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ESPYS 2024: How the nominees for Best Athlete, Men's Sports dominated their sports

This year's ESPYS nominees for Best Athlete, Men's Sports dominated their respective sports, putting up monstrous numbers and breaking records along the way. Take a deep dive into the stats behind their phenomenal seasons. 

Patrick Mahomes: Kansas City Chiefs

  • After rallying to defeat the 49ers 25-22 in overtime, Mahomes became the fifth quarterback to win at least three Super Bowls, joining the likes of Tom Brady, Joe Montana, Terry Bradshaw and Troy Aikman.

  • Mahomes is just the seventh player in NFL, NBA, NHL and MLB history to win at least three championships and two regular-season MVPs within their first seven seasons. The last player to accomplish the feat? Larry Bird.

  • With the Super Bowl his 15th playoff win as a starting quarterback, Mahomes broke a tie with Peyton Manning, John Elway and Terry Bradshaw for third most by a starting quarterback. Only Tom Brady (35) and Joe Montana (16) have recorded more wins.

Shohei Ohtani: Los Angeles Dodgers

  • Despite missing the final month of the 2023 season with an oblique injury, Ohtani still finished the season with 10.0 WAR. It was the fewest number of games played in a 10-WAR season in MLB history, excluding full-time pitchers. As a hitter, he led the American League in home runs (44), total bases (325), slugging (.654) and on-base percentage (.412). As a pitcher, he recorded an ERA of 3.14 and allowed one or fewer earned runs in 13 of 23 starts.

  • Ohtani's monstrous season left little room for doubt -- the two-way star was unanimously named American League MVP, becoming the first player to win the award unanimously multiple times. He was previously named MVP in 2021.

  • After a chaotic free agency period, Ohtani signed the largest contract in MLB history with the Los Angeles Dodgers. The 10-year, $700 million contract surpassed Mike Trout's previous record by $273.5 million.

Scottie Scheffler: Golf

  • Scheffler has been dominant at Augusta National Golf Club. After making seven birdies in the final round to clinch his second Masters title, Scheffler joined Tiger Woods as the only players with multiple Masters victories while ranked World No. 1.

  • At only 27 years old, Sheffler became the fourth-youngest player in Masters history to win his second title at Augusta.

  • The best player in golf today is doing things the PGA Tour hasn't seen since Tiger Woods in his prime. With his sixth win of 2024 at the Travelers Championship, no other golfer has won more while ranked World No. 1. His win at the Travelers also gave him the most wins in a season before the month of July since Arnold Palmer in 1962.

Connor McDavid: Edmonton Oilers

  • During the regular season, McDavid racked up 132 points for the Oilers with 32 goals and 100 assists. Alongside Nikita Kucherov (144) and Nathan MacKinnon (140), it was the first time there were three scorers with at least 130 points since the 1992-93 NHL season.

  • In his quest to win Edmonton's first Stanley Cup since 1990, McDavid had a postseason for the record books. His 34 assists surpassed Wayne Gretzky's record of 31, set in 1988. McDavid also recorded the fourth-most points in a single postseason with 42.

  • After the Oilers fell 2-1 in Game 7 to the Florida Panthers, McDavid became the sixth player to win the Conn Smythe Trophy as a member of the losing team and just the second skater to do so since 1976. The decision was near-unanimous -- the Oilers captain received 16 of the 17 first-place votes.

Your vote helps decide the winners! Cast it now and tune in July 11 at 8 p.m. ET on ABC to find out who brings home an ESPY.

ESPN Stats & Information contributed to this report.

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