For months, fans and pundits alike wondered who would win the American League Most Valuable Player Award.
Would the honor go to New York Yankees right fielder Aaron Judge for the third time in four years after another extraordinary offensive season, or would it go to Seattle Mariners switch-hitting catcher Cal Raleigh, who smashed his way into the record books with 60 home runs?
On Thursday, voters narrowly chose Judge, who continued to cement his place among baseball’s all-time greats by becoming the 13th player to win three or more MVPs. He joins Yogi Berra, Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle as the only Yankees to have accomplished the feat.
Judge received 17 of the 30 first-place votes and 13 second-place votes. Raleigh received the other 13 first-place votes while finishing second on the other 17 ballots. If two writers had flipped their votes to Raleigh, it would have been a tie. It was the closest vote for an MVP since the Angels’ Mike Trout topped Houston’s Alex Bregman by 17-13 in first-place votes in 2019.
The 33-year-old Judge, who also won the AL award in 2022 and 2024, led the majors with a .331 batting average and 1.144 OPS while hitting 53 homers.
When asked about his place in MLB and Yankees lore, Judge acknowledged he’s in rare company.
“It’s tough for me to wrap my head around,” Judge said. “It’s mind-blowing from my side of things, because I play this game to win, I play this game for my teammates, my family, all the fans in New York.”
Later he added: “You’ve got to pinch yourself every single day. It’s truly an incredible honor.”
Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani won the National League MVP, his second straight and his fourth MVP award in five years (two in each league), all of them by unanimous vote.
Judge is the first AL player to win back-to-back MVPs since the Detroit Tigers’ Miguel Cabrera did it in 2012 and 2013.
Raleigh, nicknamed “Big Dumper,” led the majors with his 60 homers, the most ever for a player who was primarily a catcher (he is just the seventh player all-time to reach 60). He started 119 games behind the plate and another 38 at DH. He shattered Salvador Perez’s previous mark of 48 home runs by a primary catcher and soared past Mantle’s record of 54 homers by a switch-hitter.
The 28-year-old slashed .247/.359/.589 with a league-leading 125 RBIs and 110 runs scored, leading the Mariners to one of their best seasons in franchise history. Judge said he got to know Raleigh a little during the All-Star break and the catcher asked for some leadership tips.
“Cal’s a special player,” Judge said. “I could sit here and talk all night about the player he is, but really the kind of leader and person he is really stuck out to me at the All-Star Game.”
Cleveland Guardians third baseman José Ramírez finished third in the voting, and Kansas City Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. was fourth.
Judge won the award for the first time in 2022, when he cracked an AL-record 62 home runs. After a toe injury derailed his 2023 season, he registered one of the greatest seasons in major league history in 2024 for his second MVP, slashing .322/.458/.701 with 58 home runs and 144 RBIs.
He followed that with another tremendous season in 2025, though it was interrupted for two weeks on the injured list because of a flexor strain in his right elbow.
Judge arguably had the best season of his career in 2025.
“I know I say this often when meeting with our media throughout the season, but I don’t ever want to become desensitized by the consistency and the enormity of his accomplishments,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “It’s becoming increasingly difficult for me to use words to capture how good he is. He’s just playing at a higher level, and has been for quite some time.”
He won his first batting title with a .331 average – 20 points better than the rest of anyone in MLB. Judge belted 53 home runs to become the fourth player with four seasons of at least 50 home runs while passing Berra and DiMaggio for fourth on the Yankees’ all-time home run list.
“You try not to think about it during the season,” Judge said of the batting title. “I try to keep my head down through all 162, just do whatever I can in today’s game to help our team win. And you do what you can, give it your all, and then you wake up the next day and do it again.”
The 53 home runs were the most ever for a batting champion. He led the majors in OPS (1.144), wRC+ (204) and fWAR (10.1). He became the fifth player in the expansion era (since 1961) to top the majors in batting average, on-base percentage, and slugging percentage in the same season. He also set an AL record with 36 intentional walks.
Judge could have left the Yankees a couple of years ago but re-signed as a free agent.
“It’s a lot of responsibility playing in New York, but that’s what I love,” Judge told MLB Network. “When I was a free agent, I came back to New York. I wanted to play in the city, play for these fans, play with these high expectations.”
Not included on his MVP résumé was the best postseason of his career. Judge slashed .500/.581/.692 in 31 plate appearances in the Yankees’ abbreviated playoff showing. His tying three-run home run off the foul pole at Yankee Stadium in Game 3 of the AL Division Series helped the Yankees temporarily stave off elimination and punctuated a breakout postseason after his October struggles in other years.
OTHER AWARDS
Texas Rangers pitcher Jacob deGrom was voted AL Comeback Player of the Year and Atlanta Braves outfielder Ronald Acuña Jr. earned the NL honor, presented at the MLB Awards show on Thursday night in Las Vegas.
Edwin Díaz of the New York Mets was selected as the Trevor Hoffman NL Reliever of the Year and Aroldis Chapman of the Boston Red Sox was picked as the Mariano Rivera AL Reliever of the Year.
Judge won his third Hank Aaron Award as the AL’s most outstanding offensive performer.
Milwaukee Brewers general manager Matt Arnold became the first repeat winner of MLB’s Executive of the Year award.
DeGrom, a 37-year-old right-hander, had Tommy John surgery in June 2023, made three starts near the end of the 2024 season and went 12-8 with a 2.97 ERA and 185 strikeouts in 172⅔ innings this season, earning his fifth All-Star selection.
Acuña, 27, tore his left ACL on May 26, 2024, and returned to the Braves this past May 23 and made his fifth All-Star team. He hit .290 with 21 home runs, 42 RBIs and nine stolen bases.
Díaz also earned the reliever award in 2018 and 2022, and he became the second three-time winner along with Josh Hader. The 31-year-old right-hander was 6-3 with a 1.63 ERA, 28 saves in 31 chances and 98 strikeouts in 66⅓ innings.
The 37-year-old Chapman, an eight-time All-Star, was 5-3 with a 1.17 ERA, 32 saves in 34 chances and 85 strikeouts in 61⅓ innings. The left-hander did not allow a hit to 50 consecutive batters from July 23 through Sept. 7. Chapman also won the award in 2019.
News services contributed to this story.