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Los Angeles Angels pitcher/DH Shohei Ohtani had a 2.33 ERA and an .875 OPS in 2022. New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge led the league in OPS, runs, RBIs, and broke the American League home run record with 62. In any other year, either would be the obvious choice for AL Most Valuable Player — but they happen to have put up those numbers in the same season. While Judge is the odds-on favorite to win, would anyone really object if the vote was close — or even if it were tied?

It wouldn’t be the first time something like this would have happened. Close MVP races — or even ties — are rare, but they’re not unprecedented. Here are some races from the past 30 years where the voters just couldn’t quite decide on a clear favorite.

MLB

2017: Giancarlo Stanton beats Joey Votto by two votes

In his final year with the Miami Marlins, Stanton mashed 59 home runs, led the league in RBIs with 131 and OPS+ with 169. Votto, stalwart as ever with the Cincinnati Reds, led in overall OPS (1.032), OBP (.454) and walks (134). Their performances at the plate were so outrageously good that voters didn’t mind much that neither the Marlins nor the Reds made the playoffs. It was the closest race in MLB since 1979, when Willie Stargell and Keith Hernandez tied for NL MVP.

NBA

2004-05: Steve Nash beats Shaquille O’Neal by 2.6% voting share

This season was the first of three consecutive MVP seasons where Nash, playing for the Phoenix Suns, would lead the league in assists per game, this time with 11.5. O’Neal, in his first year with the Miami Heat, put up a pretty typical Shaq statline — 22.9 PPG, 10.4 RPG, and 2.3 BPG. Both teams finished first in their respective divisions and made deep playoff runs, but the Suns fell to the San Antonio Spurs and the Heat lost to the Detroit Pistons in their respective conference finals.

WNBA

2013: Candace Parker beats Maya Moore by 16 points

This one was a three-way race, with the Los Angeles Sparks’ Parker (17.9 PPG, 8.7 RPG) beating out both the Minnesota Lynx’s Moore (18.5 PPG, 6.2 RPG) and rookie Elena Delle Donne (18.1 PPG, 5.6 RPG), who had seven first-place votes of her own in her rookie season with the Chicago Sky.

2005: Sheryl Swoopes beats Lauren Jackson by two points

The Seattle Storm‘s Jackson (17.6 PPG, 9.2 RPG, 2.0 BPG) actually had more first-place votes than the Houston Comets’ Swoopes (18.6 PPG, 4.3 APG, 2.0 SPG), but Swoopes beat her out in total points. If Jackson had received one more fourth-place vote instead of a fifth-place one, the two would have had equal point totals.

NFL

2003: Peyton Manning and Steve McNair tie

Manning shared his first of five MVP awards with Steve McNair. McNair, playing for the Tennessee Titans, threw for 3,215 yards, 24 touchdowns and 6 interceptions, adding another four scores on the ground. Manning, playing for the Indianapolis Colts, led the NFL in passing yards with 4,267, throwing 29 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. Both quarterbacks would lose in the playoffs that year to the third-place finisher: then-New England Patriots signal caller Tom Brady.

2002: Rich Gannon beats Brett Favre by four votes

Gannon, playing for the then-Oakland Raiders, had by far the best season of his career in 2002, throwing for 4,689 yards, 26 touchdowns and 10 interceptions and leading his team to the Super Bowl. Favre was in full high-risk, high reward mode, leading the league in TDs with 32 but also throwing 21 INTs.

2001: Kurt Warner beats Marshall Faulk by four votes

A bit of an awkward race considering Warner and Faulk were teammates on the then-St. Louis Rams. Both were key reasons why the Rams made it to their second Super Bowl in three years — Warner threw for 4,830 yards, 36 touchdownsand 22 interceptions, while Faulk was an incredible dual-threat, rushing for 1,382 yards and 12 scores and putting up 765 yards receiving and 9 receiving touchdowns.

