Ohtani is MVP for me, and it isn't even close. Cy Young type numbers with great offensive production. All the metrics in the world can't paint an accurate picture of what that guy does. Ohtani's primary flaw is playing on a crappy team and striking out too much (which Judge also does).
Judge gets the love for a great season, the HR record, and being the face of baseball's premiere franchise. If Judge played for the Royals, there would be far more debate than there currently is over who is the MVP.
I hear this, but funnily enough interrupting college football and the debate about the HR record is making people look down on Judge's season more than deserved.
Judge's SLG% is 0.686. The only people to do that since 2000 are Bonds (2000-2004), Sosa (2001), Luis Gonzalez (2001), Todd Helton (2000, Manny Ramirez (2000).
Judge's OPS% is 1.111. The only people to do that since 2000 are Juan Soto (2020), Pujols (2008), and then the same seasons listed above from 2000-2004 with the addition of Jim Thome (once), Larry Walker (once), Jason Giambi (twice).
Judge led the MLB for 2022 in WAR, OBP, SLG, OPS, Runs, Total Bases, HRs, and RBIs.
That's an absolutely historic season as a hitter, and it is really only rivaled by known steroids users as far as the modern era goes (which is a statement to how good the season was, I don't care for the steroids debates).
Ohtani was great this year, but his pitching wasn't nearly as good as Judge's hitting on a historic scale. A look at his pitching:
Ohtani's ERA this season was 2.33, there have been 12 seasons sub-2.00 since 2000.
Ohtani's K/9 was 11.87, that's second best this season (Rodon), and there have been 12 seasons better than that from 2020-2022 alone.
Ohtani's WHIP was 1.012, that's 11th best among SPs this season alone.
Ohtani's IP was 166.0, there were 8 guys that pitched 200+ innings this season and 41 guys that pitched more innings than Ohtani.
Adding in his great but not elite DH stats this year (0.273/0.356/0.519) doesn't take him to the MVP over Judge IMO. The more I research it to post on here, the more confident I am that Judge deserves the MVP over Ohtani, as special as Ohtani is as a player.