MLB analysts highlight surprising young duo as potential threats to Shohei Ohtani and Aaron Judge’s dominance

Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani have dominated the MLB in the last five years. When the duo were part of the same American League, they had to battle for MVPs, but now that they are separate, they are easily running away with MVP honors, as it went to both these players for the second straight year.

Ohtani and Judge are the only ones in MLB history since Barry Bonds to win 3+ MVPs in a four-season span. This raises the question of whether there is anyone in the league who could potentially dethrone the two at the top.

On Friday, MLB analyst Steve Phillips said Cincinnati Reds shortstop Elle De La Cruz could be the guy in the National League who can potentially have a better season than Ohtani.

"So the way I'm gonna look at it is: it's gotta be a tools-y guy, okay? Someone who can impact the game with both his power and his spee," Phillips said. "We saw Ronald Acuña Jr. a couple years ago -- a 40–70 guy. I'm gonna go with Elly De La Cruz. He has light-tower power -- absolutely light-tower power -- and blazing speed. He's a guy who could be a 50–50 player if he makes more contact and takes his walks."

Meanwhile, on the American League side, Steve Phillips picked Seattle Mariners star Julio Rodriguez, while adding that J-Rod needs to be on the top of his game in both halves to potentially dethrone Aaron Judge from the top.

"It's Julio Rodríguez," Phillips said. "He could be an MVP. I mean, we always see him turn it on in the second half of the season. He's got a career .900 OPS in the second half -- but in the first half, he's down around .737. It takes him a while to get going. Now, we saw him perform in the postseason. This is a guy whose defensive metrics are gonna be there for him -- so if WAR matters, he's gonna be there. "I think he's young enough, like PCA, that the maturity level could come into play -- that now we're gonna get the full 162. J-Rod is the guy that could supplant Aaron Judge."

Shohei Ohtani won NL MVP unanimously while Aaron Judge faced competiton from Cal Raleigh in MVP voting

In 2025, there was no one even near Shohei Ohtani in the NL for MVP. The closest anyone came was Kyle Schwarber, but since he was a designated hitter, he was not given priority by voters against Ohtani, who enjoyed another unanimous selection.

Meanwhile, in the American League, there was a tight race for the AL MVP between Aaron Judge and Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh, who registered the best season ever recorded by a catcher or a switch-hitter.

Despite the great season, Judge still got the favor from voters as he received 17 of the 30 first-place votes, while Raleigh received the other 13.

It remains to be seen if Raleigh has another great season waiting for him in 2026 to finally take the MVP away from Judge. Meanwhile, in NL, it's a herculous task for anyone to take the award away from Ohtani.

Edited by Krutik Jain