If there’s one thing Shohei Ohtani has been able to do better than any other player since arriving in the US in 2018, it’s exceed expectations. With the pressure of coming to the MLB, trying to become the first true two-way player in more than half a century, and assuming the mantle as the best player in the sport, Ohtani is constantly surpassing what the baseball world thought was possible.
After signing the biggest contract in pro sports history, a 10-year, $700 million deal with the Dodgers nearly a year ago — a pressure few athletes in the world know — he fell short of expectations in his first season in 2016. LA would be understandable, maybe even likely.
However, Ohtani is not the same as the game has ever seen, and eight years after his arrival and with numerous accolades on his mantle, the two-way superstar continues to exceed even our highest expectations.
Ohtani won his first NL MVP unanimously on Thursday, making it the second consecutive year he won the MVP award and his third league MVP after winning twice with the Angels. He became just the second player in MLB history to win MVP in both leagues, joining Hall of Famer Frank Robinson.
This season, an MVP performance from Ohtani was anything but guaranteed. He did not play after offseason elbow surgery. And when the season began with his former interpreter Ippei Mizuhara under investigation for illegal gambling, the likelihood that Ohtani’s attention would be elsewhere was considerable. But after he was cleared of any wrongdoing by federal investigators and MLB, Ohtani’s latest remarkable season began in earnest.
A new team, new expectations and indeed a new life with his right-hand man no longer on, on or off the pitch. After the season started, it took the 2024 NL MVP about a week to get going. He hit his first home run as a Dodger in the team’s ninth game of the season. And once he found his groove, he never lost it.
“I don’t think it was in the script for how we did it. [wanted to] start this year,” Freddie Freeman said after the World Series in reference to the gambling scandal that broke out while the team was in South Korea.
“When you start rooting for a teammate in his first year, like we did, for him to go out there and have the best season, I think, of all time — pretty special.”
It was almost like a movie, watching Ohtani excel at such an absurdly high level. His season was much more impressive moment by moment. Whether it was the nearly hitting the ball out of Dodger Stadium, the walk-off grand slam for the 40-40 club, or his three-homer, 10-RBI game to establish the 50-50 club, what Ohtani accomplished in 2024 was absolutely amazing, even to his standards.
While the Dodgers are often seen as having an embarrassment of riches (which they do), this season revealed that they needed Ohtani as much as Ohtani needed a winning organization. When Mookie Betts broke his arm in early June, it was Ohtani who took charge of igniting the Dodgers’ offense. From the time he took over Betts’ leadoff job on June 17 through the end of the regular season, Ohtani had a .310/.396/.687 slash line with 35 homers and 44 stolen bases.
The postseason had a similar tone for the MVP. In his first MLB postseason game, he hit a three-run homer against the Padres. He followed that up with homers in Games 3 and 4 of the NLCS against the Mets en route to the World Series. And even though Ohtani dislocated his shoulder and tore his labrum in the World Series, Ohtani’s presence in the dugout and batter’s box, despite some painful-looking swings, provided the Dodgers with a calming effect and an intimidating variable for their opponents as LA beat New. York in five games.
“He committed to us and wanted to play for the championship. For that to come true in his first year is pretty remarkable,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said after his team’s World Series victory. “What Shohei has done to our ball club, the Dodger fan base at home, worldwide, I just don’t think can be quantified.”
You can easily make a case that Ohtani’s season with his video game-like numbers is one of the best baseball games have ever seen. After signing a $700 million contract, Ohtani not only had unprecedented individual success, but the Dodgers won the World Series in his first postseason appearance. That’s not a bad investment for a team that made money hand over fist with Ohtani as the new face of the franchise.
In 2024, Ohtani became the first player in MLB history to hit 50 home runs, steal 50 bases, win the MVP and win the World Series in one season. It’s hard to imagine anyone topping a historic season like this one.
But in reality, Ohtani has more to do as he also rehabbed his elbow during this historic campaign. And now, with a normal offseason to get going again, the three-time MVP will enter 2025 as the mainstay of LA’s rotation, giving the Dodgers another reason to be optimistic about repeating as champions and another opportunity for Ohtani to make his mark in baseball. wonder of the world