The Yankees’ Aaron Judge and the Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani continue to lead their respective league in MLB.com’s latest Most Valuable Player poll. Each superstar was at the top of the past two polls as well.
Some of the 33 votes in this month’s poll were cast by MLB.com’s experts before news broke on Saturday that Judge is dealing with a flexor strain in his right elbow. He was placed on the injured list Sunday. Mariners slugging catcher Cal Raleigh was already gaining ground on the Yankees’ captain. By this time next month, will we have a new No. 1 in the AL?
MLB.com’s voters ranked their top five picks in each league on a 5-4-3-2-1 scale — five points for a first-place vote, four points for a second-place vote and so on. They based their choices not just on performances so far, but also on how things are expected to play out between now and October.
All stats updated through Sunday’s games.
The good news for the Yanks is that they have avoided the worst-case scenario with Judge’s injury. He will miss at least 10 days, but with the UCL in his right elbow fully intact, the hope is he won’t need more than a minimum stay on the IL before returning to New York’s lineup as the designated hitter.
Judge was in a little 4-for-28 skid before being sidelined. But he is still the best hitter in MLB. He leads the sport in each of the triple-slash categories (.342/.449/.711) and has 37 homers, second only to Raleigh in the AL.
Over the past three MVP polls, Raleigh’s count of first-place votes has gone from one to eight to 13. We might see his name in the No. 1 spot here at this time next month. That depends on how Judge heals, but it also depends on Raleigh continuing his surge into the record books.
On Saturday, he became the first catcher and the first switch-hitter in MLB history to hit 40 home runs before the end of July. He bashed No. 41 on Sunday and is now seven dingers shy of matching the single-season record for home runs by a primary catcher (Salvador Perez, 2021). Safe to assume that Raleigh is going to clear that mark by a lot.
The face of Cleveland’s franchise is on his way to another top-10 finish in the AL MVP voting, something he has achieved in seven of the past eight seasons. With 21 homers and 31 steals, Ramírez has reached the 20-20 plateau for the seventh consecutive full season. He is on pace to go 30-30 for the third time in his career, and with 24 more extra-base hits, he’ll pass Earl Averill as the franchise’s all-time leader in that category.
The unanimous American League Cy Young Award winner in 2024 has been even better this year. He’s lowered his ERA (2.09) and raised his strikeout rate (33.8%). Skubal’s 1.92 FIP would be the best from any qualified starter since Corbin Burnes in 2021 (1.63). Detroit’s ace left-hander had 17 starts last season in which he gave up no more than one earned run. He’s already tallied 13 such starts this year with two months to go. Skubal could be the first pitcher to be an MVP finalist since 2012, when the Dodgers’ Clayton Kershaw took home the prestigious honor.
Offensively, Witt’s season has been solid but not spectacular; his 15 homers, .287 average and .831 OPS are well below his totals from last year, when he was the AL MVP runner-up. However, Witt remains one of the most valuable players in the sport because of his all-around game. His 15 outs above average are the most among AL shortstops, and his 27 steals rank seventh in the Majors. Thanks to that Gold Glove-caliber defense and elite baserunning, Witt’s 4.8 fWAR is behind only Judge (7.2) and Raleigh (6.4) in the AL.
Others receiving votes: Byron Buxton (Twins), Riley Greene (Tigers), Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (Blue Jays), George Springer (Blue Jays), Nick Kurtz (Athletics), Julio Rodríguez (Mariners), Junior Caminero (Rays)
Ohtani tied a Dodgers franchise record last week by homering in five straight games, and he is pacing the Senior Circuit with 38 dingers and a .998 OPS. Oh, and of course he’s pitching. Ohtani has allowed two earned runs over his first 12 innings (six starts). His next trip to the mound is scheduled for Wednesday against the Reds.
It seems silly now, but there was some uncertainty about PCA’s power profile when he was a prospect. Maybe he would hit 20-25 homers in The Show? Well, it’s late July and he has 27 home runs and a .558 slugging percentage. Those marks rank sixth and eighth in the big leagues, respectively. Speed and defense were always viewed as Crow-Armstrong’s top tools, and sure enough, he has been superb when it comes to baserunning and fielding.
He will soon become the first Cub not named Sammy Sosa to obtain 30 homers and 30 stolen bases in a single season. But the 23-year-old might go a step further and enter the 40-40 club. He is on pace for 41 dingers and 45 steals.
Soto is surging in the NL MVP race thanks to an incredibly hot couple of months. Since June 1, his 183 wRC+ ranks third-best among qualified hitters. He has belted 16 of his 25 home runs during that span, including a pivotal clout on Sunday night to complete a sweep of the Giants in San Francisco. And his plate discipline continues to be sublime, leading to an MLB-best .425 on-base percentage since that date.
June has typically been the month when Schwarber becomes an unstoppable force. But this season, it’s been a really strong July that has put Philadelphia’s DH into the MVP conversation. No NL player has more dingers this month (11), and his 1.087 OPS ranks second in the NL. Schwarber is on pace for a career-best 55 homers, which would be the second-most in Phillies franchise history. Ryan Howard had 58 home runs in 2006, when he was feted as NL MVP.
With PCA doing it all and Seiya Suzuki ranking fifth in the NL with 26 homers, Tucker has been somewhat overshadowed by his teammates in the outfield. That said, a 144 wRC+ and 4.1 fWAR from one of the premier players on the team that is tied for the best record in the NL is not too shabby. Tucker, with 18 home runs and 23 steals, has a shot to join the 30-30 club for the first time.
Also receiving votes: Fernando Tatis Jr. (Padres), Will Smith (Dodgers; one first-place vote), Paul Skenes (Pirates), Pete Alonso (Mets), Corbin Carroll (D-backs), Eugenio Suárez (D-backs), Elly De La Cruz (Reds), Trea Turner (Phillies), Manny Machado (Padres), James Wood (Nationals), Seiya Suzuki (Cubs), Zack Wheeler (Phillies), Ketel Marte (D-backs), Kyle Stowers (Marlins)
