In fact, no matter how hard you struggle, who will bring down Ohtani and Judge? 10 candidates selected by MLB.com
Nov 17, 2025
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LA Dodgers Shohei Ohtani and New York Yankees Aaron Judge were honored as NL and AL's best players for the second consecutive year. However, unlike last year, Ohtani continued the unanimous legend, while Judge beat Seattle Mariners Cal Raleigh by 20 points this season.
However, the prediction that 'Otani-Jersey Era' will continue for a while is because they are both in their prime in their early 30s. Since 2021, seven of the 10 MVP titles in both leagues have gone to two players. Ohtani won all four MVPs in 2021 and 2023-2025, and Judge became the AL's best player three times in 2022 and 2024-2025.
We may be lucky to be living in the same age as the two greatest major leaguers of all time.
Then, is there no player who can check their dominance in the NL and AL.
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Reporter Will Leitch, who wrote the article, said 'There are players who had bad luck with the record of being slightly short of Judge and Ohtani even though they had MVP-class performances. They should have been MVP at least once so far. But they can't bring down Judge and Ohtani, who are still in their prime.
At the same time, 'Someone will hold the two back. Who are they? Each league has selected five players to overwhelm Judge and Ohtani next year, he said, highlighting the players who can challenge for next season's MVP.
In the AL, Athletics first baseman Nick Kurtz, Raleigh, Cleveland Guardians third baseman Jose Ramirez, Seattle center fielder Julio Rodriguez and Kansas City Royals shortstop Bobby Wit Jr. were selected, while in the NL, Arizona Diamondbacks right fielder Corbin Carroll, Cincinnati Reds shortstop Eli Delacruz, Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Paul Skins, New York Mets right fielder Juan Soto and San Diego Padres right fielder Fernando Tatis Jr. were selected.
These 10 are candidates who can make Judge and Ohtani very nervous. Among them, Kurtz, the AL Rookie of the Year, and Raleigh, who competed closely with Judge in the AL MVP vote, are drawing the most attention.
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He was so fast that he played only 33 games in the minor leagues. He hit a batting average of 0.290 (122 hits in 420 times at bat) in 117 games this season and ranked first in home runs (36), RBIs (86), runs (90), OPS (1.002), OPS+ (173), fWAR (4.6), and bWAR (5.4) among rookies this year.
In particular, he played four home runs against the Houston Astros on July 26 and overconfident about his superstar qualities. The batting is evaluated as being born with power and contact ability evenly.
Raleigh broke all home run records as a catcher. He posted a batting average of 0.247, 60 homers, 132 RBIs and an OPS of 0.948. He set a new record of the most home runs in a season for a catcher, the most in a season for a switch-hitter, and the most in a season for a Seattle team.
Reporter Leitch said, `There's no law that he won't be able to do that again. Who knew he would hit 60 home runs as a switch-heater and catcher? In addition, he has emerged as the best hitter in the league, saying, `As the season went by, his momentum has not subsided.' He is also playing a position that requires a lot of defense. If the luck of the ball improved and the batting average increased a little more, 60 home runs would have been more impressive. He evaluated that he was getting better.
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However, if Ohtani's move is put on hold for some reason, the player who can cross the NL throne should be considered Soto, who boasts the highest ransom. Reporter Leitch said 'Can you imagine that Soto, who is in the top 10 MVP votes six times, will not be named MVP. Can you explain why after 20 years he never made it to MVP? I don't think it's necessary.
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
