Shohei Ohtani’s historic season continues to earn the first-year Dodgers star awards.
Ohtani was named the National League winner of the Hank Aaron Award as the top offensive player in the league. He also was named the outstanding DH for a fourth consecutive season and joined Mookie Betts on the All-MLB first team as part of MLB’s awards show Thursday night.
New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge won the Hank Aaron Award in the American League.
“It’s an honor to win an award named after the legendary Hank Aaron,” Ohtani said in a video shown on the awards show. “My deep appreciation and gratitude goes out to all the fans and Hall of Famers who voted for me. Your support means everything to me.”
Ohtani received the Edgar Martinez Award as the Outstanding DH in MLB for his historic 50/50 season. It was Ohtani’s fourth consecutive season winning the award. He is the first player to win the award in each league.
Ohtani was also named the DH on the All-MLB team for the fifth time since the awards were created in 2019.
Betts was named to the All-MLB first team as an outfielder despite playing right field in just 43 games last season. Betts also played 65 games at shortstop and 18 at second base.
Betts missed five weeks at midseason after suffering a fractured bone in his left hand. He hit .289 with an .863 OPS, 19 home runs, 75 RBIs and 16 stolen bases in 116 games.
Outfielder Teoscar Hernandez was selected to the All-MLB second team after a 2024 season during which he hit a career-high 33 home runs and drove in 99 runs for the Dodgers.
— Bill Plunkett
Rays to play 2025 at minor league park
The Tampa Bay Rays will play their 2025 home games at the New York Yankees’ nearby spring training ballpark amid uncertainty about the future of hurricane-damaged Tropicana Field,
Stuart Sternberg, the Rays’ principal owner, said that Steinbrenner Field in Tampa is the best fit for the team and its fanbase. At about 11,000 seats, it’s also the largest of the spring training sites in Florida.
“It is singularly the best opportunity for our fans to experience 81 games of major league Rays baseball,” Sternberg said. “As difficult as it is to get any of these stadiums up to major league standards, it was the least difficult. You’re going to see Major League Baseball in a small environment.”
MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said the Rays-Yankees deal is good for the sport and the Tampa Bay region.
Reliever Wilson signs with Red Sox
Left-hander Justin Wilson and the Boston Red Sox agreed to a $2.25 million, one-year contract.
Wilson can earn an additional $750,000 in performance bonuses for games pitched: $150,000 each for 40, 45, 50, 55 and 60.
A 37-year-old reliever, Wilson was 1-5 with a 5.59 ERA in 46 2/3 innings over 60 games for Cincinnati this past season.