Aaron Judge of the Yankees and Shohei Ohtani of the Dodgers, who both led their league’s batters in Box-Toppers points in 2024, won the season’s Most Valuable Player Awards Thursday.
Aaron Judge of the Yankees, left, was voted 2024 American League Most Valuable Player and Shohei Ohtani of the Dodgers, right, was voted 2024 National League Most Valuable Player. Both players also led their league’s batters in Box-Toppers points in 2024.
Judge, who led American League batters with 13.0 Box-Toppers points, won the AL award and Ohtani, who led National League batters with 11.0 Box-Toppers points, won the NL award.
Box-Toppers MVP ballot
Here is a look at Box-Toppers’ 2024 Most Valuable Player ballot selections for the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America (IBWAA) 2024 postseason awards. The ballot requires votes out to 10 places for each league’s top overall player.Players are shown with their team and their Box-Toppers point (BTP) total for 2024.
| AL Most Valuable Player | |||
| Player | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Aaron Judge | Yankees | 13.0 |
| 2 | Juan Soto | Yankees | 11.0 |
| 3 | Tarik Skubal | Tigers | 21.1 |
| 4 | Jose Ramirez | Guardians | 9.9 |
| 5 | Josh Naylor | Guardians | 9.0 |
| 6 | Bobby Witt Jr. | Royals | 8.9 |
| 7 | Luis Gil | Yankees | 17.4 |
| 8 | Ryan Mountcastle | Orioles | 8.0 |
| 9 | Zach Neto | Angels | 8.0 |
| 10 | Bryce Miller | Mariners | 15.7 |
| NL Most Valuable Player | |||
| Player | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Shohei Ohtani | Dodgers | 11.0 |
| 2 | Francisco Lindor | Mets | 10.9 |
| 3 | Zack Wheeler | Phillies | 21.4 |
| 4 | Dylan Cease | Padres | 21.1 |
| 5 | Willy Adames | Brewers | 10.5 |
| 6 | Shota Imanaga | Cubs | 20.7 |
| 7 | Matt Chapman | Giants | 10.2 |
| 8 | Brenton Doyle | Rockies | 9.7 |
| 9 | Chris Sale | Braves | 19.1 |
| 10 | Bryce Harper | Phillies | 8.7 |
While MVP is traditionally a batter's award, it has been awarded to pitchers either when they have a dominant season, no batters particularly rise to the occasion—or both.
A look at AL MVP voting and how candidates fared in Box-Toppers points.
A look at NL MVP voting and how candidates fared in Box-Toppers points.
Voting was done by the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA). The results were the same in the separate vote by the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America (IBWAA), in which Box-Toppers votes.
AL Most Valuable Player
Judge won 30 of the 30 first-place votes for AL MVP.
Judge led all batters with 13.0 Box-Toppers points in 2024 and was first among AL batters and 21st among all players.
Judge led all players in 2024 in home runs (58), runs batted in (144), walks (133), on-base percentage (.458), slugging percentage (.701) and on-base plus slugging percentage (1.159).
He earned Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors 11 times in 2024, including winning AL Batter of the Day honors four times. (He earned 1.0 Box-Toppers point for each Player of the Game honor and 0.5 bonus points for each AL Batter of the Day honor.)
Judge won AL MVP in 2022, but was second that year on Box-Toppers’ AL MVP ballot, behind Shohei Ohtani of the Angels. With Judge’s AL MVP win, it is only the fifth time in 30 seasons that the leading AL batter in Box-Toppers points won the MVP.
Finishing second in AL MVP voting is Bobby Witt Jr. of the Royals, who received all 30 second-place votes. Witt earned 8.9 Box-Toppers points in 2024, fifth among AL batters and sixth on Box-Toppers’ AL MVP ballot.
Finishing in third in AL MVP voting is Judge’s teammate Juan Soto, who is second among AL batters with 11.0 Box-Toppers points. He was also second on Box-Toppers’ AL MVP ballot.
Five of Box-Toppers’ top 10 AL batters were among AL MVP vote-getters. In addition to Judge, Soto and Witt, they are:
Jose Ramirez of the Guardians, who finished fifth in voting. He earned 9.9 Box-Toppers points, third among AL batters and was fourth on Box-Toppers’ AL MVP ballot.
Yordan Alvarez of the Astros, who finished ninth in voting. He earned 7.5 Box-Toppers points, eighth among AL batters.
Five pitchers received votes for AL MVP, including three ranked among the top 10 AL pitchers in Box-Toppers points for 2024:
Tarik Skubal of the Tigers finished seventh in voting. He earned 21.1 Box-Toppers points in 2024, first among AL pitchers and second overall. He also won the AL Cy Young Award this week. He was third on Box-Toppers’ AL MVP ballot.
