Jorge CastilloNov 13, 2025, 07:54 PM ET
- ESPN baseball reporter. Covered the Washington Wizards from 2014 to 2016 and the Washington Nationals from 2016 to 2018 for The Washington Post before covering the Los Angeles Dodgers and MLB for the Los Angeles Times from 2018 to 2024.
For months, debate has swirled about the American League Most Valuable Player Award.
Would the honor go to New York Yankees right fielder Aaron Judge for the third time in four years after another extraordinary offensive season? Or would it go to Seattle Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh, who smashed his way into the record books with 60 home runs?
In the end, voters narrowly chose Judge, who continued to cement his place among baseball’s all-time greats by becoming the 13th player to win MVP three or more times. He joins Yogi Berra, Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle as the only Yankees to have accomplished that feat.
Judge finished with 17 first-place votes and 355 points in voting conducted by the Baseball Writers Association of America, just ahead of Raleigh, who had 13 first-place votes and 335 points. Cleveland Guardians third baseman Jose Ramirez finished third, while Kansas City Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. was fourth.
Aaron Judge, who was AL MVP in 2022 and 2024, won the award for a third time after batting .331 with 53 homers, 114 RBIs and a major league-leading 1.145 OPS in 152 games with the New York Yankees. AP Photo/Frank Franklin II
Judge won the award for the first time in 2022 when he cracked an American League-record 62 home runs. After a freak toe injury derailed his 2023 season, he registered one of the greatest seasons in major league history in 2024 for his second MVP, slashing .322/.458/.701 with 58 home runs and 144 RBIs.
He followed that up with another sublime campaign in 2025, though it was interrupted for two weeks by a stint on the injured list with a flexor strain in his right elbow.
It could be argued that 2025 was, from start to finish, the best season of Judge’s career.
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He won his first batting title with a .331 average — 20 points better than the rest of the major-league pack. Judge clubbed 53 home runs to become the fourth player ever with four seasons of at least 50 home runs while passing Berra and DiMaggio for fourth on the Yankees’ all-time home run list.
The 53 home runs were the most ever for a batting champion. He led the majors in OPS (1.144), wRC+ (204), and fWAR (10.1). He also set the AL record with 36 intentional walks.
Not included in his MVP resume was the best postseason of his career. Judge slashed .500/.581./.692 in 31 plate appearances in the Yankees’ abbreviated playoff showing. His game-tying three-run home run off the foul pole at Yankee Stadium in Game 3 of the AL Division Series helped the Yankees temporarily stave off elimination and punctuated a breakout postseason after infamous October struggles in other years.
JudgeRaleighHR5360RBIs114125Runs137110OBP.457.359wRC+205161fWAR10.19.1
Still missing from Judge’s resume, however, is a World Series title as the Yankees’ title drought stretched to 16 years in 2025. For now, Judge, now a three-time MVP winner, is the greatest Yankee ever without a World Series championship.
The Raleigh vs. Judge debate was the hottest contested MVP argument in over a decade, as both sluggers put together historic seasons. There was no wrong answer.
Raleigh, the switch-hitting catcher for the Seattle Mariners, became just the seventh different player to hit 60 home runs in a season. He shattered Salvador Perez’s previous mark of 48 home runs by a primary catcher and soared past Mantle’s record of 54 by a switch-hitter.
Raleigh hit .247/.359/.589 with 60 home runs, a league-leading 125 RBIs and 110 runs scored.
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