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LOS ANGELES, CA — Shohei Ohtani’s late-season swoon left Dodgers fans wondering what a healthy finish might have looked like. He still earned a place among the National League’s three MVP finalists. Yoshinobu Yamamoto, meanwhile, had a strong case for Cy Young consideration and was left outside the final three.
Brewers second baseman Brice Turang joined Ohtani and Pete Crow-Armstrong as the three NL MVP finalists. Turang hit .268 with 21 home runs, 100 RBIs and an .816 OPS while producing 7.3 Baseball-Reference WAR for the World Series champions.
BBWAA voting was completed before the postseason. The three finalists are the top three vote-getters, with the winner scheduled to be announced Nov. 12.
The announcements produced mixed feelings in Los Angeles. Ohtani deserves recognition for another season of contributions at the plate and on the mound. But Pete Crow-Armstrong has the stronger MVP case this year, while Yamamoto’s omission is harder to accept.
Crow-Armstrong Has Earned His Turn
Even with his difficult finish, Ohtani put together numbers most players would happily take. He batted .275 with 30 home runs and an .889 OPS, adding a 1.79 ERA and 95 strikeouts in 85⅔ innings as a pitcher. Those combined contributions make his inclusion easy to understand.
Dodgers fans also saw how much his physical problems affected him down the stretch. That makes his season frustrating to assess. We can appreciate what he accomplished while wondering how much more he could have done with his body cooperating.
Crow-Armstrong, however, supplied a compelling answer to the MVP question. The Cubs center fielder hit .280 with 45 home runs, 107 RBIs and 41 stolen bases. His .570 slugging percentage comfortably exceeded Ohtani’s .512, and his combination of power and speed gave Chicago a threat in nearly every situation.
His outstanding defense strengthens that argument further. Crow-Armstrong led MLB in both Outs Above Average and Fielding Run Value. Put that glove alongside a 40-40 season, and the case becomes awfully persuasive.
We can root for Ohtani and still recognize what Crow-Armstrong accomplished. This year, he deserves the award. Hopefully, a healthy Ohtani will be ready to reclaim it in 2027.
Yamamoto Deserved a Place
Yamamoto’s absence from the Cy Young finalists brings a different reaction. He finished 14-9 with a 2.53 ERA, 182 strikeouts and a remarkable 0.87 WHIP across 185 innings. Opponents managed only 119 hits against him. That is a substantial season of keeping runners off base and giving the Dodgers a chance to win.
The selected trio certainly had credentials. Jacob Misiorowski posted a 1.80 ERA with 252 strikeouts, Chris Sale finished at 2.16, and Cristopher Sánchez delivered 207 innings with 231 strikeouts and a 2.91 ERA.
Still, Yamamoto belonged in that conversation through the final announcement. His season combined run prevention, workload and exceptional control of traffic on the bases. Sánchez supplied more innings, and Sale allowed fewer earned runs per nine, but Yamamoto ranked third in the National League in ERA, second in WHIP, fourth in innings and second in opponents’ batting average. That combination of workload and run prevention gave him a legitimate argument for a top-three finish.
Ohtani’s final MVP placement will be announced Nov. 12, one day after the NL Cy Young winner is revealed. Yamamoto will not win the award, but his final position on the ballot will show how close he came to the three announced finalists.
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A lifelong baseball fan, Webb has been going to Dodger games since he moved to Los Angeles in 1987. His favorite memory was attending the insane Game 3 of the World Series in 2025 and hugging random Dodgers fans after Freddie’s walkoff homer. He has been writing for Dodgersbeat since 2020.
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