By Frederic J. Frommer<\/p>\n
We are witnessing something truly transcendent in baseball\u2019s dynamic duo of superstars, Shohei Ohtani and Aaron Judge, who this month both won the MVP for the second straight season.<\/p>\n
In an era of specialization, both are unique double-threats. Ohtani, of course, is a two-way star, excelling as a hitter and pitcher in a way that no one has since Babe Ruth more than a century ago. This season, the Dodgers designated hitter\/pitcher smashed 55 home runs while posting a 2.87 ERA to win the National League MVP\u2014giving him two in each league\u2014while helping lead Los Angeles to its second straight World Series title.<\/p>\n
No one else in baseball has that kind of overall game, but Judge\u2019s combination of power and ability to hit for average is also remarkable, especially in today\u2019s game when players often sacrifice batting average for power. In 2025, while earning his third American League MVP, the Yankees star slugged 53 homers<\/a> while hitting an MLB-best .331<\/a>\u201420 points higher than anyone else (Bo Bichette of the Blue Jays and Jacob Wilson of the A\u2019s finished tied for second at .311). Judge\u2019s feat would have been excellent in any year, but especially so in a season when the sport\u2019s overall average was just .245<\/a>.<\/p>\n He was one of only seven players to bat over .300<\/a>, which has become a lost art in modern baseball<\/a>. Judge dominated MLB\u2019s leaderboards<\/a>, topping the sport in wins above replacement (9.7), on-base percentage (.457), slugging (.688) and OPS (1.144), in addition to batting average.<\/p>\n Ohtani, meanwhile, led baseball<\/a> in runs scored (146), total bases (380), and extra base hits (89), while topping the NL<\/a> in slugging (.622) and OPS (1.014). And after taking a year off from pitching following 2023 elbow surgery<\/a>, he struck out 62<\/a> batters in 47 innings.<\/p>\n Excluding his 2020 season, when he tossed just 1 2\/3 inning, Ohtani now has pitched five seasons\u2014matching Babe Ruth\u2019s five full seasons on the mound. Ruth, Ohtani\u2019s only true comp in baseball history, pretty much gave up pitching after joining the Yankees in 1920, finishing with a lifetime 2.28 ERA<\/a>. Ohtani\u2019s is 3.00.<\/p>\n Back when they both played in the American League, Ohtani and Judge alternated MVP awards<\/a>\u2014with Ohtani winning in 2021 and 2023, and Judge taking the honors in 2022. The award, befitting its name, doesn\u2019t necessarily recognize the best player in each league, and usually goes to a player on a team that at least makes the playoffs. But Ohtani was so great that he won it for a pair of Angels teams that finished in fourth place, eight games under .500 in 2021 and 16 games under in 2023.<\/p>\n After Ohtani signed with the Dodgers as a free agent ahead of the \u201924 season, the two superstars didn\u2019t have to share the award anymore. Over the past two years, they have imposed an MVP duopoly on the sport. Ohtani\u2019s 2025 MVP was his third consecutive and fourth in five seasons \u2013 each one unanimously<\/a>.<\/p>\n The two players have now won a combined seven MVPs\u201470 percent of the trophies in a sport that features a boatload of talented players, such as Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh<\/a>, who finished second to Judge after hitting 60 home runs this season.<\/p>\n \u201cThe last time we\u2019ve seen a pair dominate their sport like this is when Magic Johnson and Larry Bird won six out of seven NBA MVP Awards in the 1980s,\u201d Tom Verducci observed in a recent <\/a>Sports Illustrated<\/a> story<\/a>.<\/p>\n In the postseason, Ohtani had a pair of games that reinforced his status as the greatest player in baseball history. In Los Angeles\u2019s pennant-winning Game 4 victory over the Brewers in the National League Championship Series<\/a>, he dominated a game like no one before him. On the mound, Ohtani threw six scoreless innings and struck out 10 batters. Sixty-feet and six inches away, he smashed three home runs. And of course he won the NLCS MVP. Then in LA\u2019s 18-inning Game 3 World Series victory<\/a> over the Blue Jays, he went 4-for-4 with five walks, all but one intentional \u2013 reaching base an astounding nine times in nine trips to the plate.<\/p>\n As ESPN\u2019s Jeff Passan wrote, Ohtani\u2019s NLCS performance<\/a> \u201cwas the sort of necessary reminder that one of the greatest athletes in the world, and the most talented baseball player ever, is playing right now, doing unfathomable things, redefining the game in real time.\u201d<\/p>\n Frederic J. Frommer, a writer and sports and politics historian, has written for the Washington Post, the New York Times, the Atlantic, History.com and other national publications. A former Associated Press reporter, Frommer is the author of several books, including \u201cYou Gotta Have Heart: Washington Baseball from Walter Johnson to the 2019 World Series Champion Nationals<\/a>.\u201d Follow him on X<\/a>.<\/p>\n