Yankees' Aaron Judge losing ground in MVP race to Cal Raleigh, insider says

The New York Yankees' Aaron Judge is looking to complete the trifecta in 2025.

With two Most Valuable Player Awards under his belt, the Yankee captain is going for a third in the last four years. And he's on a historic pace offensively, racking up nearly six wins above replacement before the start of July.

However, Seattle Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh has emerged as an unexpected challenger. He's leading the big leagues with 32 home runs and 69 RBI so far, and the season still isn't half-over. No catcher has ever hit 50 home runs in a season, let alone 60.

On a recent Bleacher Report live stream, Jon Heyman of the New York Post gave his opinion that Raleigh had tightened up the race, though he still slightly favors Judge overall.

"Raleigh for MVP? Yes, he's in the mix," Heyman said. "I thought the MVP race was over, and I suggested this is the earliest finish for an MVP race ever about a month ago when Judge was at a 250 OPS+ and had an OPS of close to 1.300. He's now a little under 1.200."

"He's still the best hitter in the game, but you've got a catcher who's on pace to hit more than 60 home runs? He's in the mix... My thing about Judge having it locked up a month ago was premature. He's still probably gonna win, I think Judge is in the lead, but Raleigh is certainly in the conversation."

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In June alone, Judge has been great but not superhuman. He's got seven home runs and a .950 OPS. Raleigh has 10 home runs and a blistering 1.109 OPS (still a lot lower than Judge's season mark) to cut the gap.

If the two keep up on the same pace, who will win the award? At the very least, it's closer than anyone could have foreseen.

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