Unlike most other professional sports leagues, Major League Baseball has had two MVPs for a long time. They are split into the American League and National League.
This has been the case on an annual basis since 1924, though there have been MVPs as far back as 1911. For decades, the league split made perfect sense. The two leagues didn’t play each other at all. They were totally separate other than the World Series, and the awards were for the regular season, so why wouldn’t there be awards for each side?
Nowadays, with year-round interleague play, it makes much less sense. It’s also tradition and I’m not in favor of changing it. I like dividing it up. What if we didn’t, though? What if there were simply an MLB MVP?
With a quick shout-out to Bobby Witt, Jr., it seems like most of the debate would revolve around Aaron Judge vs. Shohei Ohtani.
We’ve already had one of those. Judge won the 2022 MVP with Ohtani finishing second and the discussions the last six weeks or so got heated. Ohtani won the 2021 and 2023 AL MVPs, but he’s in the NL now. Both are going to take MVP honors this season with Ohtani becoming the 12th to win three MVPs — only Barry Bonds with seven has won more — and Judge becoming the 34th player to ever win two.
If there were an MLB MVP, however, we’d be having the Judge vs. Ohtani debate again with a little Witt mixed in. Let’s check it out. All stats through Thursday, which means there would be three games left to swing things.
Judge’s case
Few in history have ever been able to carry an offense like Judge. Of course, he did get help in the form of Juan Soto this season, but Judge still can form a one-man wrecking crew when he’s on. Outside of Judge and Soto, the Yankees’ lineup has largely been inconsistent and lackluster. And yet, they won the AL East and might end with the best record in the AL.
Judge is hitting .325/.461/.708 (226 OPS+) with 36 doubles, a triple, 58 homers, 144 RBI, 122 runs, 10 stolen bases and 10.8 WAR. He has spent most of his time on defense in center field, which is out of position for him.
He leads the majors in home runs, RBI, walks, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, OPS, OPS+ and WAR.
Judge has a lead here in so many ways. If someone believes the most valuable player is the best player, that should be Judge. If all-around play is rewarded, we’re talking about arguably the best hitter also putting in lots of time at a premium defensive position. If