Framber Valdez of the Astros finished 18th in voting. He earned 15.4 Box-Toppers points in 2024, fifth among AL pitchers.
Seth Lugo of the Royals finished 17th in voting. He earned 14.1 Box-Toppers points in 2024, seventh among AL pitchers.
The AL batter with the most 2024 Box-Toppers points who did not receive AL MVP votes is Josh Naylor of the Guardians, whose 9.0 points was fourth among AL batters.
The AL player with the fewest Box-Toppers points to receive AL MVP votes was Tigers pitcher Tyler Holton, who finished tied for 15th in voting (with one 10th-place vote) and earned 2.0 Box-Toppers points, 107th among AL pitchers.
NL Most Valuable Player
Ohtani, who won 30 of 30 first-place votes for NL MVP, led NL batters with 11.0 Box-Toppers points, 41st among all players.
Despite Ohtani’s 50-home-run, 50-stolen-base season making him the favorite for NL Most Valuable Player, his Box-Toppers point total didn’t reflect that until almost the end of the season. Box-Toppers Daily Scorecard post covering the games of Sept. 27, when Ohtani took the lead among NL batters, chronicles his rise in rankings from Aug. 30 onward, when he earned 7.0 of his 11.0 points for the season. Ohtani was not even ranked among the top 10 NL batters in Box-Toppers points until Sept. 19.
Ohtani led all players in runs (134) and total bases (411) and led NL batters in home runs (54), runs batted in (130), on-base percentage (.390), slugging percentage (.546) and on-base plus slugging percentage (1.036). He was second among NL players in stolen bases (59) and batting average (.310).
He earned Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors 10 times in 2024, including winning NL Batter of the Day honors twice. In a year in which he did not also pitch (after undergoing elbow surgery a year ago), his Box-Toppers point total was lower than it was in his three previous seasons with the Angels:
In 2021, he had 16.1 points (12.1 for pitching, 4.0 for batting).
In 2022, he had 24.7 points (19.7 for pitching, 5.0 for batting).
In 2023, he had 19.4 points (9.7 for pitching, 9.7 for batting).
Ohtani won AL MVP with the Angels in 2021 and 2023. In 2021, Box-Toppers’ choice for the award was Jose Ramirez of Cleveland. Ohtani was our choice in 2022 when Judge won. And in 2023, Ohtani was both Box-Toppers’ choice and the actual award winner.
Finishing second in NL MVP voting is Francisco Lindor of the Mets. Lindor finished just behind Ohtani in 2024 Box-Toppers points with 10.9 and was also ranked second on Box-Toppers’ NL MVP ballot.
Finishing third in NL MVP voting is Ketel Marte of the Diamondbacks. He earned 7.0 Box-Toppers points in 2024, 12th among NL batters. Marte was not among the 10 players on Box-Toppers’ NL MVP ballot.
Seven of Box-Toppers’ top 10 NL batters were among NL MVP vote-getters. In addition to Ohtani and Lindor, they are:
Marcell Ozuna of the Braves, who finished fourth in NL MVP voting. He earned 7.5 Box-Toppers points in 2024, ninth among NL batters.
Bryce Harper of the Phillies, who finished sixth in NL MVP voting. He earned 8.7 Box-Toppers points in 2024, sixth among NL batters. Harper ranked 10th on Box-Toppers’ NL MVP ballot.
Willy Adames of the Brewers, who finished 10th in NL MVP voting. He earned 10.5 Box-Toppers points in 2024, third among NL batters. Adames ranked fifth on Box-Toppers’ NL MVP ballot.
Matt Chapman of the Giants, who finished 11th in NL MVP voting. He earned 10.2 Box-Toppers points in 2024, fourth among NL batters. Chapman ranked seventh on Box-Toppers’ NL MVP ballot.
Kyle Schwarber of the Phillies, who finished 15th in NL MVP voting. He earned 8.5 Box-Toppers points in 2024, seventh among NL batters.
Four pitchers received votes for NL MVP, all of whom ranked among Box-Toppers’ top 10 pitchers in 2024:
Chris Sale of the Braves finished seventh in voting. He earned 19.1 Box-Toppers points in 2024, fourth among NL pitchers. He won the NL Cy Young Award this week. He was ninth on Box-Toppers’ NL MVP ballot.
Zack Wheeler of the Phillies finished 12th in voting. He earned 21.4 Box-Toppers points in 2024, most among all players. He was third on Box-Toppers’ NL MVP ballot.
Paul Skenes of the Pirates finished 19th in voting. He earned 13.0 Box-Toppers points in 2024, 10th among NL pitchers. He won the NL Rookie of the Year Award this week.
Dylan Cease of the Padres finished tied for 22nd in voting. He earned 21.1 Box-Toppers points in 2024, third among NL pitchers. He was fourth on Box-Toppers’ NL MVP ballot.
