Though baseball has a deep history, few names have transcended eras. The names that come instantly to mind when one thinks of partnerships are Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig. What must the fans feel while looking at these two New York Yankees legend performances? At least a partial glimpse of it can be seen today in Aaron Judge and the newly arrived Juan Soto. The two Yankees also happen to be frontrunners for the AL MVP award.

Yes, one simply can’t touch what Ruth and Gehrig did from 1927 to 1933. The legendary duo topped 1.000 OPS in each of those years. In baseball doing that even once is considered an elite performance, so to do that 7 times is absurd. However, Soto and Judge are quite close (both are over 1.000 this season). Perhaps that’s why despite brilliant performances from other players, New York Post’s Jon Heyman continues to favor the duo for the AL MVP award.

“The AL MVP in reality…Is either slugging center fielder Aaron Judge or slugging right fielder Juan Soto,” Jon Heyman said in his recent article. It isn’t a new prediction, in fact, it’s not even a surprising one. Since the end of May, it has been felt all across the baseball world that the New York Yankees’ dynamic duo could well be no.1 and no.2 in AL MVP rankings.

One can’t deny that the AL has seen brilliant performances from other players too. From Gunnar Henderson completely living up to his potential to Bobby Witt Jr’s unreal consistency, there is no dearth of talent here. But as Heyman noted, Aaron Judge and Juan Soto almost universally hold the top two positions in nearly every metric. 

From OPS to slugging to OPS+, there is no peer to Aaron Judge other than Juan Soto. And All Rise knows that too. Perhaps that’s why when Heyman asked him about the AL MVP, he had an interesting answer.

Aaron Judge continues to be a Juan Soto fan as competition intensifies

Aaron Judge has continuously shared one thought with reporters – without Juan Soto he wouldn’t be flying as high. That’s what he once again said when talking to Jon Heyman. “Juan’s definitely got my vote based on what he’s done all year, coming up big to making great defensive plays,” Judge said to Heyman. “The guy’s always on base for me. He makes my job a lot easier. He and Volpe are the engine of this offense.” 

Those comments again show just how good of a leader Aaron Judge is. Despite going through a historical run himself, he still finds ways to push his teammates forward. Though the odds now heavily favor Judge (Why wouldn’t they? His May was historical and June is going even better), one knows that we aren’t even halfway through the season. With Soto’s deadly consistency, one can’t imagine how high the two will be flying by the end of September.