MLB AL MVP 2021: Shohei Ohtani, Angel’s two-dimensional star, was unanimously selected as the MVP of the US Championship

The Baseball Writers Association of America and Major League Baseball announced the recipients of the 2021 Most Valuable Player awards on Thursday night. Angel of Los Angeles two-dimensional star Shohei Ohtani took home the title in the American League, aside Toronto Blue Jays, in the first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and the second warrior Marcus Semien. (Technically, Semien is now a freelance agent.)

Ohanti received all 30 votes in first place, with Guerrero Jr receiving 29 out of 30 votes in second place. Someone else went to Kansas City Royals who captured Salvador Perez. (You can view the full voting breakdown by multiply here.)

Ohtani, 27, was considered by many to be the favorite going into competition night because of the historic dual nature of his performance. He hit .257 / .372 / .592 (158 OPS +) with 46 homes and 26 stolen bases (over 36 attempts) in 155 games as a beater. Additionally, he started 23 competitions as a pitcher, calculating 3.18 ERA (141 ERA+) and hit ratio of 3.55. Baseball Reference estimates that Ohtani is worth 4.9 Wins Over Substitute as hitter and another 4.1 as pitcher, or about 9 wins in total.

Ohtani is the first Angels member to win an MVP Award since – who else? – Mike Trout did just that in 2019. (Trout also won the award in 2016 and 2014.) The only other Angels to win the MVP Award were Vladimir Guerrero in 2004 and Don Baylor in 1979.

Guerrero and Semien have both had remarkable seasons. Guerrero hit .311 / .401 / .601 (169 OPS+) with 48 home runs and 6.8 wins on substitutions. Semien, meanwhile, beats .265 / .334 / .538 (133 OPS+) with 45 home runs (a single-season record for a second base player) and 7.3 Wins above instead. position.

Ohtani is the fifth other player to win the AL MVP Award in the past five seasons. Before that, the award went to José Abreu, the aforementioned salmon, Mookie betting, and Jose Altuve.