Breaking: Yankees Receives Ground Breaking News Involving Two Stars

The league leaders were evident in each league according to our results for the second consecutive MVP vote.

A different Yankee and Dodger have emerged as the clear favorites for MVP, replacing Juan Soto and Mookie Betts who lead the first two polls. Nevertheless, there are enough races in every league, particularly the American League, that this ranking could quickly alter.

As usual, MLB.com experts were asked to rank their top five MVP picks in each league, based on what’s happened so far and what they expect will happen the rest of the season. Players received vote points on a 5-4-3-2-1 scale — five points for a first-place vote, four points for a second-place vote and so on, with 41 voters participating. Here are the results.

AMERICAN LEAGUE

1. Aaron Judge, OF, Yankees (38 first-place votes)

After a slow start with a .754 OPS through April, Aaron Judge has been phenomenal since May 1, hitting an extraordinary .357/.479/.815 with 28 home runs. As a result, Judge currently leads the Majors in home runs (34), OBP (.433), SLG (.479), OPS (1.112), and FanGraphs’ version of Wins Above Replacement (6.3). Judge’s overwhelming favoritism for the MVP award is a testament to his outstanding performance, especially considering the strong competition from other MVP-worthy players.

AMERICAN LEAGUE

2. Gunnar Henderson, SS, Orioles (three first-place votes)

Gunnar Henderson, a 23-year-old shortstop, has been a standout player for the AL East-leading Orioles. With 28 home runs, 14 stolen bases, a .956 OPS, and the second-highest FanGraphs’ Wins Above Replacement (6.1), Henderson’s performance would make him the overwhelming MVP favorite in many other seasons. However, competing in the same league as Aaron Judge puts him at a slight disadvantage. Nonetheless, Henderson’s impressive stats and impact on his team keep him in close contention for his first MVP award.

AMERICAN LEAGUE

3. Juan Soto, OF, Yankees

Juan Soto, one of the top players of his generation, is enjoying a career-best season (excluding the COVID-shortened 2020 season) in his first year with the Yankees. The 25-year-old has delivered an impressive .985 OPS and 175 OPS+, and his 5.5 FanGraphs’ Wins Above Replacement (fWAR) puts him on track to surpass his career-high 6.8 mark set in the 2021 season. Despite these outstanding numbers, Soto finds himself a distant third in MVP voting. His timing couldn’t be better, as he’s set to reach free agency for the first time this offseason.

AMERICAN LEAGUE

4. Bobby Witt Jr., SS, Royals

If Bobby Witt Jr. emerged as a star last season, this year marks his transformation into a full-blown superstar. Building on his 117 OPS+ and 5.9 fWAR from last year, Witt has elevated his game to a 153 OPS+ and 5.7 fWAR this season. While he may fall short of last year’s totals of 30 home runs and 49 stolen bases, with 16 home runs and 22 steals so far, his overall game has seen significant improvement. Witt is one of baseball’s most talented players, excelling as a triple threat on offense, at shortstop with 13 Outs Above Average, and on the bases.

AMERICAN LEAGUE

5. Rafael Devers, 3B, Red Sox and José Ramírez, 3B, Guardians

Rounding out the top five is a tie between two of baseball’s longstanding best third basemen. Rafael Devers is enjoying one of his best seasons with a career-high .977 OPS, 166 OPS+, and impressive OBP (.378) and SLG (.599) stats, playing a key role in the Red Sox holding the third AL Wild Card spot at the All-Star break. Meanwhile, José Ramírez continues to produce at a high level, with an .842 OPS, 23 home runs, and 18 steals, remaining a crucial component for the first-place Guardians.

NATIONAL LEAGUE

1. Shohei Ohtani, DH, Dodgers (35 first-place votes)
Much like Judge in the American League, Ohtani is the clear favorite in the Senior Circuit. Despite not throwing a single pitch this year, Ohtani has more than made his MVP case as a dominant force as the Dodgers’ designated hitter. Ohtani has essentially continued where he left off in last year’s AL MVP-winning season for the Angels — the slugger had a 1.066 OPS and 184 OPS+ for the Angels last year and has a 1.036 OPS and 189 OPS+ for the Dodgers in ’24.

2. Bryce Harper, 1B, Phillies (five first-place votes)
Harper has roughly matched his production from his 2021 MVP-winning season with the Phillies and is just one of many excellent players on baseball’s top team. In his first full season as a first baseman, Harper is running a .983 OPS and 174 OPS+ and has crushed 21 home runs. It’s worth noting that Harper hasn’t finished top 10 in MVP voting outside of winning the award in 2015 and ’21, something that seems likely to change this year if he doesn’t win the award.

3. Elly De La Cruz, SS, Reds (one first-place vote)
De La Cruz is one of the most electrifying and entertaining players in baseball history and has put those amazing abilities into a big season for the Reds. The 22-year-old shortstop is only behind Judge, Henderson, Witt, Soto, and Ohtani in terms of fWAR with his.830 OPS, 17 home runs, 46 stolen bases, and 4.4 fWAR. De La Cruz is expected to record an absurd 28 home runs, 77 steals, and 7.4 WAR.

4. Braves’ Marcell Ozuna, DH
With Matt Olson and Austin Riley out of the lineup, Ozuna has taken up the slack for a Braves attack that is lacking Ronald Acuña Jr. With 26 home runs, a.960 OPS, and a strong.581 SLG, Ozuna is sixth in the Majors and has crushed the fourth-most.

5. Brewers’ Christian Yelich, OF
Yelich appears to have reversed course in the last several years, particularly this season, when it appeared that he was phasing out of his best years, which were 2020–2022. Yelich is a top 20 position player by fWAR (3.2), hitting.326/.412/.521 with 11 home runs and 21 stolen bases. Yelich has been a major contributor to Milwaukee’s prolific offensive season, along with Willy Adames, William Contreras, and numerous other Brewers batters.

Other teams that cast votes were the D-backs’ Ketel Marte, the Mets’ Francisco Lindor, the Dodgers’ Freddie Freeman, the Padres’ Jurickson Profar, the Dodgers’ Mookie Betts, the Braves’ Chris Sale, the Padres’ Luis Arraez, the Mets’ Brandon Nimmo, the Dodgers’ Will Smith, the Phillies’ Alec Bohm, the Phillies’ Fernando Tatis Jr., the Padres, Trea Turner, the Phillies, and the Brewers’ Brice Turang.