The MVPs, 2025

Judge or Raleigh?  For most of the second half of the season, and especially over the final two months, the AL MVP debate was an almost daily topic.  Raleigh crushed 60 home runs as a switch-hitting catcher for a division winner.  Judge once again put up the otherworldly numbers that are just an average season for him at this point.  If not for Raleigh's season, he'd be running away with a second straight MVP award, and probably unanimously.  But that won't be the case at all.  There's truly some suspense here.

It's probably a safe bet to say Judge and Raleigh went 1-2 on all 30 ballots.  If they were both first on 15 and second on the other 15, it'll be a tie, just the second ever and the first in the American League.  So, it's really a matter of how many voters had Raleigh-Judge and how many had Judge-Raleigh (or if any of the writers put either one third, which changes the math completely and almost assuredly gives the other one the win).  Whoever got more first-place votes is probably the winner.

If Raleigh wasn't a catcher, this vote wouldn't be as close as it projects to be.  But the fact that he is will almost certainly come into play.  As it should.  Raleigh had a monster year offensively while also playing 150 games at the most grueling defensive position and guiding that outstanding Seattle pitching staff.  The Mariners don't win their first division title in 24 years without him.  Not to mention the fact that Raleigh and his home runs were the story for much of the season's second half.  Which is why, as much as I love Aaron Judge and as impressed as I am with the numbers he continually puts up year after year, my AL MVP vote goes to Cal Raleigh.

Spoiler alert with that one!  I usually wait until the end of the post to reveal who my choice for the award is.  Raleigh vs. Judge is the most anticipated and figures to be the most hotly contested of all eight awards up for grabs.  And there's no question they both deserve it.  I'm sure I'm not alone in wishing we'd found out the MVPs first instead of last.  But, it's also fitting to end Awards Week with the one award that actually carries some suspense with it.

Jose Ramirez of the Guardians finished third.  Even he knows that.  But still, finishing third makes you a finalist, and maybe J-Ram will grab that first career MVP sooner or later.  After all, he's in the Judge/Ohtani category for his ability to just go out there and consistently put up 30-home run, 80-RBI seasons while playing Gold Glove caliber defense at third base.  He's a quiet superstar that led Cleveland to another division title.

We know the top three, but who else figures to factor into the AL MVP vote?  Well, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. for one.  His signing an extension with Toronto set the stage for the Blue Jays' entire season, and he returned their investment by playing like the franchise player he's paid to be.  A case could also be made for his Toronto teammate Bo Bichette, who could've had 200 hits if he hadn't missed most of September.  And how about a third Blue Jay--George Springer?  Those three at the top of the lineup are a big reason why the Blue Jays went from worst to first in the AL East.

And, even though he's not a finalist this season, that doesn't mean Bobby Witt Jr. had a "bad" year.  Quite the opposite.  He led the AL in hits, actually.  Junior Caminero quietly had a great season in Tampa Bay, and Julio Rodriguez didn't get the headlines that Raleigh did, but he was just as big a reason for the Mariners' first division title since 2001.  Byron Buxton was healthy this season and what a difference it made!  And let's not forget the pitchers.  Where would Detroit have been without Tarik Skubal or Boston without Garret Crochet?

Well, since I already told you, you know the order I've got Raleigh and Judge in.  And I'm good with Jose Ramirez in the 3-spot.  Vladimir Guerrero Jr. goes fourth in my book, followed by Caminero in fifth and Guerrero's teammates Bichette in sixth and Springer in seventh.  Bobby Witt Jr. is No. 8 for me, then Julio Rodriguez, with Tarik Skubal getting a 10th-place vote from me.

In the National League, it's gonna be Ohtani.  Because who else would it be?  He's a unique, generational talent who was finally able to show his two-way gift after being limited to just hitting in 2024 (and winning the MVP).  Ohtani didn't have as many stolen bases this season, but that's because he didn't run as much.  And he obviously brings so much more value to the Dodgers when he's able to pitch, too.  We've seen the difference Ohtani the pitcher can make, and going back to doing both should lock up his fourth career MVP.

Kyle Schwarber's job is to hit home runs.  Which is exactly what he did for a Phillies team that won its division.  The fact that he was able to consistently hit all season really came up big when you consider how many players Philadelphia lost to injury or were just plain ineffective.  Not Schwarber.  He started hitting on Opening Day and never stopped.  He played all 162 games and led the NL in both homers (56) and RBIs (132).  And, it doesn't count for regular season MVP consideration, but will anyone be able to forget the show he put on in the All*Star Game?

When the Mets signed Juan Soto to that record contract in the offseason, it came with the expectation that he live up to the investment.  April was a bit of a struggle, but Mets fans were more than satisfied with their high-priced addition.  Soto was a finalist for AL MVP last season, now he's a finalist in the NL in his first season across town.  He ended up with a .263/43/105 slash line while playing 160 games.  Soto also added another element to his game--the stolen base.  He finished with 38 of them!

There's far less suspense in the National League as in the American League.  I suspect the alphabetical order that was used to announce them as the finalists was the order of finish--Ohtani, Schwarber, Soto.  The real question is whether it was unanimous (it probably was) or if one of the Philadelphia writers threw Schwarber a bone and put him at No. 1.

Now let's talk about the other guys worth being in consideration for some down-vote MVP love.  Starting with Pete Alonso.  The Mets' first baseman wasn't sure he'd be back in Queens after his dalliance with free agency, but the Mets were glad to have him back.  He and Soto formed a formidable pair, and Alonso finished second in the NL with 126 RBIs while hitting a respectable .272.

The Chicago Cubs also contributed a couple of MVP candidates.  Pete Crow-Armstrong was really up there in the conversation with Ohtani early in the season, and he had the Gold Glove-caliber defense to go with his breakout offensive season.  PCA himself would argue that he wasn't even the most valuable member of the Cubs, however.  He'd say it was Seiya Suzuki, and I'd be hard-pressed to come up with a counterargument to that claim.  Suzuki had 32 homers and 31 doubles while driving in 103.

A healthy Christian Yelich showed that he still has the form from when he won this award in 2018.  Geraldo Perdomo quietly put together a 20-home run, 100-RBI season in Arizona.  As did Matt Olson in Atlanta.  And, it's easy to miss what everybody else on the Dodgers is doing because Ohtani sucks so much air out of the room, but Freddie Freeman once again proved that he's one of the top players in the game.  I didn't forget about Manny Machado, either.  Or James Wood, who toiled on a not-very-good Nationals team.

Ohtani's No. 1.  He's in his Barry Bonds Era right now.  The only thing preventing him from winning MVP every year is health at this point.  Schwarber gets my No. 2, with Soto at No. 3.  I'm going Seiya Suzuki at No. 4, then Pete Alonso and Pete Crow-Armstrong.  Perdomo No. 7, Yelich No. 8 (you've got to have somebody from the team that had the best record in the sport), then Olson and Machado rounding it out.