If you had said last year that Cal Raleigh would battle Aaron Judge for the MVP, people probably would have laughed. And a quick look at the stats will tell you why. Aaron Judge won his second MVP award after he hit .322 with 58 home runs and a 1.159 OPS. Raleigh, on the other hand, won the Platinum Glove for his defense. But his offense was miles behind Judge. He hit just .220 with a .748 OPS. Coming to the 2025 season, no one could have predicted the unbelievable turnaround he was about to make, but here we are.

Recently, Cal Raleigh won the Baseball Digest/Inside Edge player of the year award. He narrowly beat out Aaron Judge in a ballot where “a panel of baseball writers and broadcasters that included several former players, managers and executives” took part.  The vote was so close, with Raleigh receiving 12 first-place votes, finishing with 56 points, while Judge had eight first-place votes and closed with 53 points, as per The Associated Press. And according to the report, Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani “got the other four first-place votes and came in a distant third.”

This award is often seen as a preview of the official MVP, because Judge — who won this same award last year — edged Ohtani by two points for that prize, and both of them ended up as MVPs in their respective leagues.

And this season, with his 60 homers, Raleigh led the American League with 125 RBIs and smashed the MLB records for home runs as both a catcher and a switch-hitter. He also broke legendary Ken Griffey Jr.’s single-season home run record for the Mariners and joined Alex Rodriguez as the only Mariners to ever receive the Baseball Digest award. Judge, on the other hand, led the majors with a .331 batting average and a 1.144 OPS with 53 dingers and 114 RBIs.

The report also noted other winners: Pittsburgh Pirates ace Paul Skenes won the pitcher of the year, and Boston Red Sox closer Aroldis Chapman was the reliever of the year.

This recent result has completely changed the MVP conversation, but what makes it so special?

And the story is not all about who has the better stats

What makes Raleigh’s case so special is that catchers rarely win the MVP, and the job is just so tough that only three catchers have won the AL MVP in the last 50 years. The last one was Joe Mauer way back in 2009, and this history could help Raleigh, and some voters may feel it’s time to give them the chance they deserve. And of course, the race isn’t just about Judge and Raleigh.

Other players deserve recognition, like Cleveland’s José Ramírez, who just finished his third 30-homer, 30-steal season with a 297/.392/.593 slash line over a crucial 17-game stretch that helped the Guardians cut a 15.5-game lead and qualify for the postseason. Bobby Witt Jr. of the Royals also had a 20-homer, 30-steal year with 8 WAR on fangraphs. You also can’t forget about Toronto’s George Springer, who had a career year at age 36. And for the people who always think a pitcher should win it, Detroit’s Tarik Skubal is no doubt the best candidate to win it, with the AL leading in ERA and WAR for pitchers.

Now, here’s something very important to remember: the playoffs have absolutely no impact on who wins the MVP, as all the votes were submitted before the first pitch of the postseason. But that won’t stop these two stars from trying to win the World Series that they have never won. Judge’s Yankees will now face the Toronto Blue Jays in the Division Series starting Saturday on the road after beating the Red Sox, and Raleigh’s Seattle Mariners, who got a bye, will host the Detroit Tigers, also starting Saturday. The winner is announced in November, but who do you think they picked?