When you see an MVP article come out and you see it’s from a Yankees‘ outlet, of course you’re going to immediately think there is bias. I’ll admit that this article is coming from a Yankees fan, but I can assure you, my argument and feeling on the matter is purely about production versus narrative and story.
Production and narrative is really what is driving the AL MVP conversation at the moment. I can already hear Cal Raleigh supporters screaming and Mariners fans crying foul with someone stating that Cal Raleigh’s MVP case isn’t predominantly production-based.
Yes, Cal Raleigh plays catcher for the AL West winning Seattle Mariners. Yes, the Mariners just won the division title for the first time since 2001. Yes, Cal Raleigh leads the majors in home runs with 60 becoming just the 7th player in history to reach the 60 homer mark.
Yet, despite those facts, the ones arguing for Raleigh in the MVP conversation are focusing on their feelings and perception of the award more than the on-field production.
The feeling that you cannot measure the value of a catcher. The feeling that Raleigh deserves the MVP because this is something out of the ordinary whereas the Yankees’ Aaron Judge is just producing like he should be.
Yankees’ Judge is the MVP
CBS writers yesterday published their MVP votes with four experts picking Judge compared to two experts who picked Cal Raleigh. One of the writers who voted for Raleigh actually admitted in the piece that they voted for Raleigh just to spice things up and add fresh blood to the MVP conversation.
The MVP conversation the last few years on both sides of the league have been dominated by two players: Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani. While Ohtani is going to win the NL MVP this year running away, there seems to be serious national fatigue in the AL when it comes to Aaron Judge.
Let’s state a fact here and that fact is that Aaron Judge has been a far superior baseball player than Cal Raleigh this year. Yes, I understand that Cal Raleigh has had a historic positional season that we may never see again, but that doesn’t mean that he’s been the best baseball player in the American League and if he hasn’t been, he shouldn’t just be given the MVP award.
The MVP award is not supposed to be a feel good award. We are supposed to reward the best performance from an individual player in a given season. The best performance in 2025 has come from Aaron Judge.
The Yankees’ slugger is slashing .330 / .457 / .683 for an OPS of 1.140 and an OPS+ of 214. Judge is essentially a lock to win the batting title which would make him just the third player in baseball history to win a batting title while hitting 50 homers along with Mickey Mantle and Jimmie Foxx.
Number Don’t Lie
YES Network’s Jack Curry brought up an incredible stat the other day and it sounded insane but it’s true. Cal Raleigh could reach base 150 straight times and his OBP would still be lower than Aaron Judge. That was entering the games last night where Raleigh went 0-4 with a walk while Aaron Judge went 2-3 with two walks.
I understand that it’s hard to measure the true value of a catcher, believe me I get it. However, the gap between Aaron Judge and Cal Raleigh is larger than Raleigh’s nationally talked about dumper and I honestly do not believe that Raleigh’s catching makes up the difference when you think about individual production on the field.
There is currently a near 200 point gap in OPS. That is not a small gap, that is a grand canyon sized gap in a conversation like this. When you think of the world valuable, you should automatically think of production and I’m sorry, Cal Raleigh has not been more productive than Aaron Judge in 2025.
Cal Raleigh has the narrative and he’s a feel good story. He looks like an average guy with a cool nick name. He’s the adult version of Little League legend Big Al who loves to hit dingers. Cal Raleigh and the Mariners have been a great story in 2025.
However, that does not mean he should win the MVP over the Yankees’ right fielder who has clearly been the better baseball player in 2025. When you think of MVP, you think of the best in the league and I’m sorry, that is not Cal Raleigh and it’s not particularly close.
Call me biased or call me a nerd, but numbers don’t lie and the numbers point to one player as the MVP this year and that player is Aaron Judge. If the Yankees slugger doesn’t win the MVP, it will not be because of production. Cal Raleigh will win the award simply for his story and the national narrative that’s been pushed.
If Cal Raleigh was batting .290 with an OBP of nearly or above .400 while catching and hitting 60 homers, that’s one thing. However, we are talking about a player batting below .250 with an OBP that doesn’t even rank in the top 20. I get that he catches, but the offensive numbers don’t come close to MVP levels.
In fact, if you put Raleigh at first base with the exact same numbers, he might not finish second or third in the voting because you could easily say that Bobby Witt Jr and Jose Ramirez have been better this year. Keith Law said it best this week when he said that Cal Raleigh is closer to Bobby Witt than he is to Aaron Judge in 2025.
Raleigh would be the first MVP in history to win the award while batting under .250. I find it hilarious watching MLB Network say that batting average doesn’t matter last night and average shouldn’t be a deciding factor which would obviously favor the Yankees’ right fielder.
Ironic considering in 2017 when Aaron Judge had a historic rookie season where he hit more than 50 homers, batting average was the lead narrative as to why Jose Altuve deserved to win the award of Aaron Judge.
Suddenly when Aaron Judge has a batting average nearly 100 points higher, it doesn’t matter. MVP should not be an award that you give to someone because you feel like they have the best story. It’s not an award you should give someone because you feel bad that their historic positional season will go without hardware.
All of that should be stripped away and you should look at the facts and look at what’s done on the field. Block out the noise and the reality is that the MVP doesn’t play for the Seattle Mariners. The 2025 AL MVP plays for the New York Yankees and his name is Aaron Judge.
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