New York Yankees superstar Aaron Judge cruised to his second career AL MVP last season, winning the award unanimously. The Bronx bomber led the majors in just about every meaningful offensive category in 2024 as he and one-year rental Juan Soto dragged New York to the World Series. But Kansas City Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. impressed as well, easily edging out Soto for second in MVP voting.
Despite Judge’s continued dominance as he enters his age-33 season, a passing of the torch could be on the horizon. Witt Jr. surprisingly surpassed Judge as the betting favorite to take home AL MVP honors in 2025, according to FanDuel.
The sports betting behemoth now gives Wittt Jr. +270 odds to win the award while Judge is right behind him at +300, per FanDuel. After the top two American League players, there’s a bit of dropoff. The Orioles’ Gunnar Heenderrson is next with +750 followed by the Rangers’ Corey Seager at +1000 and the Astros’ Yordan Alvarez at +1400.
Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. takes over as favorite for 2025 AL MVP
Last season Judge led all of MLB in WAR (10.8), home runs (58), RBI (144), walks (133), OBP (.458), slugging percentage (.701), OPS (1.159), OPS+ (223) and rOBA (.484). He was tops in the American League with 392 total bases, trailing only Shohei Ohtani’s MLB-leading 411 total bags.
Meanwhile, Witt Jr. infused Royals fans with hope for the first time in years. The third-year pro led Kansas City to its first playoff appearance in nine seasons. The Royals even won the Wild Card series against the Orioles before falling to the Yankees in the Division round.
Witt Jr. continued his ascent to stardom, winning his first batting title, making his first All-Star Game and earning his first Gold Glove. He also made MLB history, becoming the first player to ever hit 20 or more home runs and steal 20 or more bases each of his first three seasons. He would finish the year as the only shortstop to ever have multiple 30/30 seasons.
Despite Witt Jr.’s incredible individual success, which was a major catalyst for the overall team success, the 24-year-old slugger was listed as just the fourth-best shortstop in baseball according to MLB Network. Henderson, Seager and Francisco Lindor were all listed above him and he came in just one spot ahead of Mookie Betts, who’s spent the vast majority of his career not playing shortstop.
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