Shohei Ohtani's fourth MVP award was announced Thursday, but the race was effectively decided in September or even earlier. The same can't be said for the American League's edition of the award.
New York Yankees star Aaron Judge had to sweat out the vote totals all the way until Thursday's announcement, when he narrowly won his third AL MVP award over Seattle Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh.
Ohtani and Judge became the first pair of players to win back-to-back MVP awards together, earning the award in 2024 and 2025.
Here's a closer look at the vote totals in both the AL and NL.
MORE: Full list of winners, finalists for 2025 MLB Awards
How did Aaron Judge win AL MVP?
Many expected the AL MVP race to come down to a few votes, and that's exactly what happened. Judge received 17 of 30 first-place votes to Raleigh's 13, earning 20 more points than Raleigh overall. No voter placed Judge or Raleigh lower than second on their ballot.
The debate between Judge and Raleigh came down to a few factors. Judge was fairly decisively the better all-around hitter, beating out Raleigh by a comfortable margin in OPS, OPS+ and batting average, but Raleigh's combination of an MLB-leading 60 home runs, strong defensive work behind the plate and leading the Mariners to a rare division title (albeit with fewer wins than the Yankees) intrigued voters.
The question of voter fatigue was also part of the conversation, but if it was a factor, there wasn't enough of it to prevent Judge from winning his third MVP award.
MORE: Key stats in Aaron Judge vs. Cal Raleigh MVP debate
AL MVP votes
Here are the top five finishers in AL MVP voting and their vote breakdown:
| Player | Aaron Judge | Cal Raleigh | Jose Ramirez | Bobby Witt Jr. | Tarik Skubal |
| 1st place | 17 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2nd place | 13 | 17 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 3rd place | 0 | 0 | 19 | 9 | 1 |
| 4th place | 0 | 0 | 6 | 19 | 2 |
| 5th place | 0 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 7 |
| 6th place | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 |
| 7th place | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| 8th place | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| 9th place | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 10th place | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 355 | 335 | 224 | 215 | 139 |
As expected, no one placed Judge or Raleigh lower than second on their ballot. Had exactly two more Judge voters flipped to Raleigh, that means the two would have finished in a tie for MVP.
Jose Ramirez edged out Bobby Witt Jr. For third place, while Tarik Skubal was the highest-finishing pitcher in either league's MVP voting.
How did Shohei Ohtani win NL MVP?
Ohtani wasn't quite as dominant offensively in 2025 as he was in 2024, but a career-high 55 home runs plus 47 strong innings on the mound left him with no competition for the MVP award.
Kyle Schwarber was Ohtani's toughest competitor, but the case for Ohtani over Schwarber was obvious: Ohtani was the better all-around hitter by most metrics, and defense wasn't part of the equation for either player. Add in Ohtani's work on the mound and there was no contest.
Juan Soto, Geraldo Perdomo and Trea Turner rounded out the top five in voting. Here's the breakdown.
MORE: Inside Shohei Ohtani's family tree
NL MVP votes
Here are the top five finishers in NL MVP voting and their vote breakdown:
| Player | Shohei Ohtani | Kyle Schwarber | Juan Soto | Geraldo Perdomo | Trea Turner |
| 1st place | 30 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2nd place | 0 | 23 | 4 | 3 | 0 |
| 3rd place | 0 | 5 | 15 | 7 | 1 |
| 4th place | 0 | 1 | 9 | 11 | 2 |
| 5th place | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 6 |
| 6th place | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| 7th place | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 |
| 8th place | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 9th place | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| 10th place | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Total | 420 | 260 | 231 | 196 | 102 |
Ohtani won unanimously just as he did in 2024, while Schwarber was a decisive runner-up with 23 of 30 second-place votes.
Soto and Turner are familiar faces on the MVP ballot despite not having won the award, but Arizona Diamondbacks shortstop Geraldo Perdomo received some credit for his breakout season with a fourth-place finish and three second-place votes.