Shohei Ohtani wins the NL award with Aaron Judge taking AL honor
The Milwaukee Brewers’ William Contreras placed fifth in the 2024 NL MVP race. He received three votes for a finish as high as third place, with the most popular vote in his favor for fifth place at seven votes.
Ultimately, first place honors went to Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Dodgers in a unanimous vote. As the first 50-50 player ever, this wasn’t much of a surprise. The New York Mets’ Francisco Lindor earned 23 second-place votes to secure his spot as the runner-up. Ketel Marte of the Diamondbacks placed third.
Willy Adames also played his way onto this year’s MVP ballot with a 10th place finish. Outfielder Jackson Chourio also earned a single vote for 10th, finishing 22nd. While they might not get any awards, it’s good to see their efforts this season rewarded with a mention among the best in the league.
In the American League, Aaron Judge earned his spot atop the ballot with a unanimous vote after hitting 58 home runs. Bobby Witt Jr. was (unanimously!) the runner-up with a 32-homer, 31-stolen-base season. Judge’s teammate, Juan Soto, finished in third place. Rounding out the top five were Gunnar Henderson of Baltimore and Jose Ramirez of Cleveland.
The MVP Award has been handed out since 1931. In the Brewers’ franchise history, four different players have won the award: Rollie Fingers, Robin Yount, Ryan Braun, and Christian Yelich.
Yount earned the honors twice, in 1982 and 1989. Yelich was the most recent recipient, earning the award in 2018.