1997: Brett Favre and Barry Sanders tie

Favre, in the last of three consecutive MVP seasons, led the Green Bay Packers to a Super Bowl appearance in 1997, throwing for 3,867 yards, 35 touchdowns and 16 interceptions. Sanders, on the other hand, put the Detroit Lions on his back, rushing for an astounding 2,053 yards,11 scores, and adding three more receiving touchdowns. The Lions lost in the wild-card round, and Sanders would play one more year before retiring.

NHL

2012-13: Alex Ovechkin beats Sidney Crosby by 1.8 percent

The lockout-shortened 2012-13 season saw Ovechkin and Crosby each putting up 56 points. Ovechkin’s league-leading 32 goals, however, may have been the deciding factor in his narrow win.

2001-02: Jose Theodore beats Jarome Iginla by first place votes

Theodore and Iginla actually had the same number of votes for the Hart Memorial Trophy. Theodore, who led the league with a .931 save percentage, ended up beating Iginla, who led the league in goals (52) and points (96) due to receiving three more first-place votes.

1999-2000: Chris Pronger beats Jaromir Jagr by one point

Jagr led the league in points with 96 (ironically, his lowest point total from 1997-2001) but Pronger’s league-leading 52 plus/minus was a factor in making him the first defenseman to win the Hart since Bobby Orr in 1972. Pronger is also the last defenseman to win the award.

College football

2009: Mark Ingram beats Toby Gerhart by 28 votes

Nobody could stop Mark Ingram (1,658 yards rushing, 17 touchdowns) or the champion Alabama Crimson Tide in 2009, but Stanford Cardinal running back Toby Gerhardt (1,871 yards rushing, 28 touchdowns) gave it a go in the Heisman Trophy voting. Ingram’s win is the smallest margin of victory by a Heisman Trophy winner ever.

Research from ESPN Stats and Information was used in this article.

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D-backs lose Gurriel to season-ending ACL tear

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D-backs lose Gurriel to season-ending ACL tear

The Arizona Diamondbacks placed left fielder Lourdes Gurriel Jr. on the 10-day injured list due to a torn right ACL injured the previous night in a 7-5 loss to the Texas Rangers.

Gurriel was hurt in the sixth inning after he jumped awkwardly out of the way to avoid center fielder Blaze Alexander, who made a diving catch on a line drive by Rowdy Tellez for the third out of the inning.

Alexander was playing his first game in center field as a big leaguer.

Gurriel stayed on the ground for several minutes while medical staff attended to him. The 31-year-old eventually got up and walked to a cart before being driven off the field.

Additional tests confirmed the torn ACL.

Gurriel is batting .248 this season with 19 homers and 80 RBIs.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

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Buckeyes seize No. 1; LSU, Canes rise as Tide fall

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Buckeyes seize No. 1; LSU, Canes rise as Tide fall

Ohio State climbed to No. 1 in the Associated Press Top 25 college football poll on Tuesday, LSU and Miami moved into the top five, and Florida State jumped back into the rankings at the expense of Alabama, which plummeted to its lowest spot in 17 seasons.

The defending national champion Buckeyes received 55 of 66 first-place votes to move up two spots after their win over preseason No. 1 Texas. Ohio State is at the top of a regular-season poll for the first time since November 2015.

The Longhorns dropped to No. 7 as the media voters shuffled the rankings following a topsy-turvy Labor Day weekend. It was only the second time — and first since 1972 — that two top-five teams lost in Week 1 and the first time that four top-10 teams lost.

Only three teams in the Top 25 are in the same spot they were in the preseason poll.

Penn State got seven first-place votes and remained No. 2. LSU, which received three first first-place votes, was followed by Georgia and Miami to round out the top five.

Oregon got the other first-place vote and was followed by Texas, the Clemson Tigers, Notre Dame and South Carolina.

LSU jumped six spots after winning at Clemson and Miami got a five-rung promotion for its victory over Notre Dame.

The biggest movers in the poll were Florida State and Alabama after the Seminoles’ 31-17 victory in their head-to-head matchup.

