SIMMONS: As breathtaking as Ohtani’s season has been, Aaron Judge’s numbers are even better

Aaron Judge is having a better season than Shohei Ohtani.

And Ohtani is having one of the greatest seasons in Major League Baseball history.

Which makes this year of baseball, away from all the Blue Jays noise and disappointment, all the more incredible.

As of Saturday morning, with eight days left in the big league schedule, Judge, in the American League, leads Ohtani, in the National League, in home runs, in RBIs, in batting average, walks, on-base percentage, OPS and WAR.

Which by itself is hard to believe.

All of that apparent just days after the breathtaking Ohtani night, with the Los Angeles Dodgers’ sensation hitting three home runs, knocking in 10 runs, stealing two bases in a big league night that may never be equaled again.

Judge’s big number is .454, his full-season on-base percentage, which is Barry Bonds-like, with Ohtani well behind at .378. Obviously, Ohtani is well ahead in stolen bases now that he’s the first 50-50 player and counting in history.

This is all about history and differences. Which makes it so special.

Both Judge and Ohtani will run away with Most Valuable Player awards in their respective leagues — the third time for Ohtani, the second for Judge — and shouldn’t we all want a Yankees-Dodgers World Series if only to see the spectacle that would be these two superstars in a best-of-seven series?

Judge is two years removed from the brilliant 62-home run season of 2022. He was never supposed to be better than that. This year he was better even with fewer home runs.

Ohtani was never supposed to be better than the pitcher-slugger Babe Ruth-like combination of his previous American League seasons. But this has been a miracle season in Los Angeles.

Baseball, in the two largest markets in sports, with the game’s two greatest stars shining bright from April to October.

The crazy part of Ohtani’s 50-plus stolen bases: He had never stolen more than 26 before. The betting: Had Ohtani signed with the Blue Jays, which was more dream than reality, he never would have been close to 50 steals. The Jays don’t value the stolen base much. They rank 14th in the AL in that category … In the past four seasons, counting this one, and let’s assume for a second he wins this MVP,  Ohtani will have won three and finished second once. Judge will have won two MVPs and finished second and fourth in voting in his impressive career … What do the Jays do now with George Springer, who just turned 35? For the third straight season in Toronto, his statistics in the important offensive categories have dropped. His OPS has gone from .814 to .732 to .686. Batting average from .267 to .258 to .223. He’s being paid almost $25 million for two more years. If Springer were a stock, you would have taken the loss and sold by now … Kevin Gausman has also been a Jay for three seasons. He started 31 games each of the first two years and will make his 31st start in the days to come. At a time when the health of starting pitchers across baseball is one of baseball’s largest questions, Gausman just delivers. He’s been worth every penny he signed for with the Jays … This has to be hard to take for Jays fans: Two of the Detroit Tigers, Kansas City Royals or Minnesota Twins will be playoff teams next week. And they won’t have to win much more than 85 games to get there … You will learn something about Edward Rogers, soon to be Canada’s sporting giant, when the Blue Jays season ends. How does Rogers react to difficulty? If Mark Shapiro remains as president of the Jays and Ross Atkins as GM, Rogers will paint himself as an owner without vision. If both men go, he will be applauded. If only Shapiro stays, well, that’s just acting predictably … The Jays have the fourth highest payroll in the American League and the fourth highest number of losses this season.

Somewhere, the miserable Bob Goodenow is cringing at the news that Sidney Crosby has signed again in Pittsburgh for $8.7 million a year. Nothing Goodenow hated more than players undervaluing themselves. The good news for Pittsburgh and hockey is that Crosby does what Crosby wants, even if that means selling himself short in the process. If he negotiated up, Crosby would he paid around $14 million next season. But at $8.7 a season, Crosby, a top-six player of all-time on my rating scale, will enter this season as the 42nd highest-paid player in the NHL. In the NBA today, he would rank 183rd in salary, 174th in the NFL and 176th in Major League Baseball. That’s how far the hockey economics and star salaries are behind in the NHL … Kevin Kiermaier, crossing sports, backup outfielder, is among those making significantly more than Crosby … If William Nylander stays at centre — and I’m not sure that’ll happen — that means the Leafs will have three of the top-six salaried centres in the NHL this season. If Nylander plays the right wing, the Leafs will have the highest-paid and third highest-paid RW in Mitch Marner and two of the top-six centres in terms of salary with Auston Matthews and John Tavares … Shouldn’t Nick Robertson actually do something before he gets all this talk and all these written words about what he might or might not become with the Leafs? So far, his career is a Shakespearean play: Much Ado About Nothing … The deception of training camp: Left winger Max Pacioretty has started camp on the Leafs’ fifth line, but will almost certainly be in the opening night lineup. Barring injuries of course … Panthers’ coach Paul Maurice is among those who believe Anthony Stolarz is ready for prime time as an NHL goalie. He liked what he had in Stolarz last season with the Stanley Cup champions. The 30-year-old Stolarz started 24 games in Florida, won 16 of them with a 2.03 goals against average and .925 save percentage … Caitlin Clark’s influence on her first WNBA season is easy to quantify in ticket sales. Average attendance in Atlanta was 3,316 when Clark didn’t play there, but 17,592 when her Indiana team did. It was pretty much the same in eight of the 11 road cities Clark played in. Never has a single athlete so influenced attendance figures as a rookie in any sport … Impressive to see that the Toronto Sceptres, bad name and all, have sold out in season tickets for the coming PWHL season. There will still be single game tickets available for those interested.

