Shohei Ohtani is going to save the newspaper industry in Japan — singlehandedly.
The Japanese and Los Angeles Dodgers superstar on Thursday won his third Most Valuable Player (MVP) award, this time picking up his first MVP in the National League. He had already won two in the American League — in 2021 and last year — playing with the Los Angeles Angels.
The award triggered Japanese newspapers to print special editions, given out yesterday morning in central Tokyo.
Photo: Reuters
“Every year Ohtani has set records that probably no one else can break,” Yoshio Inoue, a student, said while getting his copy.
This comes less than a month after Ohtani and the Dodgers won the World Series, which also prompted the special editions, which are fought over as collectors’ items.
Several newspapers offered their own renditions, but every one highlighted “MVP” in large letters and an image of Ohtani in Dodgers blue.
“I was reading the newspaper thinking he’s amazing,” Yuko Shimamoto said. “I’m very happy to have him representing Japan in MLB.”
Called gogai in Japanese, the single-page editions are a tradition in Japan to mark special events and are also used to drive newspaper sales.
Newspaper readership is sagging in Japan, but stronger than in many other countries.
Ohtani received all 30 first-place votes and 420 points. New York Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor was second with 263 points and Arizona second baseman Ketel Marte third with 229.
Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees won the AL award for the second time, also unanimously.
Judge was hitting .207 with six homers and 18 RBIs through April, then batted .352 with 52 homers and 126 RBIs in 127 games.
“March and April were not my friend this year,” Judge said. “Just keep putting in the work and things are going to change. You can’t mope. You can’t feel sorry for yourself. Especially in New York, nobody’s going to feel sorry for you. So you just got to go out there and put up the numbers.”
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