The Seminoles, who were 15 spots outside the Top 25 in the preseason, are now No. 14. The Crimson Tide fell all the way from No. 8 to No. 21 — their lowest ranking since Bama was No. 24 in the 2008 preseason poll. That was the second of Nick Saban’s 17 teams in Tuscaloosa.

It’s been quite a turnabout for Florida State. The Seminoles were No. 10 in the 2024 preseason, lost their first two games, finished 2-10 and weren’t ranked again until now.

Utah, at No. 25, joins Florida State as the only newcomers to this week’s poll. The Utes are ranked for the first time since last October, when they were at the front end of a seven-game losing streak.

Utah had received the second-most points, behind BYU, among teams outside the preseason Top 25, but the Utes got more credit for beating UCLA on the road than the Cougars received for hammering FCS foe Portland State.

Boise State, which had been No. 25, received no votes following its 34-7 loss at South Florida. The Broncos had appeared in 14 straight polls.

The other team to drop out of the poll was No. 17 Kansas State, which followed up its season-opening loss to Iowa State with a last-minute home win over FCS team North Dakota.

Ohio State is the first team to take over the top spot in the first regular-season poll since Alabama in 2012. It was the biggest jump to No. 1 in the first regular-season poll since USC was promoted from No. 3 in 2008.

Texas’ fall was the biggest for a preseason No. 1 since Auburn dropped to No. 8 in the first regular-season poll of 1984.

LSU has its highest ranking after Week 1 since it was No. 3 in 2012, and Miami has its highest ranking after Week 1 since it was No. 5 in 2004.

South Carolina is in the top 10 in the regular season for the first time since it was No. 8 in December 2013.

CONFERENCE CALL

SEC: 10 (Nos. 3, 4, 7, 10, 13, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)

Big Ten: 6 (Nos. 1, 2, 6, 11, 15, 23)

ACC: 4 (Nos. 5, 8, 14, 17)

Big 12: 4 (Nos. 12, 16, 24, 25)

Independent: 1 (No. 9)

RANKED VS. RANKED

No. 15 Michigan at No. 18 Oklahoma: This weekend’s game will be the first meeting since Oklahoma beat the Wolverines in the Orange Bowl to win the 1975 national championship. Wolverines freshman QB Bryce Underwood gets put to the test in his second start.

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Hold that, Tiger: Kelly asks if Dabo saw 2nd half

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Hold that, Tiger: Kelly asks if Dabo saw 2nd half

While Dabo Swinney isn’t inflating LSU‘s grade for beating his team in Saturday’s season opener, Brian Kelly is ready to give the Clemson coach an incomplete for his evaluation.

Both coaches weighed in Tuesday on how LSU’s 17-10 win at Clemson should be viewed. After trailing 10-3 at halftime, LSU outscored Clemson 14-0 in the second half and finished with significant edges in both total yards (354-261) and first downs (25-13).

LSU rose six spots to No. 3 in the AP Top 25 poll Tuesday, while Clemson dropped four spots to No. 8.

“It was a helluva game, down to the last play,” Swinney said in his weekly news conference. “Right out of the gate. It’s like getting the final exam [on] Day 1 of class. They made a 65; we made a 58. Neither one of us were great.”

Kelly had not won a season opener at LSU before Saturday, and the victory was his first with the Tigers against an AP top-5 opponent.

“I thought we dominated them in the second half, so he’s really a really good grader for giving himself a 58, or he’s a really hard grader on us,” Kelly said in his news conference when told about Swinney’s comment.

“Or he didn’t see the second half, which, that might be the case. He might not have wanted to see the second half.”

Kelly added that LSU is moving on to this week’s game against Louisiana Tech.

“Clemson is a darn good football team,” Kelly said. “That’s a top-notch team, and they’re going to be a team in the hunt for [the] playoff picture. We hope we are, too. But it was only one game. So I don’t know if he’s a hard grader or an easy grader, but I like the way that we played in the second half.”

Clemson visits LSU to open the 2026 season.

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