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NY Yankees' Aaron Judge, KC Royals' Bobby Witt Jr. Make History in AL MVP Race

If it weren't for the historic campaign that New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge was putting together, Kansas City Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. would be a deserving MVP in his own right.

Sam Connon

Sep 22, 2024; Oakland, California, USA; New York Yankees center fielder Aaron Judge (99) walks on the field against the Oakland Athletics in the seventh inning at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum.
Sep 22, 2024; Oakland, California, USA; New York Yankees center fielder Aaron Judge (99) walks on the field against the Oakland Athletics in the seventh inning at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum. / Cary Edmondson-Imagn Images
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With one week left in the regular season, all signs point to New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge winning his second career AL MVP award.

Judge crushed his league-leading 55th home run on Sunday, powering his team to a win and a sweep over the Oakland Athletics. He is now batting .323 with 138 RBI, 129 walks and an 1.155 OPS.

FanGraphs has Judge's WAR pegged at 10.7, which is best in all of MLB. His lead isn't astronomical, though, with one key challenger still hot on his tail.

Kansas City Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. went 1-for-3 with a walk against the San Francisco Giants on Sunday. Through 156 games, Witt is batting .344 with 32 home runs, 108 RBI, 30 stolen bases and a .988 OPS.

Witt's fWAR ranks second in the league at 10.1. Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani is sitting in third with an 8.3 fWAR.

Underdog Fantasy's Justin Havens noted that this is only the seventh instance since 1900 of multiple batters posting an fWAR of at least 10.0 in the same season.

Prior to Judge and Witt, Barry Bonds and Alex Rodriguez were the last to do so in 2002, although the former was in the National League and the latter was in the American League. Two players in the same league haven't achieved the feat since Yankees legend Mickey Mantle and Detroit Tigers first baseman Norm Cash in 1961.

Neither Mantle nor Cash won AL MVP, however, considering that was the year Roger Maris broke the single-season home run record with 61.

Judge is playing the dual-role of Mantle and Maris here in 2024, so it's unlikely any third party beats him out for the top individual honor in baseball. Even Witt, who is enjoying quite the breakout year, is widely expected to come in way behind Judge in the final voting.

And while Judge has helped New York lock up a spot in the postseason, Kansas City has lost seven in a row and are now only 1.0 game ahead of the Minnesota Twins in the AL Wild Card race.

Baseball fans everywhere would surely appreciate seeing Judge and Witt go head-to-head in October, but that would require the Royals turning things around down the stretch.

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Sam Connon

SAM CONNON

Sam Connon is a Staff Writer for Fastball on the Sports Illustrated/FanNation networks. He previously covered UCLA Athletics for Sports Illustrated/FanNation's All Bruins, 247Sports' Bruin Report Online, Rivals' Bruin Blitz, the Bleav Podcast Network and the Daily Bruin, with his work as a sports columnist receiving awards from the College Media Association and Society of Professional Journalists. Connon also wrote for Sports Illustrated/FanNation's New England Patriots site, Patriots Country, and he was on the Patriots and Boston Red Sox beats at Prime Time Sports Talk.

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