The coronation was nothing new.
The narrative that came with it, however, reflected just how much has changed in one year.
For the third time in his decorated Major League Baseball career, Shohei Ohtani won most valuable player award honors on Thursday, claiming the National League’s top individual accoladeby a unanimous vote from 30 members of the Baseball Writers Assn. of America.
The award was not a surprise. In his first season with the Dodgers, Ohtani led the NL in home runs (54), RBIs (130) and OPS (1.036). He was second in batting average (.