'Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani and Yankees' Aaron Judge Dominate to Win MVP Awards'

Following their meeting in the World Series, Shohei Ohtani and Aaron Judge both emerged as winners on Thursday, with only one prize up for grabs.

Ohtani, in his first season with the Los Angeles Dodgers, was named National League Most Valuable Player, while Judge secured his second American League MVP in three seasons with the New York Yankees.

For the third time in four years, Ohtani was unanimously voted as the league MVP, making him the only player to achieve this feat multiple times. Judge also received a unanimous vote in the AL, making him the 20th player to do so.

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In NL voting, Francisco Lindor of the New York Mets came in second, followed by Ketel Marte of the Arizona Diamondbacks in third. In the AL, Kansas City Royals' Bobby Witt Jr. received all 30 second-place votes, with Judge's teammate Juan Soto finishing in third place.

This honor for Ohtani adds to an already memorable month, as he helped lead the Dodgers to their second championship in 36 seasons with a five-game World Series win over the Yankees.

At 30 years old, Ohtani is only the second player to win MVP in both leagues, following in the footsteps of Frank Robinson who achieved this in 1961 with the NL's Cincinnati Reds and in 1966 with the AL's Baltimore Orioles. He also made history as the first MVP winner while primarily playing as a designated hitter.

A shoulder injury prevented Ohtani from pitching in the past season, but as a two-way player for the Los Angeles Angels, he won unanimous AL MVPs in both 2021 and 2023.

During the 2024 regular season, Ohtani played in 159 games and batted .310, leading the NL in OPS (1.036), slugging percentage (.646), home runs (54), and RBIs (130). He also became the first player to hit 50 home runs and steal 50 bases, finishing with 59 stolen bases. He narrowly missed out on the league's triple crown, coming in second for the NL batting title to the San Diego Padres' Luis Arraez (.314).

In his first postseason appearance, Ohtani batted .230 with a .767 OPS, hitting three home runs and 10 RBIs. Despite injuring his shoulder in Game 2 of the World Series, he continued to play but struggled, batting just .105 with no RBIs in five games. Ohtani underwent shoulder surgery after the World Series and is expected to be ready for spring training.

Meanwhile, Judge, 32, led the Yankees to the World Series after a stellar regular season in which he batted .322 with a 1.159 OPS in 158 games. He also hit an MLB-best 58 home runs and 144 RBIs. While his home run total did not match the 62 he hit in his 2022 MVP season, his OPS was even better at 1.111.

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In 2023, Judge missed out on the MVP due to a toe injury that kept him out for over a month.

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 also selected to the AL All-Star team for the sixth time.

While Ohtani was in the first season of his 10-year, $700 million contract with the Dodgers, Judge was in the second season of his nine-year, $360 million contract with the Yankees.