SEATTLE -- In a final heartbreaking bookend to the Mariners’ 2025 season, Cal Raleigh will not go down as the American League MVP.
Seattle’s all-world catcher finished runner-up to Yankees star Aaron Judge for the AL’s top individual honor in what was, expectedly, one of the most closely contested votes for an award from the Baseball Writers’ Association of America in recent memory.
Among the 30 total votes cast by BBWAA members across the country -- two apiece in each AL city -- Raleigh earned 13 first-place votes, while Judge earned 17. That margin of four proved to be the difference, as each was listed as first or second on every ballot, with Raleigh earning the 17 second-place votes on those who voted for Judge, while Judge earned the 13 second-place votes on those who voted for Raleigh.
The BBWAA uses a weighted scoring system, where each voter ranks their top 10 candidates, with points awarded on a 14-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis -- and all ballots are cast before postseason play, meaning that regular-season production is exclusively considered. Raleigh finished with 335 points and Judge with 355.
While it wasn’t the closest finish in history, it was the narrowest margin since 2019, when the Angels' Mike Trout edged the Astros' Alex Bregman by the same margin (355 points to 335) for that year’s AL MVP.
Guardians third baseman José Ramírez, the other finalist after another fine season, was a distant third, generating 19 third-place votes and 224 points. Additionally, Mariners center fielder Julio Rodríguez finished sixth, earning 136 total points with his highest recognition being one fourth-place vote.
Regardless of Thursday’s outcome -- even had Raleigh instead won -- this year’s AL MVP race was always going to be the most debated of the major awards in 2025, and potentially, one of the most speculative in recent memory.
And what it really boiled down to was what each writer weighed most in the criteria of “most valuable.”
Raleigh plays the sport’s most demanding position, with elite defense, and crushed 60 homers that set records for a catcher and a switch-hitter while eclipsing Hall of Famer Ken Griffey Jr. for the most in franchise history. He also navigated one of the sport’s more talented pitching staffs and was the best player on a team that won the AL West for the first time since 2001. Overall, he slashed .247/.359/.589 (.948 OPS) with an AL-best 125 RBIs.
“It's challenging, for sure, having two swings to take care of and trying to obviously manage all the workload and the staff that comes with it,” Raleigh said on MLB Network. “So I think, first of all, obviously the defensive side always comes first -- managing games, plans, meetings, things like that, 13 different [pitchers'] personalities. It comes with its challenges, but it's what I love to do. I enjoy doing it every day, and it's just trying to stay consistent and trying to get prepared as much as you can.”
Moreover, Raleigh was arguably the biggest story in the sport, having won the Home Run Derby while going from one of the league’s best-kept secrets in his geographically removed part of the country to becoming one of its most recognizable players.
Judge, however, put together another monster season -- one that measured up to his two previous MVP campaigns. The 6-foot-7 slugger paced MLB in wins above replacement (10.1, per FanGraphs) and all three slash line stats (with a .331 batting average, a .457 on-base percentage and a .688 slugging percentage). He also crossed the 50-homer mark for the fourth time in his career, further cementing his place among the game’s greatest sluggers.
And while Judge didn’t shatter records the way Raleigh did, he had arguably one of the best offensive seasons for a right-handed hitter of this era -- if not all time. The 2025 MVP Award was the third of his illustrious career, making him one of just 13 players in history with that many. The only players with more are Barry Bonds (seven) and Shohei Ohtani, who won his fourth on Thursday in unanimous fashion on the National League side.
"The voting, it's out of my control," Judge said when asked if he followed how hot the debate was all summer. "I try not to focus too much on that. ... I never came into this game chasing awards, chasing anything besides getting the chance to win and leave this game better than how I found it."
Essentially, voters faced the reality that there was no wrong answer between either AL candidate. Yet, in Seattle, Thursday’s announcement will go down as a gut punch -- especially on the heels of the Mariners coming oh-so-close to their first World Series appearance in franchise history just three weeks earlier.
Raleigh was looking to join Ichiro Suzuki (2001) and Griffey (1997) as the only MVPs in franchise history. And while he won’t have the hardware to account for it, his 2025 season was nonetheless one for the ages and one that will be talked about in this region forever.
But unfortunately for Raleigh, the Mariners and their fans, the commentary on his storybook year will also include the distinction of coming just short in the eyes of this year’s BBWAA voters.