Catchers, Shield Your Eyes: Aaron Judge Deserves The AL MVP Over Cal Raleigh, And The Only Reason He Won't Win It Is Because People Are Bored Of How Unbelievable a Player He's Become

Cal Raleigh just finished off an amazing season for the Seattle Mariners that also coincided with the Seattle Mariners first AL West division title in 24 years. Raleigh set records for most homers by a catcher and most homers by a switch hitter in baseball history with 60. And yes he did this while also catching in 121 games. No doubt about it, it was a unicorn season from him that will be remembered forever. The only issue for Cal is that Aaron Judge is also in his league and because of that there shouldn't be a question of who wins the AL MVP —it's Judge by a landslide. Now I wouldn't care so much about another Judge MVP if it wasn't for people like Ben Verlander existing. 

That and the voters inexplicably giving the award to Jose Altuve back in 2017 over Judge. I'm pretty sure if it was up to people like Ben then Judge wouldn't have a single MVP award to his name. If it was his call Ohtani would just win both leagues and he'd call it a day. He's genuinely the worst. 

So now we're here and I need to write this blog before I completely lock in on tomorrow's Wild Card Game 1 against the Red Sox. I'm honestly just using this blog to delay thinking about Garrett Crochet if we're being honest. 

Let's present the numbers. 

Raleigh has Judge in homers, RBI, games played, and stolen bases. Judge has him in literally everything else. Judge led the league in WAR, fWAR, batting average, OBP, SLG, OPS, OPS+, total bases, and runs scored. Judge also set the MLB record for most homers by a batting champion. The one thing Judge doesn't do, which Cal does? 

Play catcher. 

Stephen Brashear. Getty Images.

Outside of the home runs, the only thing people seem to care about is that Raleigh catches. The thing is, he's not even that good of a catcher this year. In 2024 Raleigh won the platinum glove, given to the league's best defender.  That was LAST season, but people see that and just assume it's the same deal in 2025. It's not. 

To me Raleigh would have to be on Patrick Bailey's level to make up for the large gap between him and Judge in the conversation. It's definitely special that he catches and hits like this, but it's not enough to say he was better than Judge. 

And I really don't want to poo-poo Cal Raleigh's season. If he was in the National League he'd have a legit shot to beat out Ohtani for the award. Aaron Judge is just a different beast. 

Teams weren't scared to pitch to Cal Raleigh, despite their lineup being inferior to the Yankees. Judge received more intentional walks than any other team in baseball. 

I really don't think it's close in determining the MVP unless you either 1) were a catcher and feel like you need to support one of your guys 2) are tired of Aaron Judge's greatness similar to the likes of Nikola Jokic in the NBA. Judge is really that good and it doesn't get appreciated enough. 

We're watching a living legend every day. Does he need to transition these results to October? Without question. Postseason success if the only thing hanging him back from immortality. Maybe this is the year given the fact that he's red hot entering October and the Yankees only have today as their off day before the Wild Card gets going. Again, the fact that it's Crochet facing them in Game 1 terrifies me to no end. He's so fucking good, and especially tough on the Yankees. Judge has gotten him a few times this year, but Crochet has more than dominated him outside of that. This being just a three game series puts so much more value on the Sox ace. Hopefully Fried can match zeroes or maybe even out-last him. Either way, if the Yankees are going to win the World Series, Aaron Judge has to be at the front of it all playing like the generational superstar that should be on his way to a third MVP.