All rise for the MVP.
Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees was named American League Most Valuable Player for the second time in his career on Thursday.
Judge -- who also won the award in 2022 -- was the unanimous winner, topping fellow finalists Juan Soto of the Yankees and Bobby Witt Jr. of the Kansas City Royals.
When Judge was last named MVP, he was coming off a season in which he set a new AL single-season record with 62 home runs. He managed to top that campaign with his overall performance in 2024.
Get top local stories in San Diego delivered to you every morning. Sign up for NBC San Diego's News Headlines newsletter.
Judge hit a career best .322 and led the league with 58 home runs, becoming the fifth player in MLB history to hit 50-plus home runs in three different seasons, and had 144 RBIs, the most of any player in a single season since 2008. He also topped the league in walks (133), on-base percentage (.458) and slugging percentage (.701).
The 32-year-old led the Yankees to the top record in the American League at 94-68 and helped them advance to the World Series for the first time in his nine-year career.
Judge was unable to replicate his regular season dominance in the playoffs, hitting just .184 with three home runs and nine RBIs over 14 games.
The MVP award, however, was voted on by members of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America based on regular-season success, a measure by which Judge was the clear choice.
Judge received all 30 first-place votes for a total of 420 points. Witt Jr. was the runner up, with 30 second-place votes for 270 points. Soto was third with 21 third-place votes for 229 points.
Soto, in his first and perhaps only season with the Yankees after being acquired in an offseason trade with the San Diego Padres, slashed .288/.419/.569, hit 41 home runs, drove in 109 runs and scored an AL-best 128 runs. He set career highs in hits (166), runs scored and homers.
Witt Jr., who led the Royals' turnaround from a 106-loss team to a postseason contender, prevented Judge from winning the Triple Crown by topping the American League with a .332 batting average. The 24-year-old hit 32 home runs and 109 RBIs while helping the Royals clinch their first postseason berth since 2015.
Judge was the second award-winner of the week for the Yankees, following Luis Gil, who was named AL Rookie of the Year on Monday.
Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani claimed the NL MVP after a historic campaign of his own.
