How Close Cal Raleigh Came to Winning First AL MVP Award Over Aaron Judge

Aaron Judge was crowned the 2025 AL MVP on Thursday night, but Cal Raleigh wasn’t far behind.

Mariners star catcher Cal Raleigh captured the 2025 American League MVP award on Thursday night. / John E. Sokolowski-Imagn Images

In the most anticipated award race of the 2025 season, Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh finished second in voting for the 2025 American League MVP award Thursday, falling to Yankees slugger Aaron Judge.

Raleigh's historic season for the Mariners, which helped the club reach Game 7 of the ALCS, wasn’t enough to earn him the prestigious award over Judge, who took home his second straight AL MVP and the third of his career.

It was a close race, too.

Of the 30 ballots submitted by the BBWAA, Judge received 17 votes for first place—barely eking out Raleigh, who took home 13 first-place votes. It was the closest vote for MVP in either league since Angels star Mike Trout received 17 first-place votes to win the 2019 AL MVP over Astros slugger Alex Bregman (13 votes).

Here’s a closer look at the voting for the top-five 2025 AL MVP finishers:

2025 AL MVP voting—full results (top five)

PLAYER	1ST PLACE	2ND PLACE	3RD PLACE	TOTAL POINTS
Aaron Judge, Yankees	17	13	0	355
Cal Raleigh, Mariners	13	17	0	335
José Ramírez, Guardians	0	0	19	224
Bobby Witt Jr., Royals	0	0	9	215
Tarik Skubal, Tigers	0	0	1	139

RELATED: Every MLB Player Who Received Exactly One MVP Vote

Raleigh led the American League with 60 home runs and 125 RBIs; he also scored 110 runs on the season for Seattle. No catcher in MLB history has hit more homers in a single season than Raleigh, but Judge’s otherworldly bWAR (9.7) and OPS (1.144) was too much for Raleigh to overcome in the eyes of the voters.

Raleigh would have become just the 13th catcher in MLB history to win an MVP award, and the first since Buster Posey captured the title for the San Francisco Giants in 2012.

Full list of MLB catchers to win MVP

PLAYER	TEAM	YEAR	bWAR
Buster Posey	Giants	2012	7.6
Joe Mauer	Twins	2009	7.6
Ivan Rodriguez	Rangers	1999	6.1
Thurman Munson	Yankees	1976	5.0
Johnny Bench	Reds	1972	8.5
Johnny Bench	Reds	1970	7.1
Elston Howard	Yankees	1963	5.0
Roy Campanella	Dodgers	1955	5.0
Yogi Berra	Yankees	1955	4.2
Yogi Berra	Yankees	1954	5.0
Roy Campanella	Dodgers	1953	6.8
Roy Campanella	Dodgers	1951	6.3
Yogi Berra	Yankees	1951	4.5
Ernie Lombardi	Reds	1938	5.3
Gabby Hartnett	Cubs	1935	4.8
Mickey Cochrane	Tigers	1934	3.7
Mickey Cochrane	Athletics	1928	3.4
Bob O'Farrell	Cardinals	1926	3.4

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