“It Wasn’t Great”: Shohei Ohtani Opens Up Honestly About His 2026 Season After Record-Breaking MVP Top-3 Finish
· Yahoo Sports
Shohei Ohtani has offered an honest assessment of his 2026 season, admitting he wasn’t entirely satisfied with his performance despite earning another top-three finish in the NL MVP race.
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Ohtani finished as the runner-up in the 2026 NL MVP voting after an injury-affected two-way campaign with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Through 14 starts between late March and early July, he looked like a Cy Young contender, recording a 1.79 ERA and striking out 95 batters while holding opponents to a .180 batting average. His final pitching appearance of the season came on July 3 against the San Diego Padres.
A recurring left knee issue, along with a right biceps injury, kept him off the mound for the rest of the season and eventually landed him on the 15-day injured list in September. Ohtani continued to play as a designated hitter but struggled to find his rhythm in the postseason, batting .192 with one home run and three RBIs across eight games.
Speaking to MLB Network after the MVP results were announced, Ohtani described his campaign as frustrating and admitted that he was unhappy with his overall performance.
“No, honestly, I thought it was a very frustrating season, to be quite honest, obviously we did not do that well in the playoffs, personally, I think again, like I said, it was a little bit, frustrated with my overall performance throughout the season, so just in a nutshell, it wasn’t a great season personally for me,” said Shohei Ohtani.
He added:
“Yeah, I’m truly honoured to be a finalist for the last 6 years, but just even seeing the players who are kind of listed up right now, I do feel truly honoured to be just be in a class with these guys. So it’s great.”
Shohei Ohtani finished second behind Chicago Cubs center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong, who won the award unanimously. The result ended Ohtani’s run of three consecutive MVP awards but extended his streak of top-three finishes to six straight seasons.
Shohei Ohtani opened up about what motivates him to improve
During the same interview, Shohei Ohtani was also asked what motivates him to keep improving, particularly as he looks ahead to the offseason.
Explaining that he does not dwell on his previous seasons or compare himself with past greats, the Dodgers star said he focuses on making the most of each campaign.
“Honestly, I don’t really look at my, kind of like my past, how I did in my previous seasons. I truly don’t even look at kind of like compare myself even to some of the past greats, you know, for me, it’s just focusing on each season and to focus on,” said Shohei Ohtani.
He added:
“Make sure that the season I’m in is like the best season I can make it, and obviously, like I said earlier, we obviously lost in the postseason. So like, again, my focus will just be to make sure we, you know, I perform to the best of my abilities and hopefully win a World Series.”
Shohei Ohtani finished the 2026 postseason with a .192 batting average, one home run, three RBIs and a .631 OPS across eight games.
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