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Judge V Raleigh Breaking Down The Intensely Contested 2025 Mvp Race

Bonisiwe Shabane
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judge v raleigh breaking down the intensely contested 2025 mvp race

Shohei Ohtani's fourth MVP award was announced Thursday, but the race was effectively decided in September or even earlier. The same can't be said for the American League's edition of the award. New York Yankees star Aaron Judge had to sweat out the vote totals all the way until Thursday's announcement, when he narrowly won his third AL MVP award over Seattle Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh. Ohtani and Judge became the first pair of players to win back-to-back MVP awards together, earning the award in 2024 and 2025. Here's a closer look at the vote totals in both the AL and NL. MORE: Full list of winners, finalists for 2025 MLB Awards

In a season headlined by Cal Raleigh’s record-breaking power and Aaron Judge’s all-around dominance, the 2025 AL MVP race is shaping up as one of the tightest, and most fascinating, battles of the modern... After the conclusion of the 2017 Major League Baseball (MLB) Season, Houston Astros second baseman Jose Altuve was named American League Most Valuable Player (MVP). The player who finished second in voting, Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge, was just finishing a spectacular rookie season. Flash forward to the 2025 MLB season and Judge is now in a similarly tight race for MVP. This time, his competitor is Seattle Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh, affectionately nicknamed “Big Dumper.” Hilarious nicknames aside, Raleigh’s numbers are no laughing matter for a catcher.

Fans are fiercely debating this race. Here at The Lamron, we aim to settle the division and analyze every angle to bring a rightful conclusion to perhaps the most disputed MVP race of the 21st century. The logical first step in assessing the MVP winner is to look at the cold, hard stats, because we know “numbers don’t lie.” Starting with the Mariner’s superstar, Raleigh has hit 58 home runs... These astonishing power numbers have broken multiple MLB records. Raleigh holds records for most home runs by a catcher, switch-hitter, and Seattle Mariner in a single season. The one record Raleigh still chases is the American League home run mark, set by Judge in 2022.

As of September 22, Raleigh has 58 home runs and about six games to either tie or surpass Judge’s 62 from three seasons ago. It will be tough, but no record seems out of reach for Cal Raleigh now. The American League MVP race between Aaron Judge and Cal Raleigh was one of the closest in recent memory, and its outcome showed how uncertain baseball still is about what “value” really means. Judge’s elite metrics secured the trophy, but the debate around Raleigh’s record-breaking season made it clear that voters remain divided between raw production and total contribution. Judge’s third MVP award came by a margin of just 20 points, earning 17 first-place votes to Raleigh’s 13. Two more flipped ballots would have resulted in a tie.

The conversation wasn’t about who was more talented, but about how baseball defines value in an era that can measure almost everything. Judge’s case was built on dominant production. He led baseball with a .331 average, a .457 on-base percentage, and a .688 slugging mark. He hit 53 home runs and posted a 9.7 WAR, placing him just ahead of Raleigh and Shohei Ohtani. His 204 OPS+ ranked among the best in modern history, matching the kind of efficiency Barry Bonds produced during his peak seasons. Those numbers carried the vote.

Many saw Judge’s consistency and command of the strike zone as enough to outweigh positional factors. His performance met every definition of “most productive,” which for many voters still means “most valuable.” Raleigh became the first catcher in MLB history to reach 60 home runs, breaking single-season records for both his position and for switch-hitters. He caught 1,072 innings and did not allow a passed ball, while leading the Mariners to their first ALCS since 2001. His 9.1 WAR ranked third in baseball, right behind Judge and Ohtani. 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.

