New York Yankees star Aaron Judge and Los Angeles Dodgers phenom Shohei Ohtani have been named the American League and National League MVPs respectively.
Judge’s second MVP comes with all 30 first-place votes, with teammate Juan Soto coming in third place in the voting, with 21 third-place votes.
In between the Yankees’ duo in MVP voting is Kansas City Royals star Bobby Witt Jr., who garnered every second-place vote.
Judge hit 58 home runs in 2024 alongside 144 RBIs and a .322 batting average.
Ohtani’s third MVP in four seasons comes in his first year as a Dodger.
Ohtani had the first 50-50 season in Major League Baseball history, with 54 home runs and 59 stolen bases.
Aaron Judge was named the 2024 American League MVP on Thursday night over Juan Soto
The National League MVP was also announced on Thursday with Shohei Ohtani winning
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Ohtani was also a unanimous choice for NL MVP, getting all 30 first-place votes for the award.
Ohtani becomes only the second player to win an NL and AL MVP award after Frank Robinson.
Judge becomes the third active Yankees captain to win the award, following fellow New York legends Thurman Munson and Lou Gehrig.
Rounding out the too five of AL MVP voting, and all players receiving at least one top-three vote for MVP, were Baltimore’s Gunnar Henderson and Cleveland’s Jose Ramirez.
Henderson finished in fourth, receiving six third-place votes, while Ramirez was fifth with three third-place votes.
In the NL, New York Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor was second with 263 points and Arizona second baseman Ketel Marte third with 229.
Judge had discussed the MVP award with Philadelphia’s Bryce Harper, the NL winner in 2015 and ’21.
‘I was telling him, “Man, I’m going to try to catch up to you with these MVPs here, man,”‘ Judge recalled. ‘He’d say, hopefully, he could stay a couple ahead of me, which I think he’ll do.’
Ohtani was unanimously voted the AL MVP in 2021 and 2023 as a two-way star for the Los Angeles Angels and finished second to Judge in 2022 voting. He didn’t pitch in 2024 following elbow surgery and signed a record $700million, 10-year contract with the Dodgers last December.