Unlike in the National League, where Shohei Ohtani was unanimously voted as the league MVP, the result of the American League MVP award was always going to be more heavily disputed. There were two very worthy finalists in Aaron Judge and Cal Raleigh, both of whom enjoyed fantastic seasons.
In the end, Judge won. It’s hard to argue that he wasn’t deserving, even if there’s a laundry list of reasons Raleigh was also deserving. The decision from the Baseball Writers Association of America to select Judge was a narrow one. The Yankees outfielder took home 17 of the 30 first-place votes, with Raleigh claiming the other 13. Neither player received a single vote below second place. Judge had 13 second-place votes, and Raleigh had 17. Judge won by 20 points, 355–335, in what was an incredibly close race.
Judge’s second straight AL MVP win led to plenty of discussion on social media among MLB fans. There were mixed feelings about the result, with some supportive of the decision to name Judge MVP, due to his prolific hitting numbers, while others were upset, feeling that Raleigh was robbed after a historic season.
Cal Raleigh robbed
— trev (@BayAreaTrev) November 14, 2025
Cal Raleigh finished as runner-up for the 2025 AL MVP Award#Mariners fans, we should forever cherish being able to watch one of the all-time seasons in franchise history in real time.
— Raise The Trident (@RaiseTheTrident) November 14, 2025
📸: @lindseywasson /AP Photo #TridentsUp pic.twitter.com/Nzi1OvdtlH
Cal Raleigh deserved the MVP award, in my opinion. I really hate that Judge won it. Catchers are chronically undervalued in today’s economy.
— Alex Duvall (@aduvall013) November 14, 2025
Respect to Cal Raleigh, but can we stop pretending this was ever close now https://t.co/KjHzMUgHPi
— Earl Simmons (@YankeesFanEarl) November 14, 2025
Aaron Judge is the American League MVP, with 355 total points and 17 first place votes. Cal Raleigh finished a close second with 335 points and 13 first place votes.
— Mike Vorel (@mikevorel) November 14, 2025
Hard to fathom that any catcher could produce that season, with those circumstances, and not win the award. Alas.
Cal Raleigh should have won MVP. #Rigged
— Michael Schwab (@michaelschwab13) November 14, 2025
It's interesting the narrative has now flipped to "Aaron Judge only won the MVP because he plays on the Yankees"
— Bengal (@BengalYouTube) November 14, 2025
I think it's because he led the league in literally everything apart from HR and RBI and was also great defensively. Cal Raleigh was great just not as good as Judge
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as MLB Fans Were Split After Aaron Judge Was Named AL MVP Over Cal Raleigh.