November 14, 2025, 2:23am EST 116 • By Swati Bhatia The 2025 MLB awards season came to an exciting finish on Thursday night with the announcement of the American League and National League MVP winners. While last year’s AL MVP race was a one-sided affair with Aaron Judge winning unanimously, this year’s contest was far closer. In the end, the New York Yankees captain edged out Seattle Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh to secure his second straight MVP honor, taking home 17 first-place votes compared to Raleigh’s 13. Aaron Judge is MVP again!It’s back-to-back AL MVPs for The Captain! pic.twitter.com/HzqA96V6Ni

Both players delivered incredible seasons that will be remembered for years to come. Aaron Judge continued his dominance at the plate, while Raleigh made history with a record-breaking hitting. Raleigh crushed 60 home runs, setting both a Mariners record and a new single-season record for an MLB catcher. He also drove in 125 RBIs while anchoring Seattle’s pitching staff and helping the team stay in the playoff hunt until the final week. Aaron Judge, meanwhile, hit .331 with 53 homers, 114 RBIs, and a 1.144 OPS, putting together another monster campaign despite missing seven games due to an elbow injury in late July. 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: The 2025 American League MVP race was flat-out wild. Two extraordinary but totally different players — Aaron Judge and Cal Raleigh — went head-to-head and gave us one of the most intense MVP debates in recent memory. What does “most valuable” even mean?

Is it about record-breaking offense, or does it include the grind of defense, leadership, and playing tough positions? This year, baseball writers couldn’t agree, and honestly, that made the whole thing way more interesting. When it was all said and done, Aaron Judge took home the award. He racked up 17 first-place votes and finished with 355 points. Cal Raleigh had a strong showing too, pulling in 13 first-place votes. He came up just short, but the tight vote really says a lot about how split everyone felt.

Most years, there’s one guy with the gaudy stats who runs away with it. Not in 2025. For the second straight season, New York Yankees captain Aaron Judge has been named the American League's Most Valuable Player. Judge beat out Seattle Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh and Cleveland Guardians third baseman José Ramírez for the award, the BBWAA announced Thursday night. As the voting results show, it was a close race between Judge and Raleigh: This is Judge's second straight MVP and the third of his career (he also won in 2022).

He is the 13th player with three MVPs. Only Barry Bonds (seven) and Shohei Ohtani (four), who won this year's National League MVP, have more. Judge is the fourth Yankee with three MVPs, joining Hall of Famers Joe DiMaggio (1939, 1941, 1947), Yogi Berra (1951, 1954-55), and Mickey Mantle (1956-57, 1962). He joins Shohei Ohtani, the Dodgers superstar who won National League MVP. Judge slashed .331/.457/.688 this season and led baseball in batting average by 20 points, on-base percentage by 58 points, and slugging percentage by 66 points. His 53 home runs were second in the AL behind Raleigh's 60.

Judge's 9.7 WAR was 1.7 wins better than the next best player, per Baseball Reference's calculations. Embed from Getty Imageswindow.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'V7ytl-6IRtRe-HghZgFXnw',sig:'cHtcT74-DHWGnMa9WeMyNr6k5PBACSMOFVpfnAewL3g=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'2239853960',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })}); The New York Yankees Aaron Judge blasted 62 home runs in 2022, earning his first AL MVP award. After hitting 37 in 2023, he followed with another monster campaign in 2024, launching 58 home runs and driving in a career-high 144 runs to secure his second MVP. The 2025 season, however, may go down as Judge’s most magical yet. He led the American League in nearly every major power category, posting a .331 batting average, .457 OBP, .688 SLG, and an OPS of 1.145.

Beyond the power numbers, he also paced the league with 137 runs scored and 124 walks. Pitchers avoided him at historic levels, as he was intentionally walked 36 times—receiving the full Barry Bonds treatment. With that level of dominance, Judge was the clear choice for MVP. Embed from Getty Imageswindow.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'zp_hrnR_QsdLqHLA9Qt20A',sig:'TbMd9r30AOwhWPMTatROTShTsm6MC7LLWEFwMMcWI-c=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'2237222443',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })}); Seattle Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh put together one of the greatest offensive seasons by a catcher in MLB history. He crushed 60 home runs and drove in 125 runs, becoming the first player in MLB history to hit multiple home runs against 10 different teams in a single season.

Raleigh shattered Mickey Mantle’s single-season home run record for a switch hitter and passed Ken Griffey Jr. to become the Mariners’ all-time home run leader. He also became just the fourth AL hitter to reach the 60-home-run mark, joining Mantle, Babe Ruth, and Judge.

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