Major League Baseball's annual Baseball Writers’ Association of America (BBWAA) awards are being handed out over the next week. With it being that time of year, it's time to take a close look at the candidates for the biggest individual award given throughout the regular season, the MVP award. It'll be announced on Thursday, Nov. 13.
This year's National League MVP finalists are the Los Angeles Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani, the New York Mets' Juan Soto and the Philadelphia Phillies' Kyle Schwarber. Schwarber put together quite the impressive season in 2025, but will it be enough to top Ohtani for NL supremacy?
Schwarber impressed a lot of Phillies fans in 2025. They knew the kind of power threat he has turned into since signing in Philadelphia, but no one saw him hitting a career-high 56 home runs while driving 132 RBIs. Both led the NL this past season.
His .928 OPS finished second only behind the MVP favorite Ohtani. He also did achieve some impressive feats, including hitting the second-most homers in Phillies history and becoming the 21st player in MLB history to hit four home runs in a single game.
Kyle Schwarber has an uphill battle to top Shohei Ohtani in NL MVP voting
Ohtani has won the award three of the last four seasons. His first two came with the Los Angeles Angels before winning his third one in the NL with the Dodgers. He's widely regarded as the best player the sport has ever seen, and for good reason.
In 2025, he led the NL in runs (146), slugging percentage (.622), OPS (1.014) and OPS+ (179). He also returned to the mound in mid-June after recovering from Tommy John surgery. He posted a 2.87 ERA and struck out 62 batters across 47 innings. Ohtani is a force to be reckoned with, and 2025 showed more of the same when it comes to challenging him for the MVP.
Schwarber had a lot going for him in 2025, but even his career year can't measure up to Ohtani.
He lost out to Ohtani in the recently announced Silver Slugger Awards, which isn't a promising sign.
Ohtani finished with 7.7 bWAR compared to Schwarber's 4.7 bWAR. Recent history has shown how hard it is to take it away from Ohtani, and Schwarber may just be the latest victim of that. It's nothing to be ashamed of by any means.
Ohtani is one of the best hitters in the sport, on top of him possessing a top pitching arsenal when he takes the mound. It's unfortunately a value Schwarber can't compete with. That's also why it's likely that Ohtani will become the first player in MLB history to win four MVP awards since Barry Bonds won seven from 1990 to the early 2000s.