As the 2025 MLB season hits its midway point, the American League MVP race is shaping up to be both star-studded and unconventional. The Detroit Tigers have climbed into the ongoing debate.
While New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge remains the favorite, a pair of surging candidates — Seattle Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh and Detroit Tigers ace Tarik Skubal — are making serious cases of their own.
Skubal has become a legitimate contender over the last month, joining Judge and Raleigh in the tight and unprecedented MVP clash.
Judge is doing exactly what voters expect from an MVP front-runner. He’s been the engine behind the Yankees’ offense and one of the most dangerous hitters in the game. As of late June, Judge leads the league in home runs, OPS, and WAR, and is carrying a Yankees lineup that has dealt with injuries and inconsistency elsewhere.
Judge already owns the 2022 MVP trophy and seems poised to make a run at another. He’s dominating Statcast leaderboards in hard-hit rate, barrel percentage, and exit velocity. If he stays healthy, he’s the clear statistical favorite — and narrative favorite — in a market that draws national attention.
Cal Raleigh Already Most Valuable Catcher in Baseball
What Raleigh is doing in Seattle can’t be ignored. While he won’t match Judge’s raw power or OPS, his all-around value might be just as impressive. Raleigh leads all AL catchers in home runs and RBIs and is playing elite defense behind the plate. He’s also anchoring a Mariners team that has battled its way to the top of the AL West.
What separates Raleigh is workload and positional scarcity. He’s playing more innings than almost any catcher in baseball while managing a young, high-strikeout pitching staff. His framing and game-calling have been elite, and advanced metrics like catcher defense and Win Probability Added (WPA) reflect just how much he’s meant to the Mariners’ success.
If Seattle wins the division and Raleigh keeps producing at this level, he could be the rare catcher to finish top-3 — or better — in MVP voting.
Tarik Skubal Is MLB’s Best Arm, For Top Tigers
It’s rare for a pitcher to win MVP in today’s game, but Skubal might be the exception. The Tigers left-hander has been the most dominant starter in the American League, leading in ERA, WHIP, and strikeout-to-walk ratio. He’s also among the league leaders in innings pitched and quality starts.
What’s most impressive is Skubal’s efficiency. He’s controlling every part of the strike zone, averaging under one walk per nine innings, and giving the Tigers a chance to win every fifth day — even when the offense struggles. Detroit may not be a postseason lock, but if they stay in the Wild Card mix, Skubal’s name will stay in this race.
He has the WAR numbers to match both Judge and Raleigh and could follow in the footsteps of Justin Verlander (2011) or Shohei Ohtani (2021) as a pitcher who dominates both the eye test and the analytics.
Judge is still the frontrunner, but Raleigh and Skubal are forcing voters to think differently. If value really matters — not just numbers — this race is far from over.
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