What Shohei Ohtani Said About Dodgers Ownership, Front Office & Teammates in NL MVP Speech

Months after Shohei Ohtani was unanimously voted the 2025 National League MVP winner, he was on hand to officially receive his award at the 101st annual New York Baseball Writers’ Awards Gala.

Ohtani missed the annual BBWAA dinner at the Hilton in Midtown Manhattan last year because of being impacted by the 2024 Southern California wildfires.

He joined with New York Yankees superstar Aaron Judge in being the headliners of the event, where Cy Young, Rookie of the Year and Manager of the Year winners were celebrated as well.

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

Shohei Ohtani thanks Dodgers ownership, front office, teammates & more

Ohtani's second season with the Los Angeles Dodgers was nothing short of a rousing success, as he continued to make more franchise history en route to winning a fourth career MVP Award and second consecutive World Series championship.

Although the two-way star typically conducts media interviews with an interpreter, Ohtani did his acceptance speech in English. He spoke for more than two minutes and was sure to recognize essentially all facets of the organization.

"Thank you to the Dodgers organization for believing in me," Ohtani began. "To owner Mark Walter, who is here tonight, and the rest of the ownership group, the entire front office, especially Andrew Friedman and lon Rosen also attending.

"To all my teammates and coaching staff, for helping and encouraging me throughout the year, I felt your support every day. A huge shoutout to the entire Dodgers staff behind the scenes, especially (security) Al Garcia, who is also here tonight. I appreciate you all."

Ohtani additionally called his 2025 NL MVP Award "very meaningful" and said, "Winning it again means so much to me."

Ohtani became the second player in MLB history to win a minimum of four MVP Awards, joining Barry Bonds, who collected seven over his 22-year career.

However, Ohtani stands as the only player to ever win three unanimous MVPs, two consecutive unanimous MVP Awards, and MVP unanimously in both the American League and NL.

Ohtani additionally 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.

Among Dodgers franchise history, Ohtani (2024, 2025) and Roy Campanella (1951, 1953, 1955) are the only multiple-time MVP winners.

Overall, a Dodgers player has won MVP a total of 13 times.

Shohei Ohtani thanks Dodgers ownership, front office, teammates & more

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