Why Cal 'Big Dumper' Raleigh Got Screwed as Aaron Judge Wins 2025 AL MVP

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 night.

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.

The Case for Aaron Judge

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Even stumping for someone else to win the award, there is no denying Judge put together an MVP-caliber season in 2025.

He led not only the AL but also paced all of baseball in the following categories:

BA: .331
OBP: .457
SLG: .688
OPS+: 215
WAR: 9.7

The 33-year-old was also tops in the AL in runs (137), walks (124) and total bases (372), and as a further sign of his growth as a player, his 23.6 percent strikeout rate was the lowest mark of his career.

Throw in a dozen steals and solid defensive metrics in the outfield (3 DRS, 3 OAA), and it ranks up there with any season of Judge's career, and his 53 home runs and 114 RBI almost take a back seat to all the other impressive numbers this time around.

Was he truly the most valuable player in the American League, though?

The Case for Cal Raleigh

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Let's start with the obvious.

The home run and RBI totals were something of an afterthought for Judge because he finished behind Raleigh in both of those categories.

A year after becoming the first catcher since Mike Piazza with back-to-back 30-homer seasons, Raleigh took his offensive game to another stratosphere.

With a two-homer game against the Colorado Rockies on Sept. 24—his 11th multi-homer performance of the year—the 28-year-old became just the seventh player in MLB history to reach 60 home runs in a single season.

Raleigh went without a long ball over his final four games, leaving Judge's single-season AL record intact in the process, but still finished with one every 9.93 at-bats on the year. That's a top-30 mark in MLB history, tied for No. 27 on the list with Babe Ruth's 1928 campaign.

Any time you're sitting alongside prime Babe Ruth, you're doing MVP-worthy things.

Now look at all of that through the lens of producing at that level while simultaneously playing the most physically demanding position on the diamond.

With 1,072 innings of work behind the plate, Raleigh trailed only J.T. Realmuto (1,151.1) and William Contreras (1,111.2) for workload among catchers.

And it wasn't just the quantity of work, either, but also the quality. He ranked third behind Patrick Bailey and Alejandro Kirk in overall defensive value by a catcher, according to FanGraphs.

Meanwhile, the Mariners pitching staff logged a 3.87 ERA with him as the anchor, again shouldering the load as a major strength while the offensive pieces fell into place around Raleigh as the season unfolded.

The end result was a trip to the ALCS, marking the first time since 2001 that the Mariners had even won a playoff game. Postseason production is not part of the equation in MVP balloting, but even getting the M's to the playoffs is something that has only happened five other times in their 49-year franchise history.

The Final Verdict in Simple Terms

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Judge had a top-three season of his career in 2025.

It probably belongs a tick below the 2022 season when he launched 62 home runs, and a tick below the 2024 season when he logged a career-high 223 OPS+.

Raleigh had a top-three season in MLB history by a catcher in 2025.

He sprinted past the single-season record for homers at the position, eclipsing Salvador Perez's 47 by Aug. 24, and he did it while serving as a workhorse and leader behind the plate for a team that came one win away from a trip to the World Series.

Raleigh's season holds a more prominent place in history, and also came with a more significant all-around impact on his team's success. When fans think back to the 2025 season, it will be his record-setting year that comes to mind before anything Judge accomplished.

Sorry Yankees fans, but the historic nature of Raleigh's performance and all-encompassing nature of his contributions made him the deserving 2025 AL MVP winner.