The Los Angeles Dodgers are a clear World Series favorite after strengthening their roster even more this offseason. The champions added another Japanese superstar to the fold alongside Shohei Ohtani, winning the Roki Sasaki sweepstakes.

In fact, the duo are already predicted to win two major awards — NL MVP and NL Rookie of the Year, per The Athletic's staff. Ohtani earned 18 MVP votes, while the next closest was teammate Mookie Betts with five. As for the NL ROTY, Sasaki had 15 votes. Washington Nationals rookie came second at nine.

“Although our staff seems doubtful that Judge can win back-to-back MVP awards, we have no such trouble believing Ohtani can win his third straight. Ohtani was the AL MVP in 2023, the NL MVP in 2024, and more than half of our voters believe he’ll win the NL award again in 2025. (Ohtani was also AL MVP in 2021, further evidence that we may be witnessing one of the great stretches of dominance in major-league history.)”

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“As the early votes were rolling in, this looked like a pretty even race between Roki Sasaki and Dylan Crews. But you know how some people in your office always forget a deadline is coming and finish their assignments at the last second? That group at The Athletic — we’re looking at you, Dan Hayes — voted overwhelmingly for Sasaki, giving him a sizable margin as our staff favorite for NL Rookie of the Year.”

While Ohtani is going for his third consecutive MVP award, there's a strong belief he'll make history. The Dodgers slugger hit the ground running in his first season in LA, breaking all sorts of records. He smacked 54 home runs and stole 59 bases. Ohtani will also return to the mound at some point in 2025, which is only going to help his MVP case.

As for Sasaki, he was a bit shaky in his MLB debut in Japan. However, the 23-year-old is electric, consistently hitting in the high 90s with quality off-speed stuff. He joins a rotation that already has Tyler Glasnow, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and Blake Snell. Sasaki will compete with Crews for ROTY, who is a prize in his own right with the rebuilding Nats.