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?
On Thursday, voters narrowly chose Judge, who continued to cement his place among baseball’s all-time greats by becoming the 13th player to win three or more MVPs. He joins Yogi Berra, Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle as the only Yankees to have accomplished that feat.
The vote from the Baseball Writers Association of America was one of the closest in years. Judge received 17 of the 30 first-place votes and 13 second-place votes. Raleigh received the other 13 first-place votes while finishing second on the other 17 ballots.
If two writers had switched their votes, it would have been a tie.
Cleveland Guardians third baseman Jose Ramirez finished third, while Kansas City Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. was fourth.
Judge, humble as always, was quick to congratulate Raleigh and Ramirez.
“They had two incredible seasons,” he told MLB Network. “It’s always fun playing against those two, especially when we play Seattle. The main objective is ‘Make sure Cal doesn’t beat you.'”
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.
“I know I say this often when meeting with our media throughout the season, but I don’t ever want to become desensitized by the consistency and the enormity of his accomplishments,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “It’s becoming increasingly difficult for me to use words to capture how good he is. He’s just playing at a higher level, and has been for quite some time.”
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.
“You try not think about it during the season,” Judge said of the batting title. “I try to keep my head down through all 162, just do whatever I can in today’s game to help our team win. And you do what you can, give it your all, and then you wake up the next day and do it again.”
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.
Judge could have left the Yankees a couple years ago but re-signed as a free agent.
“It’s a lot of responsibility playing in New York, but that’s what I love,” Judge told MLB Network. “When I was a free agent, I came back to New York. I wanted to play in the city, play for these fans, play with these high expectations.”
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.
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, 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.
ESPN’s David Schoenfield contributed to this report.
