things light when it’s warranted, and getting heavy when it’s needed. He treats everyone the same, from the journeyman roster fill-in to franchise cornerstone Christian Yelich, not to mention everyone else in the great ecosystem of baseball that comes across his path on a daily basis. His skill set in building an upbeat culture doesn’t get enough attention — it’s an essential trait for a club that’s always iterating its roster.

One sign of a good manager is the ability to integrate rookies. Well, this season Milwaukee easily led the majors in rookie WAR, even as the Brewers chased another division crown. They played an exciting brand of offensive baseball that featured plenty of action on the basepaths and adherence to situational execution. They deployed one of the game’s top defenses. All of these things are hallmarks of a well-managed squad.

The Brewers remain perhaps baseball’s best-run franchise, a distinction that requires aptitude from the front office to the dugout, where Murphy presides. He becomes the first back-to-back NL Manager of the Year winner since Bobby Cox (2004-05), who did it with the Braves. The only other back-to-back winner was Tampa Bay’s Kevin Cash, the AL’s honoree in 2020-21. Murphy, who managed San Diego on an interim basis in 2015, is the first skipper to win in his first two full seasons.

Here’s how my EARL leaderboard had it:

1. Pat Murphy, Brewers (113.7 EARL, finalist)
2. Clayton McCullough, Marlins (106.9)
3. Oliver Marmol, Cardinals (106.1)
4. Rob Thomson, Phillies (103.9, finalist)
5. Craig Counsell, Cubs (103.4)
6. Mike Shildt, Padres (103.2)
7. Terry Francona, Reds (101.7 finalist)

Manager of the Year must-reads:

Welcome to ‘Milwaukee Community College’: How the Brewers built a $115 million juggernaut

Why Terry Francona, Bruce Bochy came back to managing in MLB

Other awards

Just a run-through of my picks, leaving aside the Comeback Player category, which is tough to attack analytically:

Executive of the Year: Matt Arnold, Brewers. I have a metric I use to track organizational performance. It looks at things such as the performance of acquired players, organizational records and the value produced by rookies. Arnold’s club topped the charts. Arnold won this award last year, so we’ll find out if there is an Arnold fatigue at work here. If Arnold doesn’t win, I’d lean toward Seattle’s Jerry Dipoto.

All-MLB: My All-MVP first team, courtesy of AXE:

1B: Matt Olson, Braves
2B: Nico Hoerner, Cubs
SS: Bobby Witt Jr., Royals
3B: Jose Ramirez, Guardians
C: Cal Raleigh, Mariners
OF: Juan Soto, Mets
OF: Aaron Judge, Yankees
OF: Corbin Carroll, Diamondbacks
DH: Shohei Ohtani, Dodgers
LHP: Tarik Skubal, Tigers
RHP: Paul Skenes, Pirates
RP: Aroldis Chapman, Red Sox

Hank Aaron Award: Aaron Judge (AL, Yankees); Shohei Ohtani (NL, Dodgers)

Mariano Rivera Award: Aroldis Chapman, Red Sox

Trevor Hoffman Award: Edwin Diaz, Mets

Gold Gloves: The winners have been announced and can be found here. My quibbles: I would have gone with Toronto’s Alejandro Kirk at AL catcher over Detroit’s Dillon Dingler. On the NL side, I’d have liked to find a spot for Washington’s Jacob Young, but the insistence on LF/CF/RF distinctions ruled that out. All in all, another pretty solid job in an awards category that used to be rife with absurdities.