MLB: Pete Crow-Armstrong wins NL MVP unanimously; Shohei Ohtani finishes second

By Vancouver Television Sports Desk

A season shortened for Shohei Ohtani by injury still ended with another major recognition in the National League. Ohtani was named the runner-up in NL MVP voting, with the unanimous winner being the Cubs’ Pete Crow-Armstrong, announced Thursday night on MLB Network.

The second-place finish snapped Ohtani’s run of three consecutive MVP Awards won previously, and added to a career that already includes four NL MVP honors and two in the American League. The MLB MVP voting details underscore how highly Ohtani was regarded across the BBWAA ballot: he appeared on all 30 NL MVP ballots cast by Baseball Writers’ Association of America (BBWAA) members, receiving 26 second-place votes, two third-place votes and two fourth-place votes.

Ohtani’s finish represented a continued Dodgers presence at the BBWAA awards ballot level. The source notes he was the only Los Angeles finalist for any of the five BBWAA awards in 2026, while other Dodgers appearing on ballots included Yoshinobu Yamamoto (fourth in NL Cy Young Award voting), Tanner Scott (eighth in NL Reliever of the Year voting) and Dave Roberts (fifth in Manager of the Year voting).

The Cubs’ Crow-Armstrong became the 25th player to win an MVP Award unanimously since BBWAA began voting for the award in 1931. The source also emphasizes that all of Ohtani’s MVP awards to date have been unanimous, and his four MVP honors rank second in MLB history behind Barry Bonds’ seven.

The voting outcome followed a season in which Ohtani began strongly before health issues limited him later. Through the first half of the regular season, the source says he was on track for another MVP, hitting after a slow start at the plate while also dominating on the mound. In that stretch, Ohtani went 8-2 with a 1.79 ERA through 14 starts and struck out 95 over 85 2/3 innings, with a 237 ERA+.

According to the source, the two-way workload then changed when Ohtani did not pitch again after July 3 because of recurring left knee soreness. Around the same time, he dealt with a minor injury to his right biceps, and the two ailments “never really went away,” leaving him physically compromised later in the season and resulting in a 15-day injured list placement in September.

Despite those setbacks, Ohtani still produced an overall offensive and two-way contribution that the source describes as MVP-calibre, though not the top NL performance. It lists an .889 OPS, 30 home runs to lead the Dodgers, a 143 OPS+, and the elite innings he contributed earlier in the year on the mound.

The source frames Crow-Armstrong as the player who ultimately outperformed Ohtani for the NL MVP. It points to Crow-Armstrong recording a 40-40 season and being considered, by many measures, the best defender in the game, while noting that as Ohtani’s mid-August performance slipped, Crow-Armstrong “turned up the heat.”

The MVP result also highlights Ohtani’s historical consistency. Elias Sports Bureau data cited in the source says only two players have finished in the top three in their league’s MVP voting in six straight seasons played, a streak that includes Ted Williams and Ohtani (2021-26).

Even with the injury disruption, the source says Ohtani still achieved a season profile defined by two-way production, but it also makes clear that it was not the best overall NL performance in 2026. The Dodgers’ next focus, per the source, will be sustaining Ohtani as a two-way player through a full regular season in 2027 and beyond.

For Vancouver and British Columbia fans tracking MLB awards and two-way pitching development, the announcement confirms that Ohtani remains among the league’s most dominant players in BBWAA voting even in a year disrupted by knee and biceps issues, while Crow-Armstrong’s unanimous selection locks in the Cubs’ NL MVP triumph for the 2026 campaign.