Shohei Ohtani's Speech in English When Receiving 2025 NL MVP Award at BBWAA Dinner

Nov 3, 2025; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers two-way player Shohei Ohtani acknowledges the crowd during the World Series championship parade at downtown Los Angeles. Mandatory Credit: Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Images | Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Images

Shohei Ohtani was among the athletes on hand at the 101st annual New York Baseball Writers’ Awards Gala. Ohtani, in addition to respective Cy Young recipients Paul Skenes and Tarik Skubal, and all other 2025 BBWAA Awards winners, were formally celebrated and presented their hardware.

Ohtani's second season with the Los Angeles Dodgers saw him win another National League MVP Award in unanimous fashion.

Ohtani now has four career MVPs, split evenly between the American League and NL, and all of which have been won unanimously. Ohtani is only the second player in MLB history with at least four MVP Awards, joining Barry Bonds, who won seven during his 22-year career.

Though, 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.

Additionally, Ohtani is the only player in the history of the primary North American professional sports leagues - MLB, NBA, NFL and NHL - to win an MVP and championship in each of his first two seasons with a team.

In 2025, Ohtani hit .282/.392/.622 with 25 doubles, 55 home runs, 102 RBI and a 172 wRC+. He broke the Dodgers franchise record for most home runs in a single season by surpassing the 54 hit in 2024.

Ohtani also made a return to pitching last year, going 1-1 with a 2.87 ERA and 1.04 WHIP over 14 starts.

Shohei Ohtani's MVP speech at BBWAA dinner

Ohtani missed last year's BBWAA gala in New York because of being impacted by the 2024 Southern California wildfires.

Back alongside his contemporaries at the Hilton in Midtown Manhattan, Ohtani thanked the BBWAA for hosting the dinner and writers who voted for him.

Shohei Ohtani accepts the 2025 National League MVP Award! pic.twitter.com/w9KhoUSViZ

— Foul Territory (@FoulTerritoryTV) January 25, 2026

"This MVP Award is very meaningful," Ohtani said in English. "And winning it again means so much to me."

Ohtani also thanked the Dodgers ownership group, front office and teammates, among others.

The New York Baseball Writers’ Gala was exclusively streamed on the Foul Territory YouTube channel for the second consecutive year.

“Our mission at Foul Territory continues to be ‘baseball the way it should be covered’ and we’re thrilled to work with the NY BBWAA again to bring live coverage of this rare night when the game’s top stars are all together, streaming live to a global audience at the most iconic awards event in our sport,” Make Plays Media CEO Marc Weiner said in a statement.