After only one prize was available when they met in the World Series, Shohei Ohtani and Aaron Judge both walked away winners Thursday.
Ohtani was named National League Most Valuable Player following his first season with the Los Angeles Dodgers, while Judge won his second American League MVP in three seasons with the New York Yankees.
For the third time in four years, Ohtani won a league MVP award by unanimous vote; last year he became the only player to do so multiple times. Judge was also the unanimous winner in the AL after receiving 28 of 30 first-place votes in 2022.
There have now been 23 unanimous league MVPs, three of those belonging to Ohtani.
Francisco Lindor of the New York Mets finished second in NL voting and Ketel Marte of the Arizona Diamondbacks was third. In the AL, Kansas City Royals star Bobby Witt Jr. received all 30 second-place votes and Judge’s Yankee teammate Juan Soto finished third.
The honor for Ohtani caps a particularly memorable month after he helped the Dodgers to the franchise’s second championship in 36 seasons with a five-game World Series win over the Yankees.
“The ultimate goal from the beginning was to win a World Series, which we were able to accomplish,” Ohtani said through interpreter Matt Hidaka on MLB Network. “Like I said before, I receive this award on behalf of my team.”
Ohtani, 30, became just the second player to win the MVP in both leagues after Frank Robinson did it in 1961 with the NL’s Cincinnati Reds and in 1966 with the AL’s Baltimore Orioles. He also became the first MVP winner while playing as his team’s primary designated hitter.
A shoulder injury prevented Ohtani from pitching this past season, but as a two-way player for the Los Angeles Angels, he won unanimous AL MVPs in both 2021 and 2023.
In 159 games during the 2024 regular season, Ohtani batted .310 and led the NL in OPS (1.036), slugging percentage (.646), home runs (54) and RBIs (130). He became the first player to hit 50 homers and steal 50 bases, taking 59. He narrowly missed out on the league’s triple crown, finishing second for the NL batting title to the San Diego Padres’ Luis Arraez (.314).
“I obviously don’t go into the season trying to strive to get the MVP award,” Ohtani said. “I was more focused on being one of the guys with a new team with the Dodgers. I wanted to obviously embrace the fans as well and let them learn who I was. That was my main focus.”
In the first postseason of his career, Ohtani batted .230 with a .767 OPS, with three home runs and 10 RBIs. He injured his shoulder in Game 2 of the World Series yet continued to play and batted just .105 with no RBIs in five games. Ohtani had shoulder surgery after the World Series ended and is expected to be ready to play by the start of spring training.
“The next goal for me is to (win MVP) again,” Ohtani said. “So right now, I’m in the middle of rehab (from shoulder surgery) and working out and getting stronger.
“… I’m looking forward to next season so we can run it back.”
Judge, 32, led the Yankees to the World Series after batting .322 with a 1.159 OPS in 158 games this past regular season. He also had a major league-best 58 home runs with 144 RBIs. His home-run total did not match the 62 he hit while winning the AL MVP in 2022, but his OPS was better than his 1.111 mark from that season.
“It means a lot (to win another MVP),” Judge said on MLB Network. “Just a lot of hard work in the offseason, during the season, the ups and downs throughout it. Just the constant support from my teammates, the fans in New York, just everybody to help me get to this spot.”
Judge did not win the MVP in 2023 after a toe injury cost him more than a month.
In 14 postseason games in October, Judge batted just .184 with a .752 OPS, including three home runs and nine RBIs. In five World Series games, he batted .222 with a lone home run that came early in Game 5 before the Dodgers rallied to win the title.
During the 2024 regular season, Judge set career highs in batting average, on-base percentage (.458), slugging percentage (.701). OPS, hits (180), doubles (36), RBIs and walks (133). He was named to the AL All-Star team for the sixth time.
Few could have seen Judge’s monster year coming in the season’s early weeks, though. He batted .178 with three home runs over his first 23 games and didn’t climb above .200 for good until May 3.
“March and April were not my friend this year, and it’s just a testament to (the) long season,” Judge said. “You’re going to go through some ups, you’re going through some downs, and it’s just about leaning on your teammates and on your family.
“… You can’t mope, you can’t feel sorry for yourself. You know, especially in New York, nobody’s going to feel sorry for you. So you just gotta go out there and put up the numbers.”
While Ohtani was playing the first season of a 10-year, $700 million contract with the Dodgers, Judge was in the second season of a nine-year, $360 million contract with the Yankees.