The NL batter with the most 2024 Box-Toppers points who did not receive NL MVP votes is Brenton Doyle of the Rockies, whose 9.7 points was fifth among NL batters.
The NL player with the fewest Box-Toppers points to receive NL MVP votes was Luis Arraez of the Padres, who finished 18th in voting and earned 2.0 Box-Toppers points, 98th among NL batters.
A Box-Toppers first
This is the first time in the 30 seasons of Box-Toppers tracking that the Box-Toppers points leader in each league both won their league’s Most Valuable Player award.
Frankly, batters leading their league in Box-Toppers points do not have a great track record of winning Most Valuable Player awards. Previous to 2024, only five batters who led the NL in Box-Toppers points won an NL MVP and only four batters who led the AL in Box-Toppers points won an AL MVP. Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995.
Here is a list of previous MVP winners who also led their league’s batters in Box-Toppers points that season:
American League
2007—Alex Rodriguez, Yankees, 18.9 Box-Toppers points.
2013—Miguel Cabrera, Tigers, 16.9 points.
2022—Aaron Judge, Yankees, 13.2 points.
2023—Shohei Ohtani, Angels, 19.4 points.
National League
1997—Larry Walker, Rockies, 18.5 points.
2002—Barry Bonds, Giants, 20.7 points.
2008—Albert Pujols, Cardinals, 15.2 points.
2009—Albert Pujols, Cardinals, 16.7 points.
2018—Christian Yelich, Brewers, 11.5 points.
While the Box-Toppers points leader among AL batters has only won MVP five times now in 30 years, they have done it for three straight seasons. However, the results for 2022 and 2023 do have some Shohei-related caveats:
In 2022, while Judge led AL batters and was voted AL MVP, Box-Toppers choice that year for AL MVP was Ohtani, mostly for his pitching prowess that season. (Ohtani finished second in official voting.)
In 2023, Ohtani earned his 19.4 points for both pitching and batting. He earned 9.7 of his points for batting, which by itself would rank third among AL batters. But since he earned half of his points for batting, Ohtani qualified to rank among both pitchers and batters and his full point total was reflected in his ranking among AL batters.
Judge, Ohtani win in IBWAA MVP voting
Box-Toppers votes for postseason awards as a member of the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America (IBWAA), who also picked Judge and Ohtani as MVPs.
American League:
1st Place: Aaron Judge, Yankees—501 points
2nd Place: Bobby Witt Jr., Royals—379 points
3rd Place: Gunnar Henderson, Orioles—254 points
National League:
1st Place: Shohei Ohtani, Dodgers—575 points
2nd Place: Francisco Lindor, Mets—332 points
3rd Place: Ketel Marte, Diamondbacks—213 points
IBWAA members include more than 800 baseball writers and content creators. Voting for full-season awards takes place prior to the start of the postseason each year, with selections announced in November.
About Box-Toppers
Box-Toppers tracks who most helps their team win the most games. Using standard box score statistics, Box-Toppers uses a simple formula to determine a Player of the Game for each Major League Baseball game played. That player is the person who contributed most to his team’s win. In regular season games, players earn 1.0 Box-Toppers point for being named Player of the Game and can earn bonus points for being Player of the Day or top player or batter in their league for the day.
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Related
American League Most Valuable Player Award voting
Aaron Judge of the Yankees was voted AL Most Valuable Player. Below are the AL players in order of their voting finish, shown with their first- through 10th-place votes and their voting points total. Also shown are each player’s Box-Toppers points (BTP) for 2024 and their rank among AL batters (except in the case of pitchers, denoted with †, in which case their rank among AL pitcher is shown).| 1st-10th place votes | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AL player | Team | Pos | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th | 8th | 9th | 10th | Points | BTP | Rank | |
| 1 | Aaron Judge | Yankees | dh cf | 30 | 420 | 13.0 | 1 | |||||||||
| 2 | Bobby Witt Jr. | Royals | ss | 30 | 270 | 8.9 | 5 | |||||||||
| 3 | Juan Soto | Yankees | rf | 21 | 7 | 2 | 229 | 11.0 | 2 | |||||||
| 4 | Gunnar Henderson | Orioles | ss | 6 | 16 | 8 | 208 | 6.0 | 16 | |||||||
