Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees won the American League MVP award on Thursday night, and St. Louis Cardinals slugger Paul Goldschmidt took the NL prize.
After hitting 62 home runs this season to break the AL record, Judge easily beat out Los Angeles Angels two-way phenom Shohei Ohtani in an MVP race some thought might be close.
The 6-foot-7 outfielder received 28 of 30 first-place votes and two seconds for 410 points from a Baseball Writers’ Association of America panel. Ohtani, last year’s winner, was first on two ballots and second on the other 28 for 280 points. Yordan Alvarez of the World Series champion Houston Astros finished third.
Now a free agent, Judge broke the AL record of 61 homers set by Yankees slugger Roger Maris in 1961.
Judge, the tallest MVP in major league history, also led the majors in runs (133), on-base percentage (.425), slugging percentage (.686), OPS (1.111), extra-base hits (90) and total bases (391) to help the Yankees win the AL East. He tied for the big league lead with 131 RBIs and was second in the AL with a .311 batting average.
Goldschmidt took the NL trophy for the first time after a couple of close calls earlier in his career. The 35-year-old first baseman received 22 of 30 first-place votes and eight seconds from a separate BBWAA panel. San Diego third baseman Manny Machado finished second with 291 points.
