While Shohei Ohtani had his greatness reconfirmed, Cal Raleigh learned not even the greatest season by a catcher in Major League Baseball history could stop Aaron Judge from adding another Most Valuable Player award to his trophy case.
Minutes after Ohtani secured his third consecutive MVP award and fourth in the last five years — leaving him just three shy of Barry Bonds for the most in MLB history — Judge was announced as the American League’s MVP in a close vote with Raleigh on Thursday night.
Ohtani and Judge became the first duo to win the Most Valuable Player Award in the same back-to-back seasons.
The New York Yankees outfielder secured 17 of a possible 30 first-place votes and 355 points. The Seattle Mariners catcher claimed the other 13 first-place votes and finished with 335 points.
In the end, the Baseball Writers’ Association of America voters determined that Judge’s MLB-leading batting average (.331), on-base percentage (.457) and slugging percentage (.688) outweighed Raleigh’s AL-best 60 homers and 125 RBIs.
“It’s pretty wild,” Judge said. “You try not to think about it during the season. I try to keep my head down through all 162 and do whatever I can in today’s game to help our team win.”
For the 33-year-old Judge, it marks his third MVP award. That puts him in an exclusive neighborhood with the likes of Mickey Mantle, Joe DiMaggio, Stan Musial, Mike Trout and a handful of others — but Ohtani no longer resides there.
The 31-year-old Japan native received all 30 first-place votes for the National League MVP.
Ohtani earned his latest honor after piling up a career-high 55 homers, a majors-best 146 runs and an NL-high a .622 slugging percentage and 1.014 OPS in 158 games.
He also returned to the mound after taking 18 months off and forged a 1-1 record with a 2.87 ERA in 14 starts. He registered 62 strikeouts versus just nine walks over 47 innings.
“It was a great year,” Ohtani said on MLB Network via translator. “Like I said, I’m grateful to my teammates, the coaching staff … but not only them. The fans were the ones who really rooted us on and supported us.”
Ohtani added eight home runs in 17 postseason games while leading the Dodgers to their second consecutive World Series title, though his playoff exploits did not factor into the BBWAA voting.
Philadelphia Phillies designated hitter Kyle Schwarber, who produced a league-high 56 homers and 132 RBIs while playing in all 162 games, finished second in the balloting. He was followed by New York Mets outfielder Juan Soto (43 homers, 38 stolen bases), Arizona Diamondbacks shortstop Geraldo Perdomo (.290 average, 20 homers, 100 RBIs, 27 steals) and Phillies shortstop Trea Turner (league-leading .304 average with 36 steals).
In the American League, Cleveland Guardians third baseman Jose Ramirez (30 homers, 44 steals) finished a distant third.
Kansas City Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. (23 homers, 38 steals) and Detroit Tigers starter Tarik Skubal, who claimed his second consecutive Cy Young Award with a 13-6 record and 2.21 ERA, rounded out the top five.
