Yankees reigning MVP says he’d trade all his awards for 1 thing

Some baseball stories feel inevitable, like the tide rolling in or the lights flickering on at a ballpark just before first pitch. The New York Yankees know that feeling well when Aaron Judge is healthy and locked in. On Thursday night, the rest of the sport was reminded of it again as the Yankees superstar was named the American League MVP for the third time, edging Seattle Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh in a tight 355-335 vote by the Baseball Writers Association of America.

The margin was narrow enough to make even the most confident Yankees fan grip the armrest. Judge finished with 17 first-place votes and 13 second-place votes, while Raleigh received the same totals in reverse. In a year when the Mariners catcher set records and pushed the envelope of what a power-hitting backstop can d