Welp, it was another great day for the big spenders, as the Los Angeles Dodgers and the New York Yankees went home with some more hardware.
MLB superstar Shohei Ohtani took home his third consecutive MVP
award, including his second with the Dodgers, on Thursday night. On the AL side, Aaron Judge took home his second consecutive MVP and the third of his career.
It marks Ohtani’s fourth overall MVP, making him just the second player in MLB history to win four awards (and all of them unanimously). Barry Bonds is the only player ahead of Ohtani, as he claimed seven MVPs across his 22 seasons.
Ohtani turned in another incredible season at the plate while also making his return to the mound. Across 158 games, he hit .282/.392/.622 with 55 homers, 102 RBIs, 146 runs, and 20 steals, totaling 6.6 bWAR at the plate. He added 1.1 bWAR from the mound, starting 14 games with a 2.87 ERA, 1.90 FIP, and 62 strikeouts across 47 innings. He then proceeded to win NLCS MVP with a performance for the ages in the clinching Game 4 against Milwaukee, slugging three homers and tossing six scoreless frames with 10 strikeouts. Overall this postseason, he hit .265/.405/.691 with eight homers, 14 RBIs, and 13 runs scored while going 2-1 with a 4.43 ERA, 2.84 FIP, and 28 strikeouts across 20 1/3 innings on the mound.
Behind the 30 first-place votes for Ohtani, Kyle Schwarber of the Phillies took second place, garnering 23 second-place votes. The Mets’ Juan Soto finished in third with four second-place votes and 15 third-place votes. Geraldo Perdomo and Trea Turner rounded out the top five, while NL Cy Young winner Paul Skenes slotted into sixth place. For the Brewers, DH/OF Christian Yelich led the way, finishing in 12th place with nine overall votes, including one vote as high as fourth place. Brice Turang also picked up eight votes, finishing in 14th place.
While Ohtani’s victory was a near certainty going into the night, the award to watch came in the American League, as it was a two-way race between Judge and Mariners’ catcher Cal Raleigh.
While Raleigh slugged 60 homers to set a new record among catchers, Judge outpaced him in nearly every other major category, leading the AL with a .331/.457/.688 line with 53 homers, 114 RBIs, 179 hits, and 12 steals. Raleigh did provide better defensive value than Judge, but Judge turned in a 9.7 bWAR/10.1 fWAR compared to Raleigh’s 7.4 bWAR/9.1 fWAR.
All of that resulted in a split vote between the two, as Judge garnered 17 of 30 first-place votes and 13 second-place votes. Raleigh picked up the other 13 first-place votes and the other 17 second-place votes, as Judge finished with 355 points compared to Raleigh’s 335 points in one of the more closely-watched MVP races in recent memory.
Behind Judge and Raleigh, third baseman José Ramírez of the Guardians finished in third place with 19 third-place votes, six fourth-place votes, and five fifth-place votes. Bobby Witt Jr. came in fourth with nine third-place votes, while Tarik Skubal and Junior Caminero each got one third-place vote.
Skubal, the AL Cy Young winner, finished in fifth place, while AL Rookie of the Year Nick Kurtz finished in 12th place.
