Shohei Ohtani’s dog was right beside him when was named the first ever two-time unanimous MVP winner Thursday night. The free agent earned the American League honors after receiving all 30 first-place votes. Ohtani was also the unanimous AL MVP in 2021.
After he was named the award winner, Ohtani received a high-five from his dog, who sat next to him during his interview with MLB Network.
“Obviously I wanted to win it last year, but (Aaron) Judge had a spectacular season and, deservedly so, he won it. So I wanted to come back stronger and try to win it this year, and I know my rivals, (Marcus) Semien, (Corey) Seager, they had great seasons, and congrats to them for winning the World Series. I think it’s awesome,” Ohtani said via an interpreter. “My goal was to try to come out on top, and this kind of pays off all my hard work.”
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Ohtani turned in another strong season despite suffering an injury to his ulnar collateral ligament that shut him down from pitching in August. The two-way phenom continued to hit, and ended the 2023 MLB season batting .304 with 44 home runs, 95 RBI and a 1.066 OPS.
It will be an interesting offseason for Ohtani, who is a free agent for the first time in his career. He has yet to play in a postseason game since making his MLB debut in 2018 with the Los Angeles Angels, and made it clear at this year’s All-Star Game that the desire to win “gets stronger” every year.
Ohtani is expected to have a slew of suitors — including the Boston Red Sox — even though he won’t pitch again until 2025.
