*Photo from Forbes*
The culmination of baseball's awards week has arrived, with MVP's being crowned. St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Paul Goldschmidt and New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge have been selected as MVP's for 2022, according to an announcement by the BBWAA on Thursday.
Judge takes home his first MVP after finishing as the runner up in 2017 and did it with a historic season. He set the AL single season homer record with 62 while also leading the AL in runs, RBI's, walks, slugging percentage, OPS, OBP, and WAR. He finished second in batting average to fall just short of a triple crown.
In the voting, Judge collected 28 first place votes and two second place votes to secure the win. Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Angels came in second with two first place votes and 28 for second. Yordan Alvarez of the Houston Astros finished in 3rd with 22 votes for 3rd and 8 for 4th place.
By winning the MVP, Judge becomes the first Yankee to claim MVP since Alex Rodriguez won it in 2007. He's also the first Yankee outfielder to win since Mickey Mantle back in 1962. Even better, Judge was playing in a contract year, so he's set to earn quite a bit of money in free agency this winter.
On the NL side, Goldschmidt collected 22 first place votes along with 8 second place votes. San Diego Padres 3rd baseman Manny Machado was in second with 7 first place votes, 13 second place votes, and 7 votes for 3rd place. Cardinals 3rd baseman Nolan Arenado received one first place vote, two second place votes, and 15 votes for 3rd place, with Freddie Freeman and Mookie Betts receiving down ballot consideration.
Goldschmidt won his first MVP this season and has now become the 31st Cardinals player to win the award, the most in the NL and second most in all of baseball, trailing only the Yankees. He was previously a finalist 3 times and was a runner up in two of those 3 times. At age 35, he's the oldest MVP winner since Barry Bonds won in 2004.
He also becomes the 17th first baseman to win the MVP. He led the NL in slugging percentage, OPS, and OPS+, while finishing second in OBP, RBI's, batting average, and total bases. Goldschmidt also has 4 gold gloves, two Hank Aaron awards, and 5 silver sluggers to his name in his MLB career.
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