It’s not supposed to be this easy.
When Shohei Ohtani signed with the Dodgers two offseasons ago, there was the expectation that the Dodgers would eventually win a Championship. Yes, the current run of success with Dave Roberts at the helm from 2016 to 2023 was largely the envy of baseball in all categories except one: titles. From the man himself:
“There’s a lot of reasons [why I chose the Dodgers], but one thing that really stands out in my head is when I had the meeting with the Dodgers, the ownership
group,” Ohtani said. “They said when they look back at the last 10 years, even though they’ve made the playoffs every single year, and won a World Series ring, they consider that [result] a failure. When I heard that [mindset], I knew that they were all about winning.”
(Emphasis added.)
From where we left off last year, Ohtani had just established the 50/50 club with aplomb, winning unanimous MVP honors, while en route to his first title.
What could he possibly do for an encore in 2025? Basically, repeat 2024, but pitch (while rehabbing at the Major League level) and maybe have more of a presence in the postseason. While his offensive statistics dipped ever so slightly from his offense-only 2024 year, there is only one conclusion as to Ohtani’s 2025 campaign: Mission accomplished.
He had a slash line of .282/.392/.622 and 54 home runs, all while pitching 47 innings, a 2.87 ERA, and 1.90 FIP. He struck out 62 batters, while walking nine.
He routinely hit balls with a unique force that even non-baseball fans could recognize.
Opposing hitters in the regular season had a slash line of .227/.261/.313. Using an arsenal of seven pitches, he turned opposing batters into 2025-Joey Ortiz, primarily relying on his fastball as he rehabbed from arm surgery.
Ohtani’s greatness is almost numbing in how it just does not compute, even after sifting through box scores and slash lines, and we see it, night in and night out. Let us count the ways…
- Second consecutive unanimous MVP honor as a Dodger? Check.
- Set the franchise record for home runs — again? Check.
- Score more runs as a Dodger than anybody since the 19th century? Check. (146, tied for second all time.)
- Win another Silver Slugger award? Check.
- Post the second 50 home run / 20 stolen base season (as the sole person to do it)? Check.
- Have consecutive 50-home run seasons for the first time in franchise history? Check.
- Establish another 50/50 club (50 home runs and 50 strikeouts)? Check.
- Be the first starting pitcher since Babe Ruth to hit higher than ninth in a postseason game? Check.
- Go through a de facto minor league rehab assignment while facing live batters during MLB regular-season games? Check.
Ohtani is a unicorn talent that is finally on a franchise, making full use of his potential both on and off the field. In 2025, in some corners, the Dodgers are projected to bring in $1 billion in total revenue. As the books are not open, we can only speculate, knowing that the team cracked four million attendees for the first time in franchise history.
If you want a litany of statistical accomplishments by Ohtani in 2025, Eric Stephen has you covered.
Instead, I want to use this year-in-review essay to point out a couple of things that will likely be forgotten in a more chronological retelling of the 2025 title defense.
Ohtani as an International Icon
Lest anyone forget, the 2025 regular season campaign started in Tokyo, Japan.
To this day, I am floored by the rapt awe of the Tokyo Series attendees watching Ohtani return to the Tokyo Dome. I was expecting a rowdy spectacle; instead, I experienced something closer to The Masters. Even the silence at Rogers Centre after Miguel Rojas’ 9th-inning home run cannot compare to the eerie, awed silence of Ohtani’s first at bat of the regular season.
While in Japan, Ohtani’s omnipresence could not be overstated.
While writers like Molly Knight and Dylan Fernandez tried to describe the sheer magnitude of Ohtani’s homecoming, I return to the following analogy, which I think gets closest to the mark of adequately describing what it was like during those heady days:
If I had a crack at describing the appropriate analogy, imagine a combination of Michael Jordan, arguably the greatest basketball player to ever live, 1980s Michael Jackson, for being a riveting, charismatic performer not seen before or since, and rookie-year Fernando Valenzuela, for being a ethnic draw to a previously unengaged community.
The Tokyo Series was a massive success in both ratings and merchandise sales. As for merchandise sales, it dwarfed the previous high of the 2024 London Series by over 300% and eclipsed the 2022 All-Star Game in Los Angeles by 105%. The primary draw? Shohei Ohtani.
The question is not whether there will be another Tokyo Series but when.
Ohtani as Father
With all of the accomplishments, it feels wrong to glide over the fact that Ohtani and his wife, Mamiko, are now parents. Ohtani played in 158 games in the 2025 regular season.
He skipped the middle game in Seattle on September 27th, as mandatory rest once the Dodgers had nothing left to play for. He skipped one game in Colorado after taking advantage of a travel day after pitching in Colorado on August 21. He was on the paternity list for two games while the team was in Arlington in April for the birth of his first child, a daughter.
For as awesome a player Ohtani is, it is almost easy to forget he’s a bit of a goober, actually demonstrating his playful personality in his first year outside the shadow of his former interpreter. Watching Ohtani online is one thing, but seeing him in person is something else entirely, an effortless, natural charisma.
Ohtani as a Unicorn
If one had any criticism of Ohtani’s inaugural campaign in Los Angeles (not Anaheim), it is that while he was only at half strength throughout the year, he arguably pressed and was ineffective during the later rounds of the postseason.
