Shohei Ohtani-Aaron Judge rivalry culminates in historic World Series meeting
LOS ANGELES — Aaron Judge paused for a moment as he considered a question this week. The Yankees slugger, whose 2022 MVP season was sandwiched in between two from Shohei Ohtani, was asked this week what he admires about his award-winning counterpart "other than the obvious."
A smile began to form across his face.
"Other than the obvious?" Judge repeated with a chuckle before continuing. "I feel like everything's obvious. He hits for average. He hits for power. The speed, doing what he did this year with the 50 stolen bases, it got talked about a lot, but I don't think it got talked about enough. He's an impressive athlete, the best player in the game, and what an ambassador for the sport."
Ohtani said Thursday, a day before he faces off in a star-studded World Series against the man who paid him the compliment, that he was honored by Judge’s words.
Most years, no one could question Judge’s proclamation. Because most years, no one in the sport could hit a baseball more than 450 feet while spinning a wicked sweeper and firing triple-digit heat off the mound, the way Ohtani can when he’s functioning at full capacity.
This year, though, with that latter ability removed from the equation, the title of "best player in the game" is at least up for debate. Unable to pitch, Ohtani still offered a compelling case by delivering MLB’s first ever 50/50 season, finishing his first year with the Dodgers with 54 homers and 59 steals. He led all players in runs scored and total bases in a career year offensively and will soon become the first full-time DH to win MVP.
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"He stays through the zone for such a long time," Judge said. "Even when you think you got him, you don’t got him."
Judge, meanwhile, outpaced Ohtani in every slash line category and led all qualified players in homers, RBIs, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, OPS, walks and WAR, among a number of statistics. He finished just four home runs shy of the AL-record mark that he set two seasons ago.
As staggering as his .701 slugging percentage was, Judge's career-high .322 batting average was just as noteworthy to Ohtani.
"Although I’m not as tall as him, I can relate to the fact that being a taller, bigger player, your strike zone’s going to be naturally bigger," Ohtani said through interpreter Will Ireton. "For him to post a high batting average, he has to be very efficient with what he does, so I’m very impressed at how he’s been able to do both — hit for average and hit for power."
In doing so, Judge has built a strong case as the best player in the sport this season, even if that's a title he has already ceded to Ohtani, who will finish the year strictly as a DH. (Despite the progress Ohtani has made in his throwing program this year, manager Dave Roberts confirmed Thursday that there's "no possibility" he pitches in this Fall Classic.)
But the Ohtani-Judge relationship is one of mutual admiration. Any "rivalry" dredged up between the two was always friendly and circumstantial, based solely on the fact they were often competing for the same top honor.
With the two stars now in different leagues, though, it’s a distinction that doesn’t need to be made. They both made a run at a triple crown, and they’re both the runaway favorites to win MVP in their respective leagues, which is one of the many facets that sets this star-studded World Series apart.
"We had our battles throughout the regular season over the years when he was with the Angels," Judge said. "It was kind of back and forth, seeing him hit homers over my head and having some good series. But getting a chance to be on the biggest stage in the biggest moments, I think that’s going to be pretty cool to watch."
Juan Soto, already a four-time All-Star and World Series champion, turned 26 years old Friday and could make upward of $600 million in a couple of months. Mookie Betts is an eight-time All-Star and former MVP capable of playing either middle infield spot in addition to right field, where he won six Gold Gloves and is back playing after starting the year at shortstop. Freddie Freeman is an MVP, too, a year removed from leading the majors in doubles. Gerrit Cole, last year's AL Cy Young Award winner, will take the mound Friday at the same venue where his teammate and fellow Southern California native Giancarlo Stanton, another former MVP, was named the 2022 All-Star Game MVP.
If Freeman is able to suit up, as he intends to do on his hobbled ankle Friday at Dodger Stadium, it will mark the first time ever that five MVPs appear in a World Series. It could have been six had a toe injury not sidelined Clayton Kershaw for the season.
And yet, in this juggernaut championship matchup, the likes of which the sport has never seen, none of those talents are even the most highly-regarded superstars on their respective teams.
Because this World Series — in addition to featuring the two top seeds in each league, from the two most populous cities in the country, in the first Fall Classic between the Dodgers and Yankees in 43 years — will feature Judge and Ohtani, baseball’s two premier talents on the sport’s pinnacle in a premier matchup that will draw the attention of millions, whether they love or hate the teams they’re watching.
You’d have to go back to Duke Snider’s Dodgers and Mickey Mantle’s Yankees, back in 1956 when the former team was still in Brooklyn, to find the last time a World Series was played with the home run leader from each league.
"You’re talking about two of the classic franchises, two teams that have the sport’s biggest stars," Max Muncy said. "On our team, you’ve got Shohei, Freddie, Mookie. On their team, you’ve got Aaron Judge, Giancarlo, Juan Soto. You’re talking about the absolute biggest stars in the game, and now they’re going to be playing on the biggest stage? As a fan, how special is this, man?"
It’s been 12 years since the presumptive MVPs from each league battled in a World Series, when Buster Posey faced Miguel Cabrera in 2012. That year, both AL wild-card teams had more wins than Cabrera’s Detroit Tigers, while Posey's San Francisco Giants had the fewest wins of the three NL division winners.
That won’t be the case when Ohtani’s Dodgers and Judge’s Yankees, the two best teams in the sport this season, meet in the World Series for the first time since 1981. They’re not exact replicas of each other, especially considering the status of the Dodgers’ ravaged starting rotation, but their strategies for offensive success are similar. They homered more than any team in their respective leagues. They also chased less and walked more than any other teams in the majors.
And they were carried by the most prolific offensive forces in the game.
"Obviously, I’ve gotten to see Aaron now for seven years, got to know him well," Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. "Just the reverence I have for the person, excited that he’s going to get to go be on this stage. Of course, I know playing against Shohei what an amazing talent he is, and obviously going to the Dodgers this year and having the kind of season he’s put out there, I think it’s great for the sport, great for baseball."
The Dodgers designated hitter has dominated the sport since coming all the way back from his first Tommy John surgery. He hit 46 homers and went 9-2 with a 3.18 ERA in an MVP 2021 season. Judge followed by passing Roger Maris for an AL-best 62 home runs in an MVP 2022 season. Ohtani answered back last year, still thriving on the mound while enjoying a career year at the plate to earn his second MVP.
But despite all the success, Ohtani had never been to the playoffs before this year. And Judge, for all that power and production, had never gotten the Yankees to the World Series. He also, to this point, hasn’t replicated his usual offensive output when the calendar flips to October.
Both have a chance to write new chapters in their prolific careers, the way the Yankees captain imagined when he decided to stay in pinstripes and the way Ohtani envisioned when he joined the Dodgers on a record deal this offseason, a year after winning the World Baseball Classic for Team Japan.
"He’s such a great ambassador for this game," Judge said. "He plays the game the right way. You see him hustling around the diamond, I think that sets such a great example for our youth and all the kids that are going to be watching this series. So, definitely looking forward to this."
Rowan Kavner is an MLB writer for FOX Sports. He previously covered the L.A. Dodgers, LA Clippers and Dallas Cowboys. An LSU grad, Rowan was born in California, grew up in Texas, then moved back to the West Coast in 2014. Follow him on Twitter at @RowanKavner.
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