Reigning National League MVP and World Series champion Shohei Ohtani has a stranglehold on MLB jersey sales over the past 18 months.
The Los Angeles Dodgers superstar’s Nike jersey has sold “more than any other in the U.S., Japan and worldwide” since 2023, according to a joint news release by MLB and the MLB Players Association.
Ohtani sits atop the 2025 season-opening list of most popular MLB player jerseys, which also features five of his Dodgers teammates in the top 20: Freddie Freeman (No. 2), Mookie Betts (No. 4), Yoshinobu Yamamoto (No. 10), Clayton Kershaw (No. 11) and Kiké Hernández (No. 16). Purchases were tracked since the 2024 World Series between the Dodgers and New York Yankees.
Two stars from the New York side of that matchup — Juan Soto (No. 3), now with the New York Mets, and Aaron Judge (No. 5) — rounded out the top five most popular jerseys to start the new season.
Yamamoto’s debut also marks the first time since Ichiro Suzuki and Yu Darvish in 2012 that two Japanese-born players have cracked the top 10 rankings in the same year. Four other newcomers into the top 20 spots include Baltimore Orioles shortstop Gunnar Henderson, Pittsburgh Pirates ace Paul Skenes, Yankees shortstop Anthony Volpe and Kansas City Royals shortstop and 2024 AL MVP runner-up Bobby Witt Jr.
The full rankings are listed below:
- Shohei Ohtani, Los Angeles Dodgers
- Freddie Freeman, Los Angeles Dodgers
- Juan Soto, New York Mets
- Mookie Betts, Los Angeles Dodgers
- Aaron Judge, New York Yankees
- Francisco Lindor, New York Mets
- Bryce Harper, Philadelphia Phillies
- Jose Altuve, Houston Astros
- Ronald Acuña Jr., Atlanta Braves
- Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Los Angeles Dodgers
- Clayton Kershaw, Los Angeles Dodgers
- Fernando Tatis Jr., San Diego Padres
- Elly De La Cruz, Cincinnati Reds
- Gunnar Henderson, Baltimore Orioles
- Paul Skenes, Pittsburgh Pirates
- Kiké Hernández, Los Angeles Dodgers
- Corey Seager, Texas Rangers
- Bobby Witt Jr., Kansas City Royals
- Anthony Volpe, New York Yankees
- Manny Machado, San Diego Padres
(Photo: Harry How / Getty Images)
