Aaron Judge on Thursday was named the American League MVP for the 2025 season, winning the award in a close vote over Cal Raleigh.
The Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA) released the results of its voting, which showed that Judge received 17 of 30 first-place votes for AL MVP. Raleigh received the other 13 votes. Judge was second for any voter who had Raleigh first, and Raleigh was second for any voter who had Judge first.
AL MVP full voting
— BBWAA (@officialBBWAA) November 14, 2025
All ballots here: https://t.co/9A2KTASoXU pic.twitter.com/yW0efH481Y
The MVP is the third of Judge’s career, as he also won it in 2022 and 2024.
There is no doubt that both players had great seasons, and some of the commonly cited metrics such as WAR, had Judge ahead of Raleigh. But there are a lot of fans who feel that Raleigh, who slugged 60 home runs as a catcher for a division-winning Seattle Mariners team, was robbed of the award.
Aaron Judge had an incredible year… But Cal Raleigh literally put the Mariners on his back this season. 60 home runs as a switch hitting catcher is truly remarkable. He should’ve won MVP and I will die on this hill.
— Courtney Finnicum (@courtney883) November 14, 2025
The MVP isn’t the best hitter award, that’s the Hank Aaron Award. The MVP should (idk why this is so hard to grasp) go to the player who is… y’know… the most VALUABLE player.
— Kole Musgrove (@KoleMusgrove23) November 14, 2025
Cal Raleigh plays a more VALUABLE position, had a historic season and guided his team to new heights.
Ain’t no way Cal Raleigh didn’t win AL MVP bro
— Wick (@WickSBG) November 14, 2025
Shoutout to Aaron Judge but this is the best season ever by a catcher pic.twitter.com/BHQoHjlZih
I wonder what the AL MVP vote would have been if you kept the same numbers but Cal Raleigh played for the Yankees and Aaron Judge with the Mariners. I bet Cal would have won in a landslide. He should have been the winner even in Seattle.
— Scott Hanson (@shansonscribe) November 14, 2025
Cal Raleigh got jobbed out of the MVP in my mind….
— Kris Zellner (@KrisZellner) November 14, 2025
Where are the Seattle Mariners without him
It’s hard to fathom that Raleigh could have set the single-season record for a catcher and single-season record for a switch-hitter with 60 home runs, and set the Mariners franchise record for home runs, while doing so as a catcher, and not have won the award. He also anchored the Mariners as their catcher calling games and framing pitches, helping his team win 90 games.
But the big differences come down to a few numbers, such as Judge’s .331 batting average and 1.144 OPS compared to .247 and .948 for Raleigh.