First, Ohtani’s return to the mound was carefully managed throughout the latter two-thirds of the year, starting with a one-inning appearance against the San Diego Padres on June 16. Dave Roberts and company put Ohtani through his paces, painstakingly letting Ohtani increase his workload on the mound, almost an inning at a time, as he was a critical part of the Four Aces of the Dodgers’ rotation in October.
Second, Ohtani started the postseason with a bang against the Cincinnati Reds.
Ohtani was the constant threat in an otherwise anemic, post-Wild Card Series offense, with the notable exception of the National League Division Series, where he was arguably stymied by the Phillies’ arsenal of left-handed specialists.
Throughout the entire postseason run, Ohtani had a slash line of .265/.405/.691 with eight home runs, 13 runs, and 14 RBIs. Yes, these numbers are a bit inflated due to two historic outlier performances.
Once the Dodgers squeaked past the Philadelphia Phillies, in no small part thanks to Orion Kerkering, Ohtani and Will Smith were the main pillars of the Dodgers’ offense for the National League Championship Series and World Series. Ohtani’s dominance in NLCS Game 4 led to his first Most Valuable Player award in the postseason.
Where Ohtani was ineffective in the 2024 World Series due to his approach and health, he was critical to the Dodgers’ success in 2025. Ohtani almost-single handedly kept the Dodgers afloat in Game 3 of the World Series, setting records of getting on base nine times by receiving Barry Bonds-during-the-Steroid-Era treatment from the Blue Jays.
When folks are unnecessarily arguing that the intentional walk rule needs to be changed (in part, because Mookie Betts did nothing productive offensively after the Wild Card round until Game 6 of the World Series), the word unicorn feels inadequate.
If there was a weakness to Ohtani’s performance, fatigue was clearly affecting him on the mound as the Fall Classic progressed. Moreover, he pitched after playing all 18 innings of Game 3.
His effectiveness went from Cy Young-esque to merely acceptable. In 20 1/3 innings, Ohtani pitched to a 2-1 record, a 4.43 ERA, and 2.84 FIP. 28 strikeouts to seven walks is very good, but Ohtani was clearly gassed by Game 7 of the World Series. Pitching on three days’ rest for the winner-take-all affair did not help.
Dave Roberts has publicly expressed confidence that the Two-Way Player train of Ohtani can continue for as long as Ohtani wants. In 2026, Ohtani will likely be managed carefully, but not nearly as much as in 2025.
While the Dodgers did an admirable job managing Ohtani as a two-way player by utilizing rest when possible, the solution that was not nearly used enough was moving Ohtani out of the leadoff spot on days he pitches. At some point, even unicorns need more than a moment to catch their breath.
What truly stands out, though, is Ohtani’s humility. After Game 7, Ohtani was effusive with praise towards his teammates, especially Yoshinobu Yamamoto.
Ohtani expressed a desire to play for Japan in the World Baseball Classic, and it would be shocking if he, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and Roki Sasaki did not suit up for Samurai Japan to defend their title. Dodgers fans can only hold their collective breath before watching their franchise player return to the world stage, before the quest for a threepeat begins.
The now-retired Clayton Kershaw was arguably the most important Dodger of the last generation. Given what Shohei Ohtani is doing now, I keep returning to the following analogy to describe the paradigm shift unfolding before our eyes: Kershaw is to Blackberry as Ohtani is to iPhone — a generational shift that marks a clear line before and after.
It is not supposed to be this easy, yet Ohtani is now 2-for-2 in championships since arriving in Los Angeles. At this point, daring Ohtani to top himself feels like hubris incarnate, but with him, it feels like he is making up for lost time.
2025 particulars
Age: 30
Batting Stats: 158 games, .282/.392/.622, 55 HR, 20 SB, 146 R, 102 RBI, 172 wRC+, 7.7 rWAR, 7.5 fWAR
Pitching Stats: 1-1, 14 games, 47 IP, 62 K, 9 BB, 2.87 ERA, 1.90 FIP, 2.49 xERA, 1.043 WHIP, 1.1 rWAR, 1.9 fWAR
Salary: $70 million (of which $68 million was deferred)
Game of the year
On September 19, 2024, in creating the 50/50 club, Ohtani arguably had the greatest offensive day in the history of the sport, which could only have been improved by hitting for the cycle (which he missed by three inches) and/or pitching. In 2025, Ohtani had his encore in the postseason.
During Game 4 of the NLCS against the Milwaukee Brewers, Ohtani ascended to a higher plane of existence by striking out the side to start the game and hitting a home run in what turned into a three-home-run performance. It was a feat not seen by a Dodger since 2021 (Chris Taylor, NLCS Game 5). Ohtani’s second home run of the night literally left Dodger Stadium.
In addition to the home runs, Ohtani also pitched six-plus innings and struck out ten batters. He single-handedly vanquished the number one overall seed in the playoffs and redefined what individual dominance looks like in a performance, already etched in baseball immortality.
As Stephen Nelson said during the broadcast: “Ohtani is one of one.”
Roster status
Ohtani is signed through 2033, eight more seasons. He will continue with two-way status in 2026. First up, the 2026 World Baseball Classic.
