To what should be a surprise no one, Aaron Judge is the MLB’s 2022 AL MVP winner. The Yankees slugger had a truly historic season, and arguably the best since Barry Bonds in the early 2000s. Judge famously broke a 61-year-old home run record set by another Yankee, Roger Maris, in 1961. Judge’s 62 home runs are the most ever in AL history and by a non-steroid user.

Judge didn’t just hit home runs, as he led the AL in RBIS (131), slugging percentage (.686), on-base percentage (.425), OPS (1.111) and total bases (391). Judge was also five points shy of winning the AL triple crown with a batting average of .311.

Judge was the runner-up in the 2017 AL MVP voting to Jose Altuve in the same year he unanimously won AL Rookie of the Year. He is the first Yankee to win the MVP since Alex Rodriguez did back in 2007. Judge is also the first Yankees outfielder to win since Roger Maris won it in 1961 the same year he hit 61 homers.

Judge really separated himself from the competition after the All-Star break as he was really the only source of offense for the Yankees. Judge hit 33 of his 62 homers from July to the end of the season, and broke the record on Oct. 4th, in just the second-to-last game of the season.

Judge received 28 of 30 first place votes with Los Angeles Angels star Shohei Ohtani receiving the other two. Ohtani finished second overall in voting, while Houston Astro’s Yordan Alvarez finished third.

While Judge did struggle in the postseason with another crushing defeat to the Houston Astros in the ALCS, he definitely deserves this award since it is a regular season award, and Judge had a legendary season. Even with the poor postseason performance, Judge should command a huge contract as he is currently a free agent. Him being able to say he is now the AL MVP should help with his negotiations as he seeks a record-breaking contract.