| 5 | José Ramírez | Guardians | 3b | 3 | 5 | 16 | 5 | 1 | 184 | 9.9 | 3 | |||||
| 6 | Vladimir Guerrero Jr. | Blue Jays | 1b dh | 2 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 7 | 3 | 99 | 5.0 | 21 | ||||
| 7 | Tarik Skubal | Tigers | pi sp | 1 | 9 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 93 | 21.1 | 1† | ||||
| 8 | Jarren Duran | Red Sox | lf cf | 1 | 5 | 6 | 9 | 3 | 1 | 90 | 2.5 | 68 | ||||
| 9 | Yordan Alvarez | Astros | dh | 2 | 4 | 3 | 6 | 4 | 5 | 75 | 7.5 | 8 | ||||
| 10 | Brent Rooker | Athletics | dh | 1 | 3 | 10 | 7 | 40 | 6.5 | 13 | ||||||
| 11 | Emmanuel Clase | Guardians | pi cp | 5 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 36 | 4.0 | 70† | ||||||
| 12 | Cal Raleigh | Mariners | ca | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 12 | 6.2 | 14 | ||||||
| 13 | Rafael Devers | Red Sox | 3b | 1 | 1 | 5 | 5.0 | 20 | ||||||||
| 14 | Anthony Santander | Orioles | rf | 1 | 1 | 4 | 6.5 | 12 | ||||||||
| 15 | Jose Altuve | Astros | 2b | 1 | 1 | 4.0 | 35 | |||||||||
| 15 | Tyler Holton | Tigers | pi sp mr | 1 | 1 | 2.0 | 107† | |||||||||
| 15 | Seth Lugo | Royals | pi sp | 1 | 1 | 14.1 | 7† | |||||||||
| 15 | Corey Seager | Rangers | ss dh | 1 | 1 | 3.5 | 44 | |||||||||
| 15 | Framber Valdez | Astros | pi sp | 1 | 1 | 15.4 | 5† | |||||||||
† When an AL pitcher received MVP votes, their Box-Toppers ranking is shown among AL pitchers.
National League Most Valuable Player Award voting
Shohei Ohtani of the Dodgers was voted NL Most Valuable Player. Below are the NL players in order of their voting finish, shown with their first- through 10th-place votes and their voting points total. Also shown are each player’s Box-Toppers points (BTP) for 2024 and their rank among NL batters (except in the case of pitchers, denoted with †, in which case their rank among NL pitcher is shown).| 1st-10th place votes | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NL player | Team | Pos | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th | 8th | 9th | 10th | Points | BTP | Rank | |
| 1 | Shohei Ohtani | Dodgers | dh | 30 | 420 | 11.0 | 1 | |||||||||
| 2 | Francisco Lindor | Mets | ss | 23 | 7 | 263 | 10.9 | 2 | ||||||||
| 3 | Ketel Marte | D-backs | 2b | 5 | 13 | 9 | 2 | 1 | 229 | 7.0 | 12 | |||||
| 4 | Marcell Ozuna | Braves | dh | 1 | 6 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 134 | 7.5 | 9 | |
| 5 | William Contreras | Brewers | ca dh | 3 | 4 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 132 | 4.2 | 45 | ||
| 6 | Bryce Harper | Phillies | 1b | 4 | 9 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 130 | 8.7 | 6 | |||
| 7 | Chris Sale | Braves | pi sp | 1 | 5 | 7 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 99 | 19.1 | 4† | |||
| 8 | Elly De La Cruz | Reds | ss | 4 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 89 | 5.0 | 26 | |||
| 9 | Jackson Merrill | Padres | cf | 2 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 57 | 5.0 | 34 | ||||
| 10 | Willy Adames | Brewers | ss | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 54 | 10.5 | 3 | |||
| 11 | Matt Chapman | Giants | 3b | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 37 | 10.2 | 4 | ||||
| 12 | Zack Wheeler | Phillies | pi sp | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 31 | 21.4 | 1† | |||||
| 13 | Mookie Betts | Dodgers | ss rf | 1 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 24 | 3.5 | 59 | ||||||
| 14 | Jurickson Profar | Padres | lf | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 23 | 4.5 | 41 | ||||||
| 15 | Kyle Schwarber | Phillies | dh | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 15 | 8.5 | 7 | ||||||
| 16 | Manny Machado | Padres | 3b dh | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 12 | 7.0 | 13 | ||||||
| 17 | Freddie Freeman | Dodgers | 1b | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 5.5 | 23 | |||||||
| 18 | Luis Arraez | Padres | 2b 1b | 1 | 1 | 4 | 2.0 | 98 | ||||||||
| 19 | Paul Skenes | Pirates | pi sp | 1 | 3 | 13 | 10† | |||||||||
| 19 | Teoscar Hernández | Dodgers | rf | 1 | 3 | 5.0 | 31 | |||||||||
| 19 | Ezequiel Tovar | Rockies | ss | 1 | 1 | 3 | 5.7 | 21 | ||||||||
| 22 | Jackson Chourio | Brewers | rf lf | 1 | 1 | 5.7 | 22 | |||||||||
| 22 | Dylan Cease | Padres | pi sp | 1 | 1 | 21.1 | 3† | |||||||||
† When an NL pitcher received MVP votes, their Box-Toppers ranking is shown among NL pitchers.