Red Sox $120 Million Superstar Buried Under Yankees' Aaron Judge In Expert MVP Poll

Aaron Judge has long been a villain to Boston Red Sox fans, and that trend won't change in 2025.

Judge and the Red Sox have had their fair share of wins and losses against each other through the years, but in the past few seasons, Judge has taken the upper hand. He's had success against Boston, but more importantly, he's taken the entire sport by storm.

This season, Judge is batting .423 with a ridiculous 1.287 OPS. He's been worth over three wins above replacement--by both bWAR and fWAR--in only 34 games. And he's also overshadowing a new Red Sox superstar.

Alex Bregman has been phenomenal in his own right in year one of a $120 million contract in Boston. He's batting .317 with eight home runs and a .583 slugging percentage, and he's racked up 2.1 bWAR. But he's got virtually no shot to win baseball's most coveted award if Judge keeps this up.

On Tuesday, MLB.com released the results of a poll conducted among 46 experts, and all 46 voted for Judge as the American League's Most Valuable Player to this point in the season. Bregman finished third in the poll behind the Kansas City Royals' Bobby Witt Jr.

"Bregman's first season in Boston has been a smashing -- and mashing -- success so far," MLB.com's Jason Foster wrote. "His .979 OPS through Sunday was third-best in baseball and his 13 doubles were tied for the MLB lead.

"Meanwhile, his 27 RBIs entering Monday were most among MLB third basemen, and his eight homers led AL players at the hot corner. Also, his 172 OPS+ so far would easily be a career high."

Bregman, 31, has been everything the Red Sox hoped he would be to this point, both on the diamond and in the clubhouse. The better he hits, in fact, the more reason Boston has to be nervous that he'll opt out of the final two years and $80 million on his contract after this year.

But even if Judge can't be beaten for the MVP award, Bregman and the Red Sox can beat the Yankees in the standings after many years of waiting. They're going to have to play better than they did this past week, but they've got the talent to take back the upper hand in the rivalry.