Even as the Yankees endured their summer swoon, their fans could at least take some solace knowing they would likely get to celebrate another MVP Award for Aaron Judge.
But even that is less of a certainty these days.
That’s because Cal Raleigh of the Seattle Mariners is making a powerful push to be the American League MVP, putting up numbers never seen before from a catcher.
Raleigh struck home runs No. 48 and No. 49 on Sunday, tying and then breaking Salvador Perez’s single-season record for a primary catcher.
“I think we’re seeing that he’s starting to set a bar to nobody else that’s done this,” Mariners manager Dan Wilson said after Sunday’s 11-4 win over the A’s. “The newsworthy part of this thing is it’s getting to a point where you can’t compare him to anybody. He just keeps pushing that bar higher.”
Raleigh entered Monday only five homers shy of the single-season record for a switch-hitter, which Mickey Mantle set with 54 in 1961.
With 31 games left to play, including Monday’s, Raleigh was on pace for 60.6 home runs, putting him in a position to at least challenge Judge’s AL single-season record of 62, which he set in 2022.
Mariners fans showered Raleigh with MVP chants as he rounded the bases at T-Mobile Park after both of Sunday’s historic homers.
“Obviously to do it anywhere would be really special,” Raleigh, 28, said. “But to do it here in front of the fans and to give them that and see the appreciation was a really cool moment.”
Still, many stats still favor Judge in the MVP debate.
Judge began Monday with an MLB-best .324 average, which was eight points higher than any other player and far superior to Raleigh’s .247.
The 33-year-old Judge also led the majors in on-base percentage (.439), slugging percentage (.669) and OPS (1.108).
Those numbers, too, towered over those of Raleigh, who had a .353 on-base percentage, a .593 slugging percentage and a .946 OPS.
Judge also led the AL with 100 runs, though his 40 homers and 92 RBI put him behind Raleigh, who ended Sunday with an AL-best 106 RBI.
As recently as July 12, Judge was hitting .358 with a 1.204 OPS. Both he and Raleigh have cooled off in August, as Judge entered Monday with a .775 OPS this month and Raleigh had a .797 OPS.
Baseball Reference’s metrics for wins above replacement gave Judge (6.8) a significant edge over Raleigh (5.7), but FanGraphs’ model rated them equally, giving both a 7.3 WAR to tie for the MLB lead.
Also close to even were their teams’ places in the standings. The Yankees went into Monday with a half-game advantage over Seattle for the second wild position. The Mariners held a three-game lead for the third and final wild card spot.
That’s despite a rough weekend in which the Yankees lost three of four to the rival Boston Red Sox. The Mariners, too, have struggled of late, going into Monday with eight losses in their last 11 games.
Perhaps working a bit more in Raleigh’s favor is that he plays catcher, the most demanding defensive position.
And while Raleigh’s defensive advanced metrics are down from last year — when he won a Platinum Glove as the AL’s best fielder at any position — the workhouse backstop entered Monday with 98 appearances at catcher to lead the AL.
Judge, meanwhile, rates among the better defensive right fielders in baseball this year, but he has not played the field since July 25 due to a flexor strain in his right elbow.
Both Judge and Raleigh have a little over a month left to put the finishing touches on their MVP candidacies.
Judge won the award in 2022 and 2024, leading the majors in homers, on-base percentage, slugging percentage and OPS both times. He won last year’s award unanimously.
But Raleigh will have his supporters this year, especially if breaks Judge’s single-season home run record.
Through 131 team games in 2022, Judge had 51 home runs. For Raleigh to pass Judge, he would need to hit at least 14 home runs in the final 31 games — a full-season pace of more than 73 homers.
