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Cal Raleigh More Deserving Of Al Mvp Than Aaron Judge Mlb Com

Bonisiwe Shabane
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cal raleigh more deserving of al mvp than aaron judge mlb com

Despite breaking records and leading MLB in both home runs and RBIs during the 2025 season, Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh fell short of winning the American League MVP award on Thursday night. Raleigh finished second in the AL MVP voting to Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge, who had a tremendous season himself. Judge finished with 17 first-place votes and 13 second-place votes from the BBWAA as Raleigh garnered 13 first-place votes and 17 second-place votes. While Judge’s season in itself was MVP-worthy, there’s an argument to be made that Raleigh was more deserving of the award for his campaign in 2025. Since Judge was announced the winner, let’s break down two key reasons Raleigh was snubbed. It’s not just that Cal Raleigh led the league in both home runs and RBIs, it’s that he put up historic offensive production for a catcher.

Sure, Raleigh’s batting average was lower than Judge or any other catcher that’s won MVP, but he hit significantly more home runs than any catcher in league history. For the third time in the last four years, New York Yankees superstar Aaron Judge is the American League MVP winner, with the BBWAA wrapping up award week by announcing the MVPs on Thursday... It was another brilliant season for the hulking slugger, but unlike last year when he won the award unanimously, there was a legitimate challenger this time around in Seattle Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh. Both players had a compelling case, and while Judge ultimately finished on top, it was one of the closest votes in recent memory: Before we dive into why Big Dumper should have been the 2025 AL MVP, let's first lay out the case for Judge to provide some context. .css-1582m2i{margin:0;font:inherit;font-weight:700;}The Case for Aaron Judge

Aaron Judge and Cal Raleigh had historic seasons, but only one could win the AL MVP. Steph Chambers / Getty Images By Tyler Kepner, Chandler Rome, Britt Ghiroli and Zack Meisel Plenty has changed about baseball. Little has changed about how voters are supposed to determine the league’s Most Valuable Player. From the official guidance given by the BBWAA:

There is no clear-cut definition of what Most Valuable means. It is up to the individual voter to decide who was the Most Valuable Player in each league to his team. The MVP need not come from a division winner or other playoff qualifier. The rules of the voting remain the same as they were written on the first ballot in 1931: This ended up being one of the most intriguing MVP races in recent history. In one corner was New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge, who has a case as the greatest right-handed hitter of all time.

He showed off that hitting prowess all year long. Judge led all of baseball in batting average (.331), on-base percentage (.457), slugging average (.688) and OPS (1.144). He had the top Wins Above Replacement number in the American League at 9.7. In the other corner was the Big Dumper, Seattle Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh. The switch-hitting catcher had a season unlike any other. Raleigh hit 60 home runs, breaking the record for home runs in a single season by a catcher, switch-hitter and a Mariner.

Cal Raleigh has won the first hardware battle. The Mariners catcher won the Baseball Digest/Inside Edge major league player of the year award on Friday, beating out Yankees slugger Aaron Judge as the two await their AL MVP fate. Raleigh won 12 of 24 first-place votes and garnered 56 points from a panel of writers, broadcasters, executives, managers and former players, with Judge — last year’s winner — getting eight first-place votes and... Both players are preparing for the American League Division Series beginning this weekend on the heels of historic regular season campaigns. Raleigh became the seventh player to hit 60 home runs, demolishing the mark for catchers and switch-hitters, leading the AL with 125 RBIs to guide Seattle to the AL West title and the No. 2 seed.

Sometimes MVP races are rather obvious like in the case of Shohei Ohtani, who is on a three-year run of winning it unanimously with the Angels in 2023 and in the past two seasons... Or in the case of Aaron Judge, whose 58 homers and 144 RBIs made him the unanimous AL MVP last season. In other years it is kind of obvious but there is a worthy challenger, whose exploits produce a spirited and ultimately fun debate. Such is the case of Judge getting the AL MVP over Cal Raleigh, whose strong case of 60 homers and 125 RBIs made the race a close finish. Judge won the race by 20 points (355-335) by getting 17 of the 30 first-place votes, including a split ticket among New York and Boston voters. It resulted in the closest AL MVP finish since Mike Trout edged Alex Bregman by the same margin in 2019 and also split the votes in their respective markets of Anaheim and Houston.

In the most anticipated award race of the 2025 season, Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh finished second in voting for the 2025 American League MVP award Thursday, falling to Yankees slugger Aaron Judge. Raleigh's historic season for the Mariners, which helped the club reach Game 7 of the ALCS, wasn’t enough to earn him the prestigious award over Judge, who took home his second straight AL MVP... Of the 30 ballots submitted by the BBWAA, Judge received 17 votes for first place—barely eking out Raleigh, who took home 13 first-place votes. It was the closest vote for MVP in either league since Angels star Mike Trout received 17 first-place votes to win the 2019 AL MVP over Astros slugger Alex Bregman (13 votes). Here’s a closer look at the voting for the top-five 2025 AL MVP finishers: Raleigh led the American League with 60 home runs and 125 RBIs; he also scored 110 runs on the season for Seattle.

No catcher in MLB history has hit more homers in a single season than Raleigh, but Judge’s otherworldly bWAR (9.7) and OPS (1.144) was too much for Raleigh to overcome in the eyes of...

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