Yankees' Aaron Judge being named American League MVP is the right verdict
The Yankees' Aaron Judge connects on a three-run homer in the 4th inning against the Blue Jays in Game 3 of the American League Division Series on Oct 7. at Yankee Stadium. Credit: Newsday/J. Conrad Williams Jr.
In the end, justice prevailed.
After months of debate, the final tally for American League MVP was tight, but this year’s vote only confirmed what we already knew.
There is Aaron Judge, who has won back-to-back trophies and three in four years . . . and then there is everyone else.
Cal Raleigh had a fantastic season in his own right, and the story of Seattle’s switch-hitting catcher, with the colorful nickname “Big Dumper,” leading the Mariners to the AL West title made for a fun ride all the way into October.
But Judge is playing on a higher field, competing against the game’s icons, carving out his place in history on a nightly basis. And it was going to take more than Raleigh, a burly backstop who captured the sport’s imagination, to relegate Judge’s cheat-code performance to runner-up status.
Judge ran the table in almost every offensive category — ironically, not homers — and wound up edging Raleigh 17-13 in first-place votes. Overall, Judge won by the count of 355 to 335 in the closest race since 2019, when Mike Trout beat Alex Bregman by the same margin.
Much like Shohei Ohtani, who also won his second consecutive MVP in the National League (and fourth in five years, as he was beaten out by Judge in 2022), Judge keeps distancing himself from the current AL competition — and continues to steadily climb among the Bronx immortals. He became only the fourth Yankee to collect three MVPs, joining Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra and Joe DiMaggio.
“It’s mind-boggling,” Judge said on a conference call. “I’m chasing ghosts. It’s just incredible what those guys accomplished in their careers, and what they did in New York City, and I’m just humbled and blessed to be in this position.”
Judge isn’t the type to stop and admire the view, so there’s no reason to expect he’s finished, either. Raleigh made some history of his own this year, setting homer records for both a catcher and switch hitter (toppling Mantle), but Judge does this on an annual basis. He’s become more phenomenon than baseball player, and it’s impossible for anybody else to keep up.
Aside from his generational talent, Judge is driven by those aforementioned ghosts, too. And the Yankees’ captain is well aware of the trophy he’s still missing.
“When I signed back with the Yankees in 2023, I wanted to finish the job here and bring back a World Series [title],” Judge said. “We’re still on that mission. But getting a chance to climb up these lists with these greats has been truly such an honor.”
As for Judge’s MVP race vs. Raleigh, only the purposely vague definition of the award even made this a debate. While I didn’t have a vote for AL MVP this season, as the ballots rotate among different BBWAA members each year, to me, there was little doubt Judge deserved the trophy. He again dominated at the plate — in some cases, by a wide margin — was a solid defender in rightfield and served as captain for the mostly highly scrutinized franchise in the media capital of the world.
Raleigh’s lonely stat advantage was limited to those 60 home runs — seven more than Judge — and the Big Dumper also outpaced Judge in RBIs, 125 to 114.
The rest of the scorecard? That was Judge in a landslide.
For the graybeards, Judge’s MLB-leading .331 batting average not only dwarfed Raleigh (.247) but was 20 points higher than the two runner-ups, Bo Bichette and Jacob Wilson. As for OPS, only Judge (1.144) and NL MVP Ohtani (1.014) cracked quadruple-digits, with Raleigh (.948) placing fourth.
You like WAR? Judge earned the sweep over Raleigh on both metrics sites, and while the race was relatively close at FanGraphs (10.1 to 9.1), it was a blowout at Baseball Reference. Judge was tops at 9.7 and Raleigh finished fifth at 7.4.
Plus, this season was a remarkable outlier for Raleigh, who had never slugged more than 34 homers and was a career .226 hitter with a .798 OPS. As such, Raleigh was never handled like a game-wrecking threat by opposing pitchers, at least until he began doing serious damage this year.
Now compare that to how Judge is tiptoed around on a nightly basis, after two previous MVPs, a trio of home run crowns and a growing trail of dethroned Yankee legends in his wake. Not only does Judge have to feast on the crumbs that nervous pitchers leave in the creases of the zone, but even his 6-7 frame is used against him, with umpires calling shin-high strikes on a regular basis.
Despite all that, Judge is only the fifth player in the Expansion Era, since 1961, to lead the majors in batting average, on-base percentage and slugging in a single season, joining Miguel Cabrera (2013), Barry Bonds (2002), Larry Walker (1999) and George Brett (1980). Those names required special treatment at the plate, and other players marvel at what Judge is able to do under those circumstances.
Consider that Judge’s 36 intentional walks not only led all players but also were more than any entire team outside the Yankees. The Dodgers finished second to Judge with 33 total, followed by the Guardians’ 30 and the Mariners’ 29 (Raleigh accounted for 17). That level of respect from the opposition was incalculable.
“Aaron has been playing in rarefied air for much of his career,” general manager Brian Cashman said Thursday in a statement. “His devotion to his craft, his continuous pursuit of excellence and the importance he places on being a teammate who can be counted on help define his legacy just as much as his three MVP Awards.”
Cashman also described Judge as “a once-in-a-generation player who embodies so much of what is good about our game.”
Good doesn’t begin to cover his ever-growing accomplishments. With Judge, we could be watching the greatest to ever do it, in the Bronx or anywhere else.
David Lennon is an award-winning columnist, a voter for baseball's Hall of Fame and has covered six no-hitters, including two perfect games.
