Who won World Series MVP in 2025? How Yoshinobu Yamamoto led the Dodgers to a championship

Staff Writer
Who won World Series MVP in 2025? How Yoshinobu Yamamoto led the Dodgers to a championship image

Many believed the Los Angeles Dodgers, with their high-priced and high-profile roster, were inevitable entering the season. While the Toronto Blue Jays gave them as much of a World Series challenge as they could have imagined, the Dodgers were, in fact, unstoppable.

L.A. Battled back from a 3-2 series deficit on the road to win a second consecutive championship, defeating the Blue Jays in both Game 6 and an unbelievable Game 7 to keep the Commissioner's Trophy where it has been for the past year.

Which player from the Dodgers’ loaded roster earned World Series MVP honors?

Here’s what you need to know about the 2025 World Series MVP.

MORE: Inside the ninth inning that turned Game 7 upside down

Who won World Series MVP?

Yoshinobu Yamamoto was named the 2025 World Series MVP, becoming the first pitcher to win the award since Stephen Strasburg in 2019.

Yamamoto edged out Shohei Ohtani, who seemed like a near-lock for the award through three games if the Dodgers had won but faded late in the series. After reaching base nine times in Game 3, Ohtani went just 3-for-15 at the plate and struggled on the mound in Games 4 and 7.

Yamamoto was dominant over two starts, tossing a complete game in Game 2 and shutting down the Blue Jays’ offense in Game 6 by allowing just one run over six innings. He walked only two batters over 17.2 innings, struck out 15, and remarkably retired the last 20 batters he faced in Game 2.

Yamamoto was a hero in Game 7 as well, entering in the ninth inning despite throwing 96 pitches just a day earlier and getting eight outs as he worked in and out of jams.

Here's a look at Yamamoto's stats from the 2025 World Series:

IPERAKBBWHIP
17.21.451520.71

Yamamoto is the first Japanese-born World Series MVP since Hideki Matsui in 2009 and the first Japanese-born pitcher to ever win the award.

MORE: Why the benches cleared in Game 7 of the World Series

Contributing Writer

Senior Editor