Aaron Judge wins MVP in the American: it was a (very) close vote

Aaron Judge wins MVP in the American: it was a (very) close vote
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Tonight we learned which players had won the MVP awards.

Not surprisingly, it was Shohei Ohtani who won the Nationals title. It's his second such accolade since joining the Dodgers… two years ago.

Two rings, two MVPs… all for two million dollars a year.

For the first time in history, a player has won two MVP titles in each league. In 2021 and 2023, Ohtani also won MVP for the Angels.

That makes four titles in five years, including three in the last three seasons. That's quite historic.

For the second time in history, a player has won more than three MVP titles. Barry Bonds, who has seven MVPs behind the tie, is the only other player in history with at least four MVPs.

But Ohtani is still the only player in history to have won more than one MVP title unanimously. In fact, his four titles have been absolutely unanimous.

Remember that in 2022, Ohtani also played like an MVP, but Aaron Judge's 62 bombs made the difference.

Speaking of Aaron Judge, there was some debate as to whether the Yankees hitter would be able to beat out Cal Raleigh for the MVP title in the American. It's been a big debate this year.

The verdict? Aaron Judge… barely. His offensive dominance made the difference.

As you can see, the vote was very close. Judge garnered 17 of the 30 first-place votes and 13 second-place votes. The opposite was true for Cal Raleigh, who had a historic season. Voting is rarely this close.

Judge is in a group with Ohtani and Bonds for guys with at least three MVP titles over a four-year period. Judge also won in 2022 and 2024.

It should also be noted that winning three MVPs in a Yankees uniform (tying a franchise record with Yogi Berra, Mickey Mantle and Joe DiMaggio) confirms, more than ever, that Cooperstown is waiting for him one day.

Since 2021, no one other than Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani has won the MVP while in either player's league.

George Springer (who finished seventh), Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (13) and Bo Bichette (16) also received votes with the Blue Jays. Who had Springer this high eight months ago?

Judge, along with Ohtani and Mike Trout, is now among the active players with at least three MVP titles.

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