In SHIFTER’s Best of 2025, our journalist roundtable has named Los Angeles Angels star Shohei Ohtani as SHIFTER’s Athlete of the Year.
Our process included a first round where our participating journalists completed a form where they could nominate the potential nominees. From the nomination form, a final voting form was created where our participating journalists voted on the winners from the list of nominees. The journalists completed the forms individually and were not able to see the other journalists’ answers.
Finalists: Shohei Ohtani (MLB), A’ja WIlson (WNBA), Lando Norris (F1), Shedeur Sanders (NFL), Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (NBA)
Shohei Ohtani once again had a dominant season with 55 homeruns (2nd in the National League), 146 runs (1st in National League), 1.014 On-base plus slugging (1st in National League), 172 hits, .282 batting average, and 102 RBIs as a batter, and a 2.87 ERA and 62 strikeouts as a pitcher.
With this impressive regular season, Ohtani helped lead the Dodgers to the 2025 World Series against the Toronto Blue Jays.
Although he was only 1-1 from the mound, Ohtani was unanimously named the National League MVP by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. But his biggest impact is the internationalization of Major League Baseball. MLB viewership has increased by 22% with an average audience of 2.7 million viewers.
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