NEW YORK — Shohei Ohtani, who has captivated baseball with his unprecedented combination of high-level hitting and premium pitching, became the first two-time unanimous Most Valuable Player when he won the American League honor on Thursday.
Ohtani, a free agent after finishing his contract with the Los Angeles Angels, received all 30 first-place votes and 420 points in voting by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. He was a unanimous MVP in 2021 and finished second to the Yankees' Aaron Judge in voting last year.
This was just the 20th unanimous MVP vote since the award was established in 1931.
Corey Seager was second with 24 second-place votes and 264 points, and Texas teammate Marcus Semien was third with five second-place votes and 216 points. Balloting took place before the postseason, when the Rangers won their first World Series title.
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Ohtani led the AL with 44 homers and hit .304 with 96 RBIs, eight triples and 20 stolen bases in a season at the plate that ended Sept. 3 because of an oblique injury.
Ohtani was 10-5 with a 3.14 ERA in 23 starts on the mound, striking out 167 and walking 55 in 132 innings before tearing the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow on Aug. 23.
Not even Babe Ruth starred at such lofty levels on the mound and at the plate in the same season. Ruth batted .300 with 11 homers and 61 RBIs in 1918 while going 13-7 with a 2.22 ERA for Boston, then hit .322 with 29 homers and 113 RBIs in 1919 while going 9-5 with a 2.97 ERA. He made just five mound appearances in his final 16 seasons.
Acuña wins NL MVP
NEW YORK — Ronald Acuña Jr. was a unanimous winner of his first National League Most Valuable Player award after becoming the first big leaguer with 40 homers and 70 stolen bases in a season.
Los Angeles Angels two-way star Shohei Otani won the American League honor, becoming the first two-time unanimous MVP. There have been 21 unanimous winners, and this year marked the first time two occurred in the same year.
Acuña, a right fielder for the Atlanta Braves, received all 30 first-place votes and 420 points in voting by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.
Mookie Betts received all 30 second-place votes and 270 points, followed by Los Angeles Dodgers teammate Freddie Freeman with 227 points. Betts earned the 2018 AL MVP award with Boston and Freeman was the 2020 NL MVP with the Dodgers.
Acuña was second in the NL with a .336 batting average and led the major leagues with 149 runs, 217 hits, 386 total bases and 73 stolen bases while hitting 41 home runs with 106 RBIs. A four-time All-Star who turns 26 next month, Acuña helped Atlanta to a major league-best 104 wins before the Braves lost to Philadelphia in an NL Division Series.
He set his career best for RBIs and matched his 2019 high for home runs.
Owners approve A's move to Las Vegas
ARLINGTON, Texas — One of Rob Manfred's first trips after his election as baseball commissioner nine years ago was to Oakland to consult with Athletics owner John Fisher on attempts to keep the team in the Bay Area.
Unable together to make that work, the A's will instead move to Las Vegas and become only the second Major League Baseball team in more than a half-century to shift cities.
All 30 MLB team owners gave their approval Thursday to Fisher's relocation plan, which was endorsed by Manfred.
"There was an effort over more than a decade to find a stadium solution in Oakland. It was John Fisher’s preference. It was my preference,” Manfred said at a news conference. “This is a terrible day for fans in Oakland. I understand that and that’s why we’ve always had a policy of doing everything humanly possible to avoid a relocation, and truly believe we did that in this case. I think it’s beyond debate that the status quo in Oakland was untenable.”
After years of complaints about the Oakland Coliseum that predated Manfred's appointment, and an inability to negotiate government assistance for a new ballpark in the Bay Area, the A’s plan to move to a stadium to be built on the Las Vegas Strip with $380 million in public financing approved by the Nevada government. The team plans for the ballpark to open in 2028. MLB approved Clark County as its operating territory following the move and Nevada as its television territory.
“I understand that this is an incredibly difficult day for Oakland fans, and I just want to say we gave every effort and did everything we could to try and find a solution there,” said Fisher, who didn't take questions. “I’m very excited about the opportunity in Vegas. The fans there are terrific."
Players’ association head Tony Clark declined comment on the decision.
Murphy grateful for shot to manage Brewers
Pat Murphy didn’t know if he would ever get the chance to manage again.
He certainly never thought it would happen in Milwaukee.
Yet here he was putting on a Brewers jersey Thursday during the introductory news conference for his first managerial opportunity since 2015. The media session came one day after the Brewers announced they had signed Murphy to a three-year contract and had made former second baseman Rickie Weeks their associate manager.
“You realize how lucky you are to be part of something,” Murphy said. “What we have growing here was unbelievable. I never thought it would be here. These things happen, and all of a sudden I’m here.”
Murphy, who turns 65 on Nov. 28, has three decades of experience running teams at the college and minor-league level. His only previous stint managing in the majors came in 2015, when he went 42-54 as the San Diego Padres’ interim manager after the firing of Bud Black.
When the Padres hired Andy Green as their full-time manager after the 2015 season, Murphy joined Milwaukee's staff as a bench coach. With Craig Counsell entrenched in Milwaukee as the National League's longest-tenured manager, Murphy wasn't expecting that job to open up anytime soon.
Things changed in a hurry over the last week or so. Counsell left his hometown team to become the Chicago Cubs' manager for a five-year deal worth over $40 million. The Brewers selected Murphy to take over.
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ALL-STAR: Major League Baseball will play its 2025 All-Star Game in Atlanta, four years after moving the event from Truist Park to Denver’s Coors Field over objections to changes in Georgia’s voting rights laws. Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred made the announcement following an owners’ meeting. Atlanta was awarded the 2021 All-Star Game in May 2019, but MLB moved it in April 2021, just three months before the game was played.
PADRES: Eric Kutsenda has taken over as the San Diego Padres temporary control person following the death of owner Peter Seidler. Seidler, who died Tuesday at 63, had been controlling owner since November 2020 when he took over from Ron Fowler, who took over in 2012. Kutsenda is a co-founder and managing partner of Seidler Equity Partners.
PARIS: Major League Baseball has canceled plans to play regular-season games in Paris in 2025 after failing to find a promoter, two people familiar with the decision told The Associated Press. The people spoke on condition of anonymity Thursday following an owners’ meeting because the decision was not announced publicly.