Cal Raleigh Becomes AL MVP Favorite amid Aaron Judge Injury in Latest Betting Odds

Aaron Judge's elbow injury has blown the American League MVP race wide open.

Seattle Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh overtook the New York Yankees slugger in DraftKings Sportsbook's betting odds for MVP. Detroit Tigers ace Tarik Skubal is a distant third:

This comes as the Yankees confirmed Judge is on the 10-day injured list with a right flexor strain.

The seven-time All-Star appeared to be cruising toward a third MVP in four years prior to his elbow trouble. He's the AL co-leader in RBI (85) and is first across all of MLB in batting average (.342), on-base percentage (.449) and slugging (.711).

Judge and Raleigh are separated by 0.8 WAR at FanGraphs.

Yankees manager Aaron Boone said his best player avoided a much worse fate in terms of the injury. The team is optimistic he can return to the lineup as soon as he's eligible to be activated from his IL stint. He'll be eased in as the designated hitter to avoid putting too much strain on his elbow.

Still, the uncertainty over Judge's recovery timeline or how he'll perform the rest of the year is giving an indirect boost to Raleigh's MVP campaign.

The Mariners star has built a strong enough résumé on his own. Nobody in the majors has hit more homers (40), and he has matched Judge's RBI total. With a slash line of .257/.369/.614, he's on pace to have one of the single best offensive seasons ever for a catcher.

The Yankees and Mariners are separated by just a half-game in the AL wild-card race as well. Should New York's fortunes suffer with Judge out, his MVP odds could take an accompanying blow.