Aaron Judge believes his finger still needs a ring, but he won’t go home empty-handed after a brilliant if ultimately disappointing 2024 season.
The Yankees captain won his second American League MVP Award in three seasons, beating out the Royals’ Bobby Witt Jr. and teammate Juan Soto unanimously in voting that was announced Thursday night.
Judge, who set the franchise home run mark two seasons ago, has made further history in becoming just the seventh Yankee ever to win multiple MVPs.
He now stands with Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Yogi Berra, Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris and Alex Rodriguez.
The award was deserved after threatening his own home run record and finishing with 58, which led the major leagues (as did his 1.159 OPS, 144 RBIs and 133 walks, among many other categories).
After a slow April, Judge pieced together one of the best May-through-Septembers the sport has ever seen.
From May 3 until the end of the regular season, he hit .357 with a .492 OBP and 52 home runs in 125 games.
Judge put together an all-around stronger year than his 2022 MVP campaign.
It included career highs in batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, OPS, hits, doubles, RBIs, walks, times on base, total bases, extra-base hits and games played.
He became the fourth player in MLB history to stroke at least 58 homers in multiple seasons, joining Sammy Sosa, Mark McGwire and Babe Ruth. His OPS was the highest in a 162-game season since Barry Bonds’ 1.422 in 2004.
A dream season ended with a nightmare, though. Judge struggled in a postseason in which he struck out 20 times in 64 plate appearances.
It was the failings of his glove that will be remembered most, his dropped fly ball in the fifth inning of the deciding Game 5 of the World Series helping open the door for the Dodgers to score five unearned runs.