Shohei Ohtani won his third MVP award in the past four seasons on Thursday, having been unanimously voted the winner in the National League after a prolific first year with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Remarkably, all three of Ohtani's MVP wins have come unanimously, a truly incredible achievement. In fact, throughout all four major men's North American sports leagues––MLB, NFL, NHL and NBA––no other player has ever won more than one unanimous MVP, according to Opta Stats.
In MLB history, there have been 21 players who were voted MVP unanimously. None have done it more than once.
Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry (2015-16) is the only ever NBA MVP receive every single first-place vote, while Shaquille O'Neal (1999-2000) and LeBron James (2012-13) were both one vote shy of doing so.
In the NFL, the only two players to ever unanimously win MVP were Tom Brady (2010) and Lamar Jackson (2019). As for the NHL, Wayne Gretzky and Connor McDavid are the lone players in the league's history to win the award in such fashion.
Considering some of the all-time greats who only ever once won MVP unanimously, the fact that Ohtani has achieved it three times in the last four years alone is a sheer testament to his brilliance. And at 29 years old, he has plenty of time to tack on even more unanimous victories to his resume, especially given he'll be returning to the pitcher's mound in 2025.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Shohei Ohtani Beat His Own Record With Latest Unanimous MVP Award.