Shohei Ohtani is enjoying his World Series ring while Aaron Judge missed the big championship series, but both stars finished the year with MVP awards, Ohtani taking the NL award and Judge winning the AL award. This unprecedented achievement marks the first time in league history that the same two players have won the awards in consecutive seasons.
“For the first time in MLB, we have back-to-back MVP winners in both the AL and NL in two consecutive seasons! Ohtani and Judge keep breaking the record books,” ESPN reported on X, with the post garnering over 100,000 views in minutes.
Ohtani secured 420 votes to win the NL MVP, a significantly large margin over Kyle Schwarber’s 260 points. However, Judge faced a much tighter race in the AL, claiming the award with 355 votes compared to Cal Raleigh’s 335, who had an incredible home run season.
Season of milestones for Ohtani and Judge
Another important note following Ohtani and Judge’s MVP victories is that Judge now shares a record with another MLB legend: “Aaron Judge joins Barry Bonds and Shohei Ohtani as the only players in MLB history to win 3+ MVPs in a four-year span,” reported SNY on X. Bonds holds seven MVP awards, while Ohtani now has four, and Judge has three.
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Judge now ties the MVP award count of big names like Albert Pujols, Mike Trout, Yogi Berra, and Joe DiMaggio. He still has plenty of time to catch up to both Ohtani and Bonds.
see also
MLB World Series champions through the decades: A year-by-year breakdown
Players with 3 or more MVP awards:
- Barry Bonds (7)
- Shohei Ohtani (4)
- Aaron Judge (3)
- Mike Trout (3)
- Albert Pujols (3)
- Alex Rodriguez (3)
- Mike Schmidt (3)
- Mickey Mantle (3)
- Yogi Berra (3)
- Roy Campanella (3)
- Stan Musial (3)
- Joe DiMaggio (3)
- Jimmie Foxx (3)
Both Ohtani and Judge are receiving massive praise for their huge seasons, just as they did in 2024. “We’re going to look back at this era of baseball and be like, wow… we got to watch Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani play baseball. Appreciate it,” wrote Frank Ammirante on X.
