Aaron Judge is on a heater and Vaughn Dalzell is buying into his AL MVP odds.
American League MVP: Aaron Judge (+110)
Aaron Judge has been on a tear over the last two months and has solely taken control of the American League MVP favorite as the front-runner at +100 to +115 odds.
The Yankees’ slugger went .361 in May with 14 homers, 27 RBIs, and 22 walks over 97 at-bats. As if that wasn’t impressive enough, the 2022 MVP went .538 with four homers, 14 RBIs, and 10 walks to 6 strikeouts in eight games to start June.
Teammate Juan Soto was the MVP favorite for the first two months of the season, but Judge’s recent heater isn’t something that can be ignored. While Soto’s few missed games aren’t going to hurt him in this MVP race, Judge’s production is on pace to break his former career highs.
The superstar hitter leads the MLB in homers (24), OBP (.436), SLG (.703), OPS (1.139), walks (55), and second in RBIs (59), doubles (21), and third in runs scored (51). These are all categories, if healthy, that Judge will lead or finish top five.
He has two 50-homer seasons and this will likely be his third, which already resulted in one MVP (2022) and a second-place finish to Jose Altuve in 2017.
I played Judge to win AL MVP at +110 odds on DraftKings and would go out to -110. This could be his best, if not a top-three season depending how how many homers he hits in the second half of the season.
With series against Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Kansas City, Tampa Bay, and Toronto before the All-Star break, I expect Judge’s hot streak to continue against playoff competition.
Pick: Aaron Judge AL MVP (3u)
MLB Futures in my pocket
3u: Aaron Judge to win AL MVP (+110)
2u: Luis Gil to win AL ROY (+140)
2u: Shohei Ohtani to lead MLB in homer runs (+325)
2u: Hunter Greene Over 183.5 Strikeouts (-106)
2u: Jesus Luzardo Over 189.5 Strikeouts (-110)
1u: Tyler Glasnow to win NL CY Young (+600)
1u: Corbin Burnes to win AL CY Young (+400)
1u: Shohei Ohtani to win NL MVP (+450)
1u: Ronald Acuna Jr. to win NL MVP (+500)
1u: Julio Rodriguez to win AL MVP (+1000)
1u: Elly De La Cruz to win NL MVP (+1500)
1u: Elly De La Cruz to lead MLB in triples (+750)
1u: Elly De La Cruz to lead MLB in stolen bases (+700)
1u: Elly De La Cruz to lead MLB in stolen bases (+200)
1u: Jesus Luzardo to lead MLB in strikeouts (+3000)
1u: Hunter Greene to lead MLB in Strikeouts (+1700)
1u: Rockies to have the worst record in MLB (+220)
0.5u: Paul Skenes to win NL ROY (+2300)
0.5u: Paul Skenes to win NL ROY (+1700)
0.25u: Elly De La Cruz to lead MLB in HRs (+6500)
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