This week, Major League Baseball handed Shohei Ohtani something he had never actually collected before: the most fan votes of any player on the All-Star ballot. He topped the league with over 3.3 million votes after the first phase of balloting, locking in his spot as the National League's starting designated hitter for July's game in Philadelphia.
It's a nice trophy for the shelf, but inside the 2026 NL MVP race on Polymarket, this milestone does something bigger: it cements a summer that is less about a traditional photo finish and more about an active, breathtaking chase for baseball immortality.
Polymarket Has Already Made the Call
Ohtani is the favorite to win the award, up 28 points recently, backed by more than $37,000 in trading volume, easily the busiest contract on the board. Juan Soto and Andy Pages are tied for a distant second around 5%, and Bryce Harper trails at 4%, with none of them clearing five figures in volume.
Yet, with months left on the calendar, that remaining 16% hangs there as a high-stakes question: can anyone truly capitalize if the modern titan blinks?
How a Kid From Iwate Built an Overqualified Resume
The favorite was born on July 5, 1994, in Mizusawa, now part of Oshu, in Japan's Iwate prefecture, and he's spent close to a decade making that hometown famous. After signing his record $700 million deal with the Dodgers, Ohtani has stacked up two World Series rings, a 2023 World Baseball Classic title and MVP award with Japan, and four career MVP trophies: all four decided by unanimous vote, something no other player in history has pulled off more than once.
This season just keeps adding to the pile. Through his latest outing, Ohtani is slashing .295/.414/.549 with 17 home runs and 46 RBI, and his pitching ledger reads 8-2 with a 1.58 ERA across 13 starts. Strip away either half of that résumé and he'd still belong in the MVP conversation.
Combine them, and the baseline is terrifying for the rest of the league.
However… a new variable enters the equation: Ohtani recently stepped away for paternity leave to welcome his second child. Balancing historic two-way dominance with a growing family adds a deeply human challenge to his run.
History shows it takes an absolute force of nature, like Aaron Judge’s 62-home-run surge in 2022, to dethrone an elite Ohtani. The question now is whether anyone in the NL field can find that specific spark while the leader manages his new double-duty life.
So When Does MLB Actually Hand Out the Award?
Here's where the timelines split.
MLB.com runs its own informal expert survey throughout the season, and the second round of that poll wrapped up in early June: Ohtani collected 30 of 35 first-place votes and more than doubled the runner-up's point total, with one voter noting he's "at the top of his game both as a batter and a pitcher."
That's just a temperature check, though, not the real thing. The actual ballot doesn't get filled out until the National and American League writers submit their picks before the postseason starts, with winners revealed on MLB Network. Last year's NL announcement landed on November 13.
So no, the trophy itself won't be official for months. But between the All-Star ballots, the expert polls, and a Polymarket market already pricing him at 84 cents, Ohtani's fifth MVP has stopped looking like a standard summer race and started looking like a historic coronation tour.
It might not give us the chaotic drama of a multi-player gridlock, but the thrill now lies in watching a legend try to finish the most flawless canvas the game has ever seen. Every single start from here until November remains must-watch television.
