Aaron Judge, By Far and Away, Leads Baseball's MVP Race

June 26, 2024 by Staff

Aaron Judge went 2-for-3 with 5 RBI, including a Grand Slam in the 8th, but it wasn't enough to overcome the New York Mets in the Subway Series in Queens. The Mets prevailed 9-7 as Mark Vientos hit two of his team's four home runs, en route to a 9-1 lead through 6. Both Vientos homers were lead-off solo shots to start the 2nd and 4th innings and came off Gerrit Cole who was lifted after 4 innings and being charged with 6 earned runs. Cole walked four and struck out none.

Judge's homer was his league-leading 29th of the season as he did nothing to hurt his lead for Major League Baseball's MVP award.

In 2022, Judge became the first Yankee to win the award since Alex Rodriguez in 2007 and the first Yankee outfield to win it since Mickey Mantle in 1962.

The second and final game of the Subway Series will take place at Met Life Stadium tonight with the first pitch scheduled for 7:10 eastern time.

At the time of this article, Judge (-135) leads Gunnar Henderson (+350) of the Baltimore Orioles while his own teammate, Juan Soto (+650) has the third-best MVP betting odds at FanDuel.com. The over/under of 63 Season Home Runs for Judge is just +600, and only +230 for 60 HR's.

Judge hit 62 homers in 2022, surpassing Roger Maris' 61 in 1961 and Babe Ruth's 60 in 1927. It established him as the all-time leader for home runs in a single season in the American League.

Here is how MLB.com officially lists the single-season home run leaders:
Barry Bonds, 73, 2001
Mark McGwire, 70, 1998
Sammy Sosa, 66, 1998
Mark McGwire, 65, 1999
Sammy Sosa, 64, 2001
Sammy Sosa, 63, 1999
Aaron Judge, 62, 2022

Of course, the period in which Bonds, McGwire and Sosa hit all of those home runs will forever be known as the Steroid era.

All-Star Week

The Major League All-Star week is coming up from July 12-July 16 in Arlington and Judge has already said he will not participate. But we also don't know who will participate.

Kerry Miller at BleacherReport.com put together a dream list that would feature Juan Soto of the Yankees, Corey Seager OR Adolis Garcia of the hometown Rangers, along with Shohei Ohtani of the Dodgers, Valdimir Guerrero, Jr. of the Blue Jays, Pete Alonso of the Mets, Royce Lewis of the Twins, Gunnar Henderson of the Orioles, and Elly De La Cruz of the Reds.

We'd watch that, but doing so in person is a bit cost prohibitive with tickets starting at $171 at last check for the Home Run Derby. Tickets to the All-Star game itself were running from $204 and up.

The All-Star game lineups also are not yet determined. Phase 1 voting ends Thursday.

In Phase 1 of voting, fans vote on a full slate of players at each position -- including the designated hitter for both leagues -- picking their top choice at each spot (and three outfielders) in the American League and National League. The top overall vote-getter in each league after Phase 1 earns an automatic starting spot in the All-Star Game. At every other position, the top two players (and top six for outfielders) advance to Phase 2 of voting.

In Phase 2 -- a.k.a. the All-Star Ballot Finals -- fans must select from the two finalists at each position, and the top six outfielders, in each league. The winners of each finalist election, plus the No. 1 vote-getters from Phase 1, are named the All-Star Game starters. Vote totals don't carry over from Phase 1 to Phase 2.

For example, in 2023, Angels DH Shohei Ohtani and Braves outfielder Ronald Acuña Jr. were the leading vote-getters in the AL and NL, respectively, after Phase 1 of All-Star voting. Ohtani was awarded the AL's starting DH spot and Acuña was awarded one of the three NL starting outfield spots. Therefore, there was no need for a Phase 2 vote at DH in the AL, and the number of NL outfield finalists was reduced from six to four with Acuña already having been named one of the starters.

Finalists who don't win the All-Star Ballot Finals at their position are not automatically added to All-Star rosters, so after the starters are selected by fans, each league has 23 spots to fill to reach a total of 20 position players and 12 pitchers per side.

Pitchers and position player reserves

All of the pitchers and position player reserves are chosen through a combination of Player Ballot selections and choices made by the Commissioner's Office.

There are 32 roster spots for each league (20 position players and 12 pitchers). The player ballots account for 17 players in both the AL and NL -- eight pitchers (five starters and three relievers), as well as one backup for each position, including DH. The Commissioner's Office is responsible for selecting six additional players in each league (four pitchers and two position players). At this stage, MLB must ensure that every club is represented by at least one All-Star selection.

For more information on All-Star voting and selection, follow this link to MLB.com.