The Seattle Mariners haven’t had many MVP winners in their franchise history. Ken Griffey Jr. in 1997 and Ichiro Suzuki in 2001 stand as the only two. Now, the team and its fans are daring to hope Cal Raleigh could be the next name on that list. With his 57th home run of the season, Raleigh not only passed Griffey Jr. for the Mariners’ single-season home run record but also pushed his way deeper into the 2025 American League MVP conversation. Yet, standing in his way is none other than Aaron Judge—a two-time MVP (2022, 2024) chasing his third in four years. The race isn’t just narrowing—it’s becoming one of the most gripping in recent memory.

Even front offices are divided. When one National League executive was asked to choose between Judge and Raleigh, he admitted, “Holy cow, that’s a tough call. I’m actually glad I don’t have a vote.”

Recently, MLB.com held a poll for some front office execs on whether they would vote for Judge or Raleigh. And the outcome was almost even. The results showed Raleigh edging out Judge by 7-6, with one vote split with a tie. Following that, Joe Girardi, a former Yankees legend who played catcher, gave the most unbiased take.

“Joe Girardi, a former catcher, doesn’t think being a catcher is enough of a reason for Cal Raleigh to win MVP over Aaron Judge.” Per Joe Randazzo of SI. Apparently, it’s the most unbiased stance. Simply because as a catcher, Girardi can relate to Raleigh too, despite being linked to the Yankees.

Moreover, this debate is not new. It was pointed out on X recently that if you subtracted 180 OPS points from Aaron Judge, you’d get Cal Raleigh. And if it were the other way around, as in you subtracted 180 points from Cal Raleigh, he’d be an average major league player.

In fact, Yankees bench coach and former catcher Brad Ausmus had the same take as Joe Girardi. Only difference is that Ausmus’ stance was “biased,” as he accepted. Of course, since he often works with Aaron Judge. He was decisive about his stance that the outfielder is more deserving of the 2025 MVP.

At least Ausmus accepted that his stance was biased, because a broadcaster was recently slammed for publicly leaning in Raleigh’s favor.

Broadcaster backlashed for Anti-Aaron Judge advocacy

FOX Network recently ran a graphic in which they drew a biased analysis. They broke down metrics of both the players and highlighted only one metric. It was home runs in which Cal Raleigh had an edge. It was right after Raleigh had broken Mickey Mantle’s record and had 56 home runs to his name while Aaron Judge had 48.

Considering the evident bias, @rational_yankee blasted the FOX network publicly. He noted, “Why is the only highlighted statistic here Raleigh’s HR total? Judge outpaces Raleigh in basically every offensive category and Fox highlights the only category Raleigh leads in. The media is doing everything it can to create a story around the AL MVP.” This post gained divided opinions. Some agreed that FOX favored Raleigh for just one category, while others didn’t see much of a problem here.

Entering Sunday, Judge has a .329 batting average, 49 home runs, 105 RBIs and 1.129 OPS. Meanwhile, Raleigh is batting .246 with 57 home runs, 119 RBIs, and a .947 OPS. On Saturday, both Raleigh and Judge added one home run each to their numbers. While Raleigh broke Ken Griffey Jr.’s record for the Seattle Mariners’ single-season mark, Judge is only one home run away from hitting his 50th.

Given the thin margins, this 2025 AL MVP race has all the potential to join the list of the closest MVP votes in MLB history.