The 2025 AL MVP (American League, Most Valuable Player) race is the hottest topic in Major League Baseball. With less than one week remaining in the regular season, what do Cal Raleigh and Aaron Judge still need to do to make their cases stronger to win the 2025 AL MVP award? Who will win?
Both deserve the award, and both hit two home runs last night. Maybe there will be a tie like 1979 in the National League. One could make a strong argument for either Judge or Raleigh, but who will win?
2025 AL MVP: The Case for Judge
We are going to start with Judge, the reigning American League Most Valuable Player. Will he win the 2025 AL MVP? He entered Monday leading the majors in batting average (.326, On-base percentage (.451), slugging (.672), OPS+ (209), and fWAR (9.2), runs scored (130), and walks (117). On Monday, he got three hits. These are great statistics.
His statistics are a notch above everybody else in Major League Baseball. However, the biggest argument for him is that if you took him off the Yankees and a throwing elbow injury did, the Yankees would fall apart. They did. He trails Raleigh in home runs, but he hit two last night (numbers 50 and 51). His 51 home runs this season give him four such seasons exceeding 50 home runs. Only Babe Ruth, Mark McGwire, and Sammy Sosa have done that.
2025 AL MVP: The Case For Cal Raleigh
As for Cal Raleigh, whose 2025 AL MVP case is gaining momentum every time he steps up to the plate. He entered Monday leading the majors in home runs (58) and leading the A.L. in RBI (121). He had two home runs and four RBI last night. In the thin air of Colorado, against a bad Rockies team, he will likely get more tonight. Raleigh has two-thirds of the batting triple crown. However, that is not the biggest argument for him.
The biggest argument for him is that he is a switch-hitting catcher. That is the most important defensive position, and being a switch-hitter makes him even more valuable. The Seattle pitching staff, speaking of the former, is one of the best in baseball. A catcher has only won the home run title three times before: Johnny Bench in 1970 and 1972, and Salvador Perez in 2021. Raleigh has the most home runs ever for a switch-hitter, a catcher, and a Seattle Mariner.
Raleigh does have a couple of black marks on an otherwise sterling resume for the 2025 AL MVP. His batting average (.247) is ranked 43rd in the American League. His on-base percentage (.360) is ranked seventh. His slugging (.589), OPS+ (169), and fWAR (8.8) are all ranked second, behind Judge. These black marks do not detract from his otherwise unique accomplishments.
Conclusion
The 2025 AL MVP race is going to be a tight one. Both Judge and Raleigh are deserving candidates. The way the voting works is that the BBWAA all vote for the Most Valuable Player, and those votes are scored on a 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 point scale. The low batting average and the fact that Raleigh is second to Judge in some important offensive categories probably give Judge a slight edge. Who knows, maybe there will be a tie like in the National League in 1979.
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