Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani are the two best players of modern-day baseball. They prove it constantly and even in 2024, they are dominating their respective leagues. In the last three seasons, the American League saw a fierce competition between the New York Yankees superstar and the Japanese sensation. With the power of elite hitting as well as pitching, the former Los Angeles Angels star won the 2021 AL MVP. Later, in 2022, the Unicorn had another great season, but it wasn’t his year to win back-to-back MVP awards. On the other hand, Aaron Judge went on to have a historic season as he broke the AL single-season home run record that belonged to Roger Maris back in 1961 (61 homers).
The California native hit 62 home runs in 2022. As a result, the deserving winner of the 2022 AL MVP was none other than Aaron Judge. But that was just the beginning of the Ohtani-Judge rivalry. Last year, Shohei Ohtani played for the Angels for one last season, and in the end, he bagged the 2023 AL MVP as well. But coming back to 2024, the two-way superstar is the favorite to win the National League (NL) MVP, representing the LA Dodgers. On the other hand, Aaron Judge is the favorite to win the 2024 AL MVP again.
Who’s Having A Better Season – Aaron Judge Or Shohei Ohtani?
Recently, during a chat show with Dan Patrick, YES Network’s Michael Kay mentioned Aaron Judge is having a better season than the Unicorn. According to NBCSports.com, the broadcaster explained why he chose Judge over Ohtani as the best player of the season. The host of the Michael Kay Show mentioned that the Unicorn is not able to pitch this year. Hence, Ohtani is not able to show his complete strength of why he is a two-way superstar. On the other hand, Aaron Judge has been enjoying a great season offensively as well as defensively. He has been brilliant in the outfield this year, stopping a few sure homers, and looked unstoppable during at-bats.
The Yankees captain has been leading the league in several offensive categories, including homers, RBIs, & OPS. Moreover, he is also in second place on the list of best batting averages this year. However, Kay pointed out that Shohei Ohtani has more stolen bases than the California native. But the broadcaster feels Judge can improve on his stolen bases too if he works on it like he has worked on his batting average. Hence, in terms of the big picture, Kay believes Judge has been enjoying a better season than the Dodgers superstar.
What If The Yankees Meet The Dodgers In The 2024 World Series?
It will be so epic if the NY side meets the LA side in this year’s World Series. Then, that’s going to be a war between superstars. It won’t be just between Judge and Ohtani because the Yankees have Juan Soto, and the Dodgers also have Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman. Moreover, in the case of pitching, the NY side has the 2023 AL Cy Young winner – Gerrit Cole.
On the other hand, the LA side has the multiple-time Sawamura Award winner—Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who is equivalent to MLB’s Cy Young award. Hence, it would be a thriller encounter in the World Series. But all eyes will be on Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani. After all, they are the faces of modern-day MLB.
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