Cal Raleigh is Closing in on the Yankees' Aaron Judge... in More Ways Than One
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In many ways, baseball in 2025 has been the Year of Cal Raleigh. And for the catcher himself, it's been a season of sensational stats. On Wednesday night, as the Mariners clinched the AL West, he hit two homers to become just the seventh player in Major League Baseball history to accumulate 60 in a season. That puts him alongside all-time greats Babe Ruth, Roger Maris, Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, Barry Bonds, and one of his contemporaries, Aaron Judge.
How fitting is it then, that Judge and Raleigh are considered the top two candidates for the American League Most Valuable Player Award as the 2025 season starts winding down. With five games left to play, Raleigh needs just three more home runs to break Judge's AL record of 62, set in 2022.
It's also a tale of two completely opposite players. Judge has been one of the best players in baseball since he was originally called up by the Yankees. He is a seven-time All-Star, a three-time (and reigning) league MVP, and a bona fide household name. He's the face of a franchise that is the most successful in history, with 27 world championship banners to prove it. Meanwhile, the Mariners are still seeking their first World Series title.
On the flip side, Cal Raleigh has emerged on the national stage this year, after a handful of years of being one of the better young catchers in the game. And while he's never been short on power, he's having the biggest season of his life right now, leading the AL with 60 home runs, and is second in RBI with 125. He even won the Home Run Derby, becoming the first catcher ever to win baseball's mid-season test of power.
On top of all that, Raleigh also won the 2024 Platinum Glove as MLB's best defensive player at one of the most important positions on the field. In any other season or era, that's the resume of a unanimous MVP winner.
However, he's hitting .258, 40 points lower than Judge. Still, it almost seemed like destiny that on the same night that the Big Apple Basher hit his 50th home run in a season for the fourth time in his career, Raleigh was playing the hero role on the other coast. The catcher's two homers were what fueled the Mariners as they clinched their first division title in history.
While many fans and media will tell you that Judge should grab another MVP in 2025, it's Raleigh that keeps on stealing the show. And with both players headed to the postseason, whoever grabs the spotlight last in October may be the won who takes home the trophy in November.
