Otani Tops Player Betting Charts, Outranks NFL Stars in 2025

Sports | baseball

[스포츠서울 | 김동영 기자] Who is the most popular baseball player in the world right now? One example is LA Dodgers Shohei Otani (32). He is a player that even gamblers love.

Japan’s Sponichianex reported on the 6th, “Ohtani is the player with the greatest presence in American sports betting. He boasts overwhelming popularity.”

Otani is a player who has dominated the Major League (ML) through the Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB). Currently, he is the only player in the big league who can double hit. It is called a ‘two-way star’. He was also crowned MVP for three consecutive years from 2023 to 2025. Including 2021, this is a total of 4 awards.

In the 2025 season, he played 158 games as a batter, had a batting average of 0.282, 55 home runs, 102 RBI, and an OPS of 1.014. After completing rehabilitation after elbow surgery, he returned to pitching. He recorded 1 win, 1 loss, and an average ERA of 2.87 in 14 games and 47 innings. He showed good pitching in the postseason as well.

He’s good at everything. There is a lot to see. Not only regular fans, but even gamblers look up to Otani. They even place bets on several categories.

Based on the standards of the 2025 World Series, bets were placed on a leadoff home run, 7 or more RBIs, a distance of 470 feet (approximately 143.3m) or more, and a walk-off home run. If pitchers are included, the target is 2 home runs as a batter in a game and 10 strikeouts as a pitcher, or 20 strikeouts in a series.

In fact, none of them were successful. In the World Series, Ohtani posted a batting average of 0.333, 3 home runs, and 5 RBIs. There was no home run by the leadoff hitter, and no home run was hit over 470 feet. There is no ending. Even as a pitcher, he only struck out 9 batters.

Regardless of the outcome, it is important that interest in Ohtani is that great. There are countless star players. Aaron Judge (New York Yankees), Kyle Schwarber (Philadelphia), Karl Raly (Seattle), and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (Toronto) are also popular. But Otani is ahead of them.

Sponich explained, “The number one spot in sports betting is American football (NFL). However, when it comes to individual players, Ohtani has the most bets.” raining99@sportsseoul.com