Who did it better in Yankees-Dodgers: Aaron Judge or Shohei Ohtani?

LOS ANGELES — In one of the most anticipated series of the 2025 MLB season, Dodgers-Yankees made a regular-season clash at the end of May feel important. The three games counted the same as the others in the annual 162-game marathon, but in the first meeting between New York and Los Angeles since the Dodgers hoisted the World Series trophy at Yankee Stadium in November, it felt meaningful.

Add in three nationally-televised games, multiple All-Stars and league MVPs, we had the makings of a series filled with intrigue.

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Here are three takeaways from the World Series rematch.

Aaron Judge continues to terrorize pitchers

The reigning AL MVP did not disappoint against the Dodgers and looks as locked in as he’s ever been in 10 seasons. Judge went 5-for-13 in the three-game series with three homers in L.A. He continues to play at a level not seen in baseball in some time.

Judge, who’s now hitting .391 on the season, is in rarified air and as June begins, it makes his chase of .400 so impressive and even more real. Hitting with that high of a batting average combined with Judge’s prodigious power is unheard of in today’s baseball and more closely reminiscent of the days of Tony Gwynn or Ted Williams, who was the last player to hit .400 in 1941.

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The highest batting average in a full season since Gwynn hit .394 in the strike-shortened 1994 season (110 games) was Larry Walker, who hit .379 for the Colorado Rockies in 2000. Judge hit a career-high .322 with 58 homers in 158 games last season.

Battle of MVPs: Shohei Ohtani vs. Aaron Judge

There was theater and fireworks in this series. Judge and Shohei Ohtani, the game’s two biggest stars and reigning AL and NL MVPs, did not disappoint the baseball world.

It’s almost like Judge and Ohtani met before the series opener and agreed to give the people what they wanted. Once Judge kicked the festivities off with a homer in his first at-bat Friday, Ohtani matched him with a homer in his first AB. It almost felt scripted. The three-time MVP got the last laugh with a two-homer game in Friday’s 8-5 win for the Dodgers.

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It was the first time in MLB history two reigning MVPs homered in the first inning of the same game.

“I feel like he was copying me, I started it off,” Judge said jokingly Friday. “He’s impressive. One of the best players in the game for a reason.”

Judge, not to be outdone, followed up with a two-homer game of his own in the Yankees’ 18-2 loss to the Dodgers on Saturday. It gave him the 3-2 advantage over Ohtani in the series, but the Dodgers took two of three from the Bronx Bombers.

Baseball has been dying for a superstar to carry it for some time and after years of searching, it has two. And what this weekend’s three-game series showed exactly why.

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Dodgers show up against above .500 team

If you want to be the best, you have to beat the best and going into this series against the Yankees, that wasn’t something the Dodgers had been doing very much, going 10-9 against teams above .500. With series victories over the Cleveland Guardians and Yankees, it’s the first time L.A. has taken a series from a .500 or better club since their sweep of the Detroit Tigers to open the season stateside.

While the Dodgers hold the fourth-best record in MLB, they haven’t been setting the world on fire in May, going 13-12 heading into the series vs. the Yankees.

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This current stretch of games against October contenders, including the New York Mets who come into L.A. starting Monday for a four-game series, serves as a measuring stick for where they are.

“I wouldn’t say it’s a statement. That’s a good club, good club over there,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said about the Yankees. “So I’m just happy with the process and how we’re taking the field and going about playing baseball.”