The MLB has been nothing short of captivating in 2023. Ronald Acuna Jr. has set the world on fire, approaching a 40/40 season and leading one of the best lineups in MLB history. Shohei Ohtani has elevated his his game on both ends, on pace for 50 HRs and a top ten Cy Young finish. Matt Olson has decided to continue his "be amazing every-other-year" pattern and is probably going to win the NL HR title. The MLB is loaded with talent, but no hitter is as talented as the one who won AL MVP last season.
Aaron Judge was must-watch TV last season, which isn't particularly common in the sport of Baseball. But when a 6'8 outfielder with the athleticism of a greek god comes along and starts hitting massive dongs at a Bonds-esque rate, people start paying attention. Hitting 62 HRs with a remarkable 1.111 OPS and compiling 10.6 bWAR, Judge easily won MVP over an extremely strong campaign from Ohtani.
Fast forward to the 2023 campaign and Judge is nowhere to be found in MVP conversations. If you don't follow baseball too much, maybe you're unaware that Judge decided to make a spectacular play in center-field at Dodger stadium which resulted in him crashing through a bullpen gate and smashing his toe against concrete. This costed him a lengthy stint on the IL and derailed what could have been another MVP campaign and HR title. Judge currently has 28 HRs in 320 PAs (plate appearances), good for a HR every 11.42 ABs. Last season, he hit 62 HRs in 696 PAs, good for a HR every 11.22 ABs. That's right, Aaron Judge is playing at the same pace as his historic, arguable GOATed offensive 2022 campaign.
Had Judge not spent 2 months on the IL, he would almost certainly be the HR leader by a fairly wide margin. It's likely that he wouldn't win MVP, though, as Ohtani has taken a jump both on the mound and in the batter's box, compiling more WAR than ever. Still, it would have been extremely entertaining and good for the sport if the Dodgers had just covered that concrete with padding (which they've since done.) We'll never know what could have been, and it's unfortunate that Shohei won't pitch next season after injuring his UCL, because we'll once again miss out on two stars at their peak racing for MVP. Who knows, maybe Shohei will take another leap as a hitter and give Judge a run for his money without needing to rack up WAR on the mound.
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