Yankees' Aaron Judge defeats Cal Raleigh, voter fatigue in razor-thin AL MVP victory

Despite his agreed-upon best-in-the-game pedigree, New York Yankees megalith Aaron Judge had a surprising amount to prove entering the 2025 season. He was coming off another Bondsian regular season campaign with a Mike Trout ending (an empty October). It's reductive, sure, but it's also the fault of his own accomplishments. With every bout of undeniable Judge Greatness during the 162-game schedule, his postseason struggles loomed larger and larger, with 2024 serving as the unfortunate dénouement. The strikeouts in Cleveland. The home run against Emmanuel Clase that went for nought. The dropped fly ball. The worst people in the world had plenty of opportunities to deny Judge's otherworldly talents, and they took advantage of every single one of them.

If 2024 was the narrative killer, then 2025 was Judge's Michael Myers revenge season. You either die a hero, or live long enough to see yourself become the villain. Judge's career began with a 52-homer rookie year that should've won him the MVP, but didn't, because the world at large was impressed with Jose Altuve's batting average (and the fact that he didn't wear an interlocking NY on his cap). This season, Judge hit a remarkable .331, a career high, after flirting with .400 through much of May. He didn't sacrifice an ounce of power, finishing with 53 homers and reducing his strikeouts to 160. When October came, Judge was good, then great, then historic, mashing a three-run home run to briefly coalesce with the Yankees' ghosts and tie Game 3 of the ALDS, finishing the series hitting .600 in a losing effort.

The MVP vote took place before that reputation-shifting (and goalpost-moving, given that it was "only the ALDS" for some) pivot point, of course. But this year, Judge wasn't going up against a singles-hitting prodigy or a second-year athletic standout with more time on the clock. This year, his opponent in this particular ring was Cal Raleigh, who matched and exceeded his mashing with 60 home runs, 49 behind the plate. In '17, he was the upstart who was told he needed more seasoning. Now? He's the embodiment of fatigue; voters seemingly demand that every Judge win come with a milestone. A run-of-the-mill 215 OPS+ (up against Raleigh's 169)? Get out of here. Might as well be garbage.

Would he come out on the wrong side of both varieties of MVP clashes, losing his rightful claim due to both branding and boredom? When push came to shove, the voters decided...Judge's greatness was impossible to deny. Raleigh's season might be the year that many impartial viewers remember longer down the line, but much like Shohei Ohtani in the National League, a complete Judge season is all but impossible to take down.

If 60 home runs from a burly catcher can't do it, what can?

Yankees' Aaron Judge wins MVP over Cal Raleigh 355 to 335

In the end, Judge won 17 first-place votes to Raleigh's 13. That means, in a 30-voter pool, the exact inverse played out among the second-place votes, and Judge earned the weighted victory (355 to 335 in total).

There may come a time when Judge's reign eventually comes to an end after a completed full season. For now, we're living in a world where the power of pinstriped hatred and an endless search for a fleet of narrative edges for Raleigh still isn't enough to topple him. How far we've come in eight years, post-Altuve.