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ALCS punctuates neck and neck MVP race between Judge, Altuve

Adam Hunger / USA TODAY Sports

While the American League MVP award is only dependent upon performance in the regular season, Jose Altuve and Aaron Judge treated baseball fans to a perfect exclamation point to their remarkably close race for the illustrious hardware during the AL Championship Series.

Let's start with Altuve, whose Houston Astros will take on the Los Angeles Dodgers in the World Series. The second baseman was a key cog in the field, but the diminutive MVP-hopeful punctuated his club's pennant chase with a pair of clutch home runs in the final two games of the series on home turf.

Meanwhile, in the game of "anything you can do, I can do better," Judge provided highlight-reel defensive plays while also out-slugging his Astros counterpart. Judge even robbed Yuli Gurriel of an early home run during Game 7.

Let's see how the two stars stack up offensively during the seven-game series:

Player AVG OBP SLG
Judge .250 .357 .708
Altuve .320 .414 .560

Altuve certainly continued his assault on baseballs, finishing with eight hits over the seven games. However, Judge made his hits hurt more, as five of his six went for extra bases.

The AL MVP race was already too close to call, with reasonable opinions on both sides. What both players achieved in the regular season is truly astonishing. But the fact that both rose to the occasion come playoff time added to the lore even more.

It's not only amazing that the AL was treated to an incredibly close MVP race, but both of the superstars happened to face off in the battle for a World Series appearance that went the distance. Thank you, baseball Gods.

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