Cal Raleigh is having a glorious 2025 MLB campaign, as he continues to power the Seattle Mariners with his dangerous bat. He has remained a huge threat at the plate to the point that the All-Star catcher has overtaken New York Yankees superstar and two-time American League Most Valuable Player Aaron Judge in the MVP poll.
In the latest MVP poll over at MLB.com, Cal Raleigh has emerged as the top vote-getter from 37 experts on the site, according to BBWAA member Jason Foster.
Via Foster: “As Raleigh's homer total has continued to rise — he's on pace for 60 — his standing in this poll has also surged upward.
After sitting a distant second behind Aaron Judge in the past few voting cycles, Raleigh has rocketed into the top spot with room to spare. His two homers on Sunday gave him the most long balls in a single season by a primary catcher (49) and grew his MLB lead. He also leads the AL with 106 RBIs and has a 167 OPS+ for the season.”
The stats mentioned by Foster were updated as of Sunday, but Raleigh has even improved on those since. Factoring in his performance in Monday's 9-6 Mariners victory over the San Diego Padres at T-Mobile Park in Seattle, in which he hit a solo home run in the first inning, Raleigh now boasts 50 homers to go with 107 RBIs and a 168 OPS+, thus far in the 2025 MLB regular season. For comparison, Judge has 40 home runs, 93 RBIs and a staggering 202 OPS+.
Judge has a higher bWAR of 6.9 than Cal Raleigh's 5.9 bWAR, but they share identical fWARs of 7.3. In addition, Judge has a higher wRC+ at 193 to Raleigh's 161. But what helped Raleigh's case of late over Judge is the latter's uninspiring play since the All-Star break. Following the Midsummer Classic, Judge has hit just .195/.349/.402, which helped Raleigh make headway.
Breaking records and hitting milestones also help Cal Raleigh's case to be this season's AL MVP, but there is still no way to be certain which between Raleigh or Judge will bag the award. Others on the AL MVP watch are Kansas City Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr., Cleveland Guardians third baseman Jose Ramirez and Detroit Tigers ace Tarik Skubal.
