New York Yankees’ Aaron Judge watches his solo home run during the first inning of a baseball game against the Detroit Tigers, Thursday, Sept. 11, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)
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The American League MVP race is a battle between two sluggers. Aaron Judge has been the most productive overall hitter in the game, but Cal Raleigh is putting up unprecedented numbers for a catcher.
How they finish the final two weeks of the season could determine who takes home the award. Here’s where they stand as they round the final turn of the 2025 campaign.
Aaron Judge
Judge spent the last week rearranging the New York Yankees franchise leaderboard for career home runs. He passed Yogi Berra (358) and Joe DiMaggio (361) to move into third place behind only Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle, and Lou Gehrig—impressive company indeed.
Berra, DiMaggio, and Mantle won three MVPs each, and Judge can match them by earning the honor this season. He previously won it in 2022 and 2024.
By nearly any measure, he has been the best hitter in baseball this year once again. He leads MLB in all three triple-slash categories with a .323/.444/.673 batting line, as well 7.9 WAR (Baseball-Reference version). He also paces the AL in walks (106) and runs scored (120).
As great as he has been, there are more nits to pick than there were when he won his previous two MVPs. While he has hit better than anyone else in the game, he’s slightly down from his previous peaks. His ridiculous 205 OPS+ indicates his overall offense has been 105% better than the league average, but he posted a 225 OPS+ last season. With 47 home runs and 15 games to play, he won’t reach the 62 blasts he achieved in 2022 or the 58 he clobbered in 2024.
His defensive contributions have been more limited as well. Last year, he was the starting center fielder for the Yankees, but this season he moved back to right field. He hurt his elbow at the end of July, necessitating a brief stint on the injured list, and he served exclusively as a designated hitter in August. He has only recently started to spend time back in the outfield.
With three more homers, he will tie Ruth, Mark McGwire, and Sammy Sosa for the most seasons with 50 dingers. There could be some voter fatigue working against him since he has won it before, but there’s no denying that he’s one of the greatest sluggers in baseball history, and he’s still near the top of his game.
Cal Raleigh
Only one man has more home runs than Judge this season, and incredibly, it’s a catcher. Raleigh, the Seattle Mariners backstop, already shattered Salvador Perez’s single-season record of home runs at the position (48), and he’s up to 53.
With 14 games to go, 60 homers isn’t totally out of reach. He and Mantle are the only two switch-hitters ever with 50 or more in a season, and he only needs one more to tie Mantle’s record of 54 by a switch-hitter.
No catcher has ever put up these kinds of power numbers before, and he’s not just any catcher. He won the Gold Glove and the Platinum Glove last season. Advanced metrics rate his pitch framing as merely good this year rather than the best in the league, but he’s still providing excellent production whether he’s standing at the plate or crouching behind it.
Despite the fact that he has six more home runs than Judge, his overall batting line isn’t close to his competitor’s. He’s batting .241/.355/.573 with a 163 OPS+, which is well off Judge’s pace. His 5.9 WAR is fifth in the AL behind Judge’s 7.9, Tarik Skubal (6.3), Bobby Witt Jr. (6.3), and Corey Seager (6.1).
If Raleigh overtakes Judge in the voting, it’ll be due to the unprecedented nature of his power numbers for a player at his position. If anything, they would be overrating his defense, excellent though it may be.
The AL MVP race is Judge’s to lose, but a hot streak from Raleigh could still put him in front over the final two weeks of the season.
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