Shohei Ohtani is catching up with more legends.
The baseball superstar ends 2025 by winning The Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year for the fourth time, tying him with Lance Armstrong, LeBron James and Tiger Woods for most among male honorees.
“Receiving this award multiple times is something truly special,” Ohtani said in Japanese in an exclusive interview with the AP.
Ohtani received 29 of 47 votes in balloting among sports journalists from the AP and its members after his two-way dominance culminated in a repeat World Series title for his Los Angeles Dodgers — delivering perhaps the greatest single-game individual performance in sports history along the way. He previously won the award in 2024, his first season with the Dodgers, and in 2023 and 2021, when he was with the Los Angeles Angels.
The AP honor has been given out since 1931. Multisport standout Babe Didrikson Zaharias won six times over the 1930s, ’40s and ’50s, the most by a man or woman.
The ultra-competitive Ohtani’s latest win broke a tie with Michael Jordan, who along with Woods, he followed while growing up in Japan.
“Last year, I said I wanted to win this award again, and I will work hard so that I can win it again next year as well,” he said.
Swedish-American pole vaulter Armand Duplantis, who won his third consecutive world title and has set the world record 14 times, including four times in 2025, was second with five votes in balloting announced Tuesday. Carlos Alcaraz, the world’s top-ranked tennis player who won titles at the French and U.S. Opens, was third with four.
The AP Female Athlete of the Year will be announced Wednesday.
