Major League Baseball

Yankees' Aaron Judge believes Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani is 'the best player in the game'

Updated Oct. 22, 2024 6:18 p.m. ET

The 2024 World Series isn't just a matchup of Major League Baseball's two most famous teams. It also features the two biggest stars in baseball — and this season's two presumptive league MVPs — in Los Angeles Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani and New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge.

One of those stars, Judge, had nothing but praise for his fellow baseball icon Ohtani during the Yankees' media availability Tuesday ahead of the World Series.

Judge chuckled when asked by a reporter what he admires about Ohtani.

"Besides the obvious — I feel like everything's obvious — he hits for average, hits for power, the speed," Judge said. "Doing what he did this year with 50 stolen bases, I know it got talked about a lot, but I don't think it got talked about enough.

"He's just an impressive athlete. The best player in the game. What an ambassador for this sport."

As Judge alluded to, Ohtani stole 59 bases in addition to his 54 home runs in his first full regular season with the Dodgers, becoming the first player in MLB history with a 50-50 season. Ohtani's 54 home runs were more than any other MLB player this season — except for Judge, who hit 58.

This year marks the first time two players who hit 50 or more home runs during the regular season will face each other in the World Series. Additionally, it's only the second World Series in this millennium headlined by both (presumptive) MVPs from the regular season. The only other time that has happened since 2000 was in 2012, when Miguel Cabrera's Detroit Tigers faced Buster Posey's San Francisco Giants.

It is, however, the fifth Yankees/Dodgers World Series to feature that year's regular season MVPs (h/t FanGraphs):

1941: Joe DiMaggio (Yankees) vs. Dolph Camilli (Dodgers)
1955: Yogi Berra (Yankees) vs. Roy Campanella (Dodgers)
1956: Mickey Mantle (Yankees) vs. Don Newcombe (Dodgers)
1963: Elston Howard (Yankees) vs. Sandy Koufax (Dodgers)

The two teams have split those previous four matchups — the Yankees beat their then-crosstown rival Dodgers in 1941 and 1956, while the Dodgers won in 1955 while still in Brooklyn and in 1963 after moving to Los Angeles.

The 2024 World Series begins on Friday at 8 p.m. ET on FOX when the Yankees visit the Dodgers in L.A.