Ron MacLean should have said no. But clearly, his own self-respect has disappeared over time. He didn’t have to participate in that dog-and-pony show interview with Ed Rogers and Tony Staffieri after the huge sale at MLSE.
MacLean has been around long enough to have walked away from that embarrassing infomercial … I love coach-speak around NHL camps. Using different words, almost every coach says the same thing at the beginning of camp. We want to outwork teams. We want to be hard to play against. We want to play in the dirty areas. We want to be physical. And yeah, they want pucks in deep, always … This is what the future might like be with Rogers owning all of Toronto’s teams: On any given day during the baseball season, Rogers has about 14 people covering the Jays. Dan Shulman. Ben Shulman. Buck Martinez. Chris Leroux. Joe Siddall. Jamie Campbell. Arden Zwelling. Hazel Mae. Emily Agard. She Davidi. Ben Nicholson-Smith. Jeff Blair. Kevin Barker. Blake Murphy. All are Rogers people. And I’m probably missing a few. Most days, the Toronto Sun, The Canadian Press, MLB.com and the Toronto Star will have one, maybe two, people there. Can’t wait to see what comes in the future covering Raptors and Leafs … Not sure what will happen to the Argos in this sale, but word going around is that Rogers doesn’t care much for the CFL … Larry Tanenbaum has been the de-facto owner of the Leafs and Raptors for the past 12 years. That’s the way the players view it. Now, Rogers will take over and Tanenbaum will be shuffled either elsewhere or out. HIs power and steady hand as chairman of MLSE is all but over. Those who have worked for Tanenbaum tend to love the man … My all-Aaron team: Hank Aaron. Aaron Judge. Aaron Rodgers. Aaron Sorkin. Aaron Donald. Aaron Pryor. Erin Brockovich … Patrick Mahomes is the best player in the NFL but not far behind him, Pittsburgh pass-rusher T.J. Watt. How the Steelers win games with that roster is a huge tribute to Watt’s game-changing talents … First met Adrian Wojnarowski when he was writing a column for the Bergen Record and covering Lou Lamoriello’s New Jersey Devils in the playoffs. Woj went on to become the leading insider in basketball. He was Elliotte Friedman, Pierre LeBrun and Darren Dreger all in one package and he has now chosen to pack it in, walking away from huge money, huge pressure and a 24-hour attachment to his cell phone. Wishing him the best. He’s good people.

Saw two roughing the passer calls during Friday night’s Argos-Ticats game that weren’t close to being roughing the passer. One against Toronto. One against Hamilton. Those kind of bad calls change games … Does anyone have a more deceptive won-lost record than Argo coach Ryan Dinwiddie? His record is 43-21. And yet he was outcoached again on Friday by the veteran duo of Scott Milanovich and Chris Jones. The Ticats, by the way, are 2-9 against the rest of the CFL and 3-0 against the Argos … The CFL and MLSE should be embarrassed by the quality of the field Friday night at BMO Field. Players were slipping and sliding all over the place … Weird to see the sons of Argos all-timers, Doyle Orange and Adrion Smith, Brendan O’Leary-Orange and Kiondre Smith, playing for the Cats … Argos need to get rookie Kevin Mital more involved in their offence. He’s an impressive young receiver … Word going around is that Don King, the boxing promoter and former criminal, is in rough shape. He’s 93. Three different writers from Toronto, all named Steve or Stephen, used to cover a lot of King shows back in the day. He never remembered our names. Collectively, we were just “Hello, Steve from Toronto,” in King’s then loud voice … Former Edmonton receiver Stu Lang, who recently donated $6 million to the Bishop Strachan School, told the story the other day of the difference of catching passes from Warren Moon and Dieter Brock. “With Warren, it was like a feather dropping in your hands. I played in an all-star game with Dieter Brock. I almost decapitated my shoulder trying to catch one of his passes. That’s how hard he threw it.” … The Bear is one of my favourite television shows. Very well-written, very well-acted. But how is it listed by the Emmy Awards in the comedy category? There’s nothing funny about it … I don’t know if it’s just me but I seem to have lost track of OUA football since the games are no longer found on traditional television. And I’m sorry I  have. I spent a lot of years watching Jamie Bone and Kyle Quinlan, Brad Sinopoli and Justin Dunk, Ben Chapdelaine and Tommy Denison throw footballs. Don’t know who the quarterbacks are anymore … I liked Brad Treliving’s straight answer when asked how a young player makes the Leafs main roster? “Play better,” said the general manager. Simple, really. Beat out the guy ahead of you on the depth chart … Happy birthday to Gerry McNamara (90), Cecil Fielder (61), Steve Moore (46), Kerrin Lee-Gartner (58), Mike Richter (58), Bruce Caboclo (29), Brian Tallet (47), Harold Carmichael (75), Bob Errey (60) and Bruce Springsteen (75) … And hey, whatever became of J.P. Arencibia?

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