The American League MVP race is a two-dog fight with uppercuts being thrown by two of the best hitters in the MLB: Aaron Judge and Cal Raleigh. Yankees manager Aaron Boone went to bat for his guy in Judge, making a strong statement in favor of the reigning MVP.
âCalâs had a great year though and certainly put himself in the conversation,” Boone said. “Those will be fun things to follow down the stretch with both teams in the playoff hunt, too. But itâs tough to ignore Aaronâs dominance.â
If you would’ve told someone at the beginning of the season that Cal Raleigh would have more home runs than Aaron Judge, they would’ve called you crazy, but Raleigh has slugged his way to the tune of 50 homers, while Judge has just 42. What makes those 50 even more impressive is that Raleigh plays in Seattle, a notoriously difficult ballpark to homer in because of the marine layer that hits the city. Judge on the other hand plays at one of the most home run friendly ballparks in the MLB at Yankee Stadium.
Although the home run point goes to Raleigh this season, who has put up the most home runs by a catcher in a single season in MLB history, Judge holds the lead in plenty of other categories. While Raleigh is batting just .241 with an OPS of .933, Judge clears him by a mile with a .321 average and an absurd 1.107 OPS.
It’d be tough to bet against Judge, especially considering his track record as an already two-time MVP.
The betting odds on AL MVP currently sit at -180 for Judge and +140 for Raleigh.
Who is More Valuable to Their Team?
One of the stats that goes a long way in deciding player value is WAR (Wins Above Replacement). Aaron Judge is the MLB leader with a WAR of 7.2. Raleigh on the other hand, sits at T-8 in the MLB ranks at 5.7.
However, both players are in contention for MVP because of their hitting prowess, so when you narrow it down to offensive wins above replacement, Judge and Raleigh are No. 1 and No. 2 in the league at 6.9 and 6.3, respectively.
Both teams are in the AL Wild Card right now with very similar records, so both players are heavily contributing to winning teams. An important factor to consider is which team would be worse off if they didn’t have their star, which is another difficult conversation because both the Yankees and Mariners have solid rosters.
Judge is on the roster with the most team home runs in the MLB by a wide margin, and although they’ve been inconsistent, the Yankees have, on paper, significantly more firepower than the Mariners. Yes, the Mariners have Julio RodrÃguez, Randy Arozarena and Jorge Polanco, but the depth really falls off after that. I would argue that the Mariners would be in a worse spot without Raleigh this season than the Yankees would be without Judge.
Judge and Raleigh Could Be Set On Collision Course to Meet in Playoffs
As of Aug. 31, the Yankees hold the top Wild Card spot while the Mariners are four games back in the final spot. Any shifting within the standings could put the Yankees and Mariners together in the Wild Card round, where the two front runners for MVP would go head-to-head.
Although the Mariners are in the final Wild Card spot at the moment, they are only three games behind the Astros for the AL West lead.
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