Shohei Ohtani, BBWAA Award Winners Making World Baseball Classic History

Los Angeles Dodgers Shohei Ohtani tosses his bat after hitting a three run home run against the Arizona Diamondbacks in the ninth inning at Chase Field in Phoenix on May 9, 2025. Mandatory Credit: Rob Schumacher-Arizona Republic | Rob Schumacher / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

All 20 team rosters for this year's World Baseball Classic were officially unveiled on Thursday afternoon, which confirmed the Los Angeles Dodgers as having five participants.

The group could have included Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman, Teoscar Hernández and Andy Pages as well but each withdrew for various reasons. Meanwhile, Miguel Rojas was denied an opportunity to play for Team Venezuela because of an insurance issue related to his age.

That's left Edwin Díaz (Puerto Rico), Hyeseong Kim (Korea), Shohei Ohtani (Japan), Will Smith (United States) and Yoshinobu Yamamoto (Japan) as the Dodgers' representatives in the 2026 WBC. No longer playing for the team but forever associated with the Dodgers, Clayton Kershaw, is also on the Team USA roster.

Shohei Ohtani, BBWAA winners make WBC history

Ohtani is among several star players who committed to play in the World Baseball Classic. The USA team is the biggest beneficiary of that, with the likes of Bryce Harper, Aaron Judge, Paul Skenes, Tarik Skubal, Kyle Schwarber and Mason Miller among those on the roster.

With Ohtani, Judge, Skenes and Skubal all playing this year, they are combining to make World Baseball Classic history in terms of being reigning Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA) Awards winners, per MLB stats researcher Sarah Langs.

With Shohei Ohtani, Aaron Judge, Paul Skenes & Tarik Skubal, this will be the first @WBCBaseball with all 4 reigning MVP + Cy Young winners

— Sarah Langs (@SlangsOnSports) February 3, 2026

Ohtani won his fourth career MVP Award in 2025 and second in a row with the Dodgers. All four of Ohtani's MVPs have come in unanimous fashion.

Ohtani is just the second player in MLB history with at least four MVP Awards, joining Barry Bonds, who won seven over a 22-year career.

One difference, however, is Ohtani stands alone as the only player to ever win three unanimous MVP Awards, two consecutive unanimous MVPs, and MVP unanimously in both the AL and NL.

Judge also won a second consecutive MVP Award last season and now has three in his career.

Skenes, who won National League Rookie of the Year and was a Cy Young finalist in 2024, won the pitching award in his second season with the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Skubal, widely considered the best pitcher in baseball, has won back-to-back Cy Young Awards in the AL.

Prior to this year, Albert Pujols (2006), Alex Rodriguez (2006), Dustin Pedroia (2009), Miguel Cabrera (2013) and Paul Goldschmidt (2023) were the only reigning MVPs to play in the WBC.

Skenes and Skubal join Bartolo Colon (2006), R.A. Dickey (2013) and Sandy Alcantara (2023) as reigning Cy Young Award winners to pitch in the World Baseball Classic.