Will anybody dethrone Shohei Ohtani as MLB’s finest designated hitter any time quickly? The Dodgers celebrity raked in one other main accolade on Thursday, additional testomony to his dominance on the plate.
Ohtani’s wonderful 2025 season earned him his fifth straight Edgar Martinez Excellent Designated Hitter Award, tying him with David Ortiz for essentially the most consecutive wins because the award’s inception in 1973. Ohtani’s win was introduced in the course of the MLB Awards present introduced by MGM Rewards.
The consideration was renamed in 2004 for Martinez, who spent his whole 18-year profession with the Mariners and received the award in 1995, 1997, 1998, 2000 and 2001. Together with his victory in 2025, Ohtani joined Ortiz (eight instances) and Martinez as the one gamers to earn the consideration 5 or extra instances.
It was properly deserved for Ohtani, who continued to mash Main League pitching en path to his fourth profession and third straight Most Helpful Participant Award. Ohtani posted a .282/.392/.622 slash line, broke his personal franchise report from 2024 with a career-high 55 dwelling runs and led the Nationwide League with a 1.014 OPS.
Main off in 148 of his 158 video games, Ohtani set the tone for the Dodgers’ star-studded offense, scoring an MLB-best 146 runs and serving to Los Angeles repeat as World Sequence champions. Whereas it didn’t issue into the standards for the Excellent DH Award, Ohtani made an influence on the mound, too: After not pitching in 2024 whereas rehabbing from proper UCL surgical procedure, he was again to two-way stardom in 2025, beginning 14 video games within the common season and 4 extra within the postseason.
Ohtani claimed the Edgar Martinez Excellent DH Award in every of his remaining three seasons with the Angels (2021-23) earlier than signing a record-setting 10-year, $700 million cope with the Dodgers. He has received 4 Silver Slugger Awards at DH, doing so in every of his MVP seasons: 2021, 2023, 2024 and 2025. If he can sustain his unbelievable offensive manufacturing in 2026, Ohtani has a powerful probability at what could be a report sixth straight Excellent DH Award.
