While I normally don’t recap awards stuff, for some mysterious reason I’ve been feeling good about the Dodgers recently, so why the hell not? Unsurprisingly, they were in for a bunch of rewards, but probably not as much as you’d have expected before the season.
We already posted about Shohei Ohtani‘s NL MVP Award win, but here’s the other stuff.
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Mookie Betts at shortstop and Miguel Rojas at utility were Gold Glove Award finalists, but lost out to Masyn Winn of the Cardinals and Javier Sanoja of the Marlins. Winn was a fine choice at short, but not sure why Sanoja would get the nod over Rojas, as Rojas was better statistically and played more innings total as well as at the hardest position of shortstop. That said, you could argue under the same criteria that Tommy Edman deserved it over any of them.
As far as non-finalists go, Andy Pages was robbed of at least a nomination. Despite his mental lapses at times, robbing a ton of homers is inarguably valuable even if getting a lot of chances is ultimately luck. Like … it literally just leads to winning games, which is why he graded out as one of the best in baseball. Additionally, and this one is an eye test thing, but Yoshinobu Yamamoto should’ve received a nomination at pitcher. Always in position, fundamentally near perfect, and extremely athletic.
Well, guess those guys will have to settle for standout plays that won the World Series, I guess.
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Handing out a Silver Slugger Award to various positions was next up, and the Dodgers had nominations in Freddie Freeman at first, Max Muncy at third, Will Smith at catcher, Shohei Ohtani at DH, and the Dodgers as a Team. In the end, only Shohei and the Team took home awards, as Freddie lost to Pete Alonso, Muncy lost to Manny Machado, and Dills lost to Hunter Goodman.
More hardware for the best Sho in baseball.
Congratulations Shohei on winning your fourth Silver Slugger Award at DH! pic.twitter.com/OOSUoDLorj
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) November 6, 2025
The Champs were the best in baseball.
Congratulations to the entire team on taking home the National League Sliver Slugger Team of the Year Award! pic.twitter.com/p7LkUyLh83
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) November 6, 2025
Shohei’s was the most obvious decision ever, basically. But the races between Alonso and Freddie at first and Machado and Muncy at third were closer than you likely think, but how things turned out is how I would’ve voted as well. Similarly, I think you could argue for the Mets over the Dodgers for the Team portion, as the Dodgers hit better but the Mets were a better baserunning team (offensive value is the criteria).
Will Smith, on the other hand, was essentially robbed. He had a .901 OPS and 154 wRC+, which was 28 percent better than any other catcher with 400 PA. He had 140 less PA than Goodman, yet produced nearly 15 more offensive runs (batting and baserunning) on offense when adjusting for park. In fact, he more than doubled any other catcher in that category. It was not even close, really.
This doesn’t really matter in the big picture — I’m sure he’ll cry himself to sleep being a three-time champ and a World Series Game 7 hero — but he undoubtedly deserved this.
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In the NL Rookie Of The Year voting, the Dodgers had Jack Dreyer get one third place and one fifth place vote, placing him ninth overall behind winner Drake Baldwin. That’s about where he and Justin Wrobleski deserve to be.
For the NL Manager Of The Year voting, Dave Roberts didn’t get a single nod, which is fine, since he outmanaged the three finalists in the postseason, including winner Pat Murphy.
In the NL Cy Young Award race, Yoshinobu Yamamoto finished third, which is fine since you can argue he deserved to be anywhere from second to fifth, all of which will be behind Paul Skenes. That said, there’s only one guy I would want on the mound in the playoffs right now, so whatever.
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The All-MLB team included two Dodgers on the first team and one on the second.
As expected, Ohtani was the first-team DH, hilariously making it his eighth selection in the last five years (he can make it as both a hitter and pitcher). A no-brainer.
For the starting pitchers, Yamamoto made the first team, his All-MLB debut (mostly due to being injured for most of the last year). There isn’t a lot of controversy here, mostly because anybody else you’d potentially put above him, you’d put above Max Fried first.
Despite not winning the Silver Slugger somehow, Will was named second-team All-MLB. It was his second second-team selection. A bit surprising given the season Alejandro Kirk had, though I’m guessing framing differences will always be a bit esoteric.
As mentioned, for a team that was supposed to be a world beater, the Dodgers didn’t have much argument to other spots. Freddie Freeman probably deserved a closer look at second team for first base, but that’s about it.
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The last two awards were hilariously obvious, as Shohei took home his third straight Hank Aaron Award and his fifth straight Edgar Martinez Outstanding Designated Hitter Award.
Ohtani’s three straight Hank Aaron Awards ties Alex Rodriguez for the high in consecutive wins, and only he, Rodriguez (four times), Aaron Judge, and Barry Bonds have won it three or more times.
His fifth straight Designated Hitter Award ties him with David Ortiz for most consecutive wins. Only Ortiz and Martinez himself (five) have won it five times or more, with Ortiz pacing the all-time list with eight.
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The trophy cabinet of the Dodgers is (literally) getting too full, and I can’t imagine what the cabinet of some Dodgers looks like at this point.
Ok we joke about making room for more awards at the stadium but we are legit out of room in the Silver Sluggers hallway and we don’t even have last season’s in there yet.
— Tavi (@baseballszn.bsky.social) November 6, 2025 at 3:14 PM
