They are the giants of the sport. Shohei Ohtani and Aaron Judge are the two best players in baseball. It was confirmed Thursday night with the announcement that each one is their league’s Most Valuable Player. It was the same story last year. And for the past five years they have been the best in the game.

Poor Bobby Witt Jr. and Cal Raleigh. Last year, Witt had one of the greatest seasons ever by a shortstop. He finished a distant second in MVP voting to Judge, who grabbed all 30 first-place votes.

Raleigh had the greatest season ever by a catcher—a switch hitter who hit 60 home runs and drove in 125 runs (leading the league in both) while catching more innings than anybody else in the league and doing it so well he was not charged with a passed ball. And yet, he, too, finished second to Judge, though he did grab 13 first-place votes.

Judge is just that good, an unprecedented batting champion with 53 home runs. So is Ohtani, who won his fourth MVP, all of them unanimously. Nobody else has more than one unanimous MVP. They are the two biggest reasons why baseball is enjoying a renaissance of interest—and two of a kind unlike anything we’ve seen before.

Judge and Ohtani have won seven of the past 10 MVP Awards. In those seven award-winning seasons they received 195 of 210 first-place votes (93%).

The last time we’ve seen a pair dominate their sport like this is when Magic Johnson and Larry Bird won six out of seven NBA MVP Awards in the 1980s. Before that it was Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell winning eight of nine MVPs in the ‘60s.

It’s not just the MVP awards. Over the past five years, Judge and Ohtani rank Nos. 1–2 in home runs (249 for Judge, 233 for Ohtani), OPS (1.075 and .990), OPS+ (196 and 171) and slugging (.649 and .606) while it’s Ohtani then Judge 1–2 in total bases (1,738 and 1,679) and bWAR (45.5 and 41.7).

They are so good the closest competition for both is Babe Ruth. Ohtani has long surpassed Ruth as a prolific two-way player. Judge is putting together a run of greatness after turning 30 that recalls Ruth at that age:

Rank

Player

OPS+

1

Aaron Judge

209

2

Babe Ruth

204

3

Lou Gehrig

188

Rank

Player

OPS

1

Babe Ruth

1.174

2

Aaron Judge

1.117

3

Lou Gehrig

1.107

Rank

Player

SLG

1

Babe Ruth

.703

2

Aaron Judge

.677

3

Mark McGwire

.664

Rank

Player

HR

1

Sammy Sosa

226

2

Aaron Judge

210

3

Jim Thome

190

4

Babe Ruth

186

Judge recently hit 190 homers in a span of 500 games. Only three players have ever done that, and all are connected to PEDs: McGwire, Sosa and Barry Bonds. If not for that darn concrete slab at Dodger Stadium, Judge is probably looking at four straight MVPs. And then he goes out and wins a batting title at 6′ 7″—at .331, 20 points ahead of the field!

Between Judge and Ohtani, Judge is the slightly better hitter and Ohtani, because of his two-way prowess, is the better player, the greatest talent the game has seen. Ohtani also has the edge in jewelry: 2–0 when it comes to World Series championship rings.

Ohtani becomes only the second baseball player and seventh athlete in the major sports to win back-to-back MVPs in the same year as winning a championship, joining baseball’s Joe Morgan (1975–76), hockey’s Guy LaFleur (‘77–78) and Wayne Gretzky (‘84–85 and ‘87–88) and basketball’s Russell (‘61–63), Michael Jordan (‘91–92) and LeBron James (2012–13). 

Judge, 33, and Ohtani, 31, will continue to play in separate leagues, which improves their chances of adding to their MVP hauls. Judge is signed through 2031. Ohtani through ‘33. His combination of hitting and pitching is more spectacular than it is an oddity. This year, postseason included, he hit more balls 100+ MPH than any hitter in MLB and he threw more pitches 100+ MPH than any starting pitcher except Hunter Greene and Tarik Skubal (min. 15 starts). That is just bonkers. Nobody competes with him. It will be difficult for anybody in the National League to win the MVP if Ohtani is healthy.

They are the faces of baseball with seven MVP Awards between them, playing in major markets for historic franchises and chasing the records of the greatest players in history. Just as importantly, they represent the game so well off the field as well as on it. Next spring they will compete in the World Baseball Classic. They keep pushing the game forward as they continue to chase history.

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