The Dodgers are looking to repeat as World Series champs in 2025, and if successful, Shohei Ohtani will have a chance to join a select group of players in MLB history.
Throughout MLB history, only five players have ever won their league's respective MVP award and gone on to win the World Series MVP in the same year. Ohtani is the runaway favorite to win the National League MVP this season for the second year in a row. If he can perform at his usual prolific level, he could very well be named World Series MVP.
Last year, Ohtani missed out on the award after a lackluster showing in the Fall Classic against the Yankees. Plagued by a shoulder injury, he had just two hits in the five-game series and didn't record a home run or RBI. Freddie Freeman was named World Series MVP in '24 after he launched four home runs and had 12 RBIs.
Should Ohtani claim the award as his own in '25, he'd be just the sixth player ever to win both the regular-season MVP and World Series MVP in the same year. Even more impressive, he would become just the second player to win all three of regular-season MVP, LCS MVP and World Series MVP.
Let's take a look at the esteemed company he'd be joining:
Sandy Koufax won the Cy Young, NL MVP and World Series MVP in 1963, when he had a 1.88 ERA with 306 strikeouts during the regular season. He then pitched two complete games in the World Series, which lasted just four games in total.
In 1966, Frank Robinson was named MVP of the American League after launching 49 home runs and 122 RBIs. He was prolific in the Orioles' World Series win, too, logging a 1.232 OPS in a sweep of the Dodgers.
Reggie Jackson won the lone MVP award of his career in 1973, when he led MLB with 32 home runs and 117 RBIs. He won the first of his two World Series MVPs that same year, when he had nine hits and 6 RBIs in a seven-game series against the Mets.
The only player in MLB history to win the trifecta of the regular-season MVP, League Championship Series MVP and World Series MVP is Willie Stargell, who did so for the Pirates in 1979. That season, at the age of 39, Stargell hit 32 home runs in the regular season and had three home runs and 7 RBIs in a seven-game series against the Orioles. Pittsburgh, carried by Stargell's outstanding play, was able to erase a 3–1 deficit in the series.
Mike Schmidt was named NL MVP and World Series MVP for the Phillies in 1980. That year, he had 48 home runs and 121 RBIs with an OPS of 1.004 in the regular season, and followed it up with eight hits including two home runs in a six-game series against the Royals.
Ohtani won the NLCS MVP after the Dodgers swept the Brewers in four games. He capped off the series with a sensational Game 4 performance in which he hit three home runs and pitched six innings with 10 strikeouts. The historic performance saw him earn the series MVP award and now he'll be looking to complete the Triple Crown of MVPs.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Every Player to Win MVP and World Series MVP in the Same Season.
