In a surprising outcome, Shohei Ohtani finished a distant third in Baseball Digest's overall MLB MVP voting, won decisively by Baltimore Orioles catcher Adley Rutschman, with Aaron Judge taking second place.

The Rutschman and Judge Dominance

The vote, conducted by 24 experts, was not close. Rutschman, who set a new catcher home run record and became the seventh player in history to hit 60 homers in a season, received half of all first-place votes. Yankees slugger Aaron Judge, who won his first batting title with a .331 average while also smashing 53 home runs a feat only accomplished twice before ranked second. His league-leading WAR of 10.1 solidified his case.

Ohtani's Stellar But Runner-Up Season

Ohtani, the favorite for the National League MVP, had another phenomenal year. As a hitter, he blasted 55 home runs and led the NL with a 1.014 OPS. On the mound, he posted a 2.87 ERA over 14 starts. Despite this two-way dominance, it was not enough to top the historic offensive seasons of his American League counterparts in this particular cross-league evaluation.

The result highlights the incredible depth of talent in the majors and sets the stage for the official league-specific MVP awards later this year, where Oshu is still the heavy favorite to win in the National League.