Bill Madden: Making Sense of Why the AL MVP Vote Was so Close

MLB