Only 6 have won MVP with multiple teams

By winning the 2024 National League MVP Award, Shohei Ohtani became the sixth player in history to win an MVP Award with multiple teams and only the second to do so in both leagues. The MVP honor was the third of his career, tying him with 10 others for the second-most all-time. Only Barry Bonds won more, with seven.

Here’s a look at each of the six players to earn MVP honors with multiple franchises since the Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA) began voting on the award in 1931.

Shohei Ohtani: 2024 Dodgers, 2023 & '21 Angels
Ohtani, a two-way sensation who made the jump from Nippon Professional Baseball to the Major Leagues in 2018, won his first MVP Award in 2021, when he turned in one of the greatest individual seasons of all time. At the plate, he posted a .964 OPS with an MLB-leading eight triples to go along with 46 home runs and 100 RBIs, and on the mound, he pitched to a 3.18 ERA with a 29.3% strikeout rate over 23 starts for the Angels.

Two years later, Ohtani won his second AL MVP honor with another monster campaign, leading the league in homers (44), on-base percentage (.412), slugging percentage (.654, also led MLB), OPS (1.066, also led MLB) and total bases (325). He did that while also posting a 3.14 ERA and a 31.5% strikeout rate on the mound.

Despite being unable to pitch in 2024 due to right elbow surgery the prior year, Ohtani still made history in his first season with the Dodgers by becoming the first full-time designated hitter to be named MVP. He also joined Frank Robinson as the only players to win the award in both leagues. Ohtani was a unanimous selection for the third time after becoming the first player in MLB history to hit at least 50 home runs (54) and steal 50 bases (59) in the same season. He also became the first player since 2001 to rack up more than 400 total bases (411).

Bryce Harper: 2021 Phillies, 2015 Nationals

In 2015, Harper became the youngest player to be named a unanimous MVP, in a season during which he slugged 42 home runs and slugged .649 for the Nationals. After the 2018 season, he signed a 13-year, $330 million contract with the Phillies. And in ‘21, he won an MVP Award with the club. Harper’s 2021 season included leading the Majors with a 1.044 OPS and 42 doubles. Harper won the award handily, by 74 points over runner-up Juan Soto of the Nationals.

? All-time MVP Award winners

Alex Rodriguez: 2007 & ‘05 Yankees, 2003 Rangers

Rodriguez won AL MVP in 2003 with the Rangers, when he led the Majors with 47 home runs. Then, in February 2004, he was traded to the Yankees in a deal for Alfonso Soriano. Rodriguez didn’t win MVP in his first year in pinstripes, but he did earn the honor in 2005, and again in 2007.

Barry Bonds: 2001-04 & 1993 Giants, 1992 & ‘90 Pirates

Bonds won a record seven MVP Awards, so it’s no surprise that he’s on this list. He won MVP honors with the Pirates in 1990 and ‘92, and finished second in ‘91, before signing a free-agent contract with the Giants entering the ‘93 season. There, he won his second straight MVP Award in 1993, then added four more in 2001-04.

Frank Robinson: 1966 Orioles, 1961 Reds

To this point, Robinson is the only player to win MVP in both leagues. In ‘61, the Reds’ star followed up on his 1956 Rookie of the Year win with his first MVP Award, after receiving MVP votes in ‘56 and each year until winning it, too. Then, following the 1965 season, he was traded to the Orioles in a four-player deal. And in his first year with the O’s, the Hall of Famer won his second MVP Award.

Jimmie Foxx: 1938 Red Sox, 1932-33 Athletics

Foxx was the first to accomplish this feat, doing so in the nascent years of the BBWAA MVP Award. In 1932, he won it for the A’s, in just the second year the BBWAA had been voting on the award. In ‘33, he made it back-to-back honors. In December of 1935, the A’s traded Foxx to the Red Sox. There, he continued his Hall of Fame path and won his third MVP Award, in a Boston uniform, in ‘38.