Angels two-way player Shohei Ohtani was a unanimous selection as the 2023 AL MVP.
This election marks the 12th time the AL MVP Award winner was a unanimous choice, and the second time for Ohtani, who was also a unanimous MVP in 2021. He is the first player to win the MVP Award unanimously more than once.
Other unanimous winners of the AL award: Hank Greenberg (1935), Al Rosen (1953), Mickey Mantle (1956), Frank Robinson (1966), Denny McLain (1968), Reggie Jackson (1973), Jose Canseco (1988), Frank Thomas (1993), Ken Griffey Jr. (1997) and Mike Trout (2014). There have been eight unanimous winners in the National League: Orlando Cepeda (1967), Mike Schmidt (1980), Jeff Bagwell (1994), Ken Caminiti (1996), Barry Bonds (2002), Albert Pujols (2009), Bryce Harper (2015) and Ronald Acuña Jr. (2023).
Ohtani is the 16th multiple winner of the AL award. He joins a list that features three-time winners Jimmie Foxx (1932-33, 1938), Joe DiMaggio (1939, 1941, 1947), Yogi Berra (1951, 1954-55), Mickey Mantle (1956-57, 1962), Alex Rodriguez (2003, 2005, 2007) and Mike Trout (2014, 2016, 2019) and fellow two-time winners Hank Greenberg (1935, 1940), Hal Newhouser (1944-45), Ted Williams (1946, 1949), Roger Maris (1960-61), Robin Yount (1982, 1989), Cal Ripken Jr. (1983, 1991), Frank Thomas (1993-94), Juan Gonzalez (1996, 1998) and Miguel Cabrera (2012-13).
There have been 12 multiple winners in the NL: Barry Bonds (1990, 1992-93, 2001-04), Stan Musial (1943, 1946, 1948), Roy Campanella (1951, 1953, 1955), Mike Schmidt (1980-81, 1986), Albert Pujols (2005, 2008-09), Carl Hubbell (1933, 1936), Willie Mays (1954, 1965), Ernie Banks (1958-59), Johnny Bench (1970, 1972), Joe Morgan (1975-76) Dale Murphy (1982-83) and Bryce Harper (2015, 2021).
Frank Robinson is the only player to win the award in both leagues, in the NL (1961) and the AL (1966).
Ohtani was the runner-up in AL MVP voting in 2022 to Aaron Judge. Other MVP winners who ran second a year before they won in the AL were Phil Rizzuto (1950), Yogi Berra (1954), Boog Powell (1970), Alex Rodriguez ( 2003) and Mike Trout (2014 and 2019). NL MVP winners who were runners-up the previous year were Chuck Klein (1932), George Foster (1977) and Barry Bonds (1992 and 2001)
Ohtani is the second Japanese-born player honored. The other was the Seattle Mariners’ Ichiro Suzuki (2001). This marks the seventh time an Angels player has been elected. The other franchise winners were Don Baylor (1979), Vladimir Guerrero (2004) and Mike Trout (2014, ‘16 and ‘19).
Ohtani, Seager, Semien and Rodriguez were named to every ballot.
Ballots, submitted before the postseason, were cast by two writers in each league city. They are tabulated on a system that rewards 14 points for first place, nine for second, eight for third on down to one for 10th.
2023 AL MVP
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th | 8th | 9th | 10th | Points | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shohei Ohtani, Angels | 30 | 420 | |||||||||
| Corey Seager, Rangers | 24 | 6 | 264 | ||||||||
| Marcus Semien, Rangers | 5 | 8 | 11 | 3 | 3 | 216 | |||||
| Julio Rodríguez, Mariners | 8 | 10 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 197 | |||||
| Kyle Tucker, Astros | 1 | 4 | 5 | 9 | 8 | 2 | 178 | ||||
| Yandy Díaz, Rays | 4 | 1 | 3 | 11 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 137 | ||
| Bobby Witt Jr., Royals | 1 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 8 | 3 | 5 | 83 | |||
| Gunnar Henderson, Orioles | 4 | 2 | 4 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 77 | ||||
| Adley Rutschman, Orioles | 1 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 50 | ||||
| José Ramírez, Guardians | 4 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 40 | ||||||
| Gerrit Cole, Yankees | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 30 | ||||
| Luis Robert Jr., White Sox | 1 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 21 | ||||||
| Yordan Alvarez, Astros | 2 | 1 | 3 | 16 | |||||||
| Adolis García, Rangers | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 14 | ||||||
| Aaron Judge, Yankees | 1 | 2 | 7 | ||||||||
| Bo Bichette, Blue Jays | 2 | 1 | 5 | ||||||||
| J.P. Crawford, Mariners | 1 | 3 | 5 | ||||||||
| Cal Raleigh, Mariners | 1 | 2 | |||||||||
| Rafael Devers, Red Sox | 1 | 2 | |||||||||
| Isaac Paredes, Rays | 1 | 2 | |||||||||
| Sonny Gray, Twins | 2 | 2 | |||||||||
| Alex Bregman, Astros | 1 | 1 | |||||||||
| Josh Naylor, Guardians | 1 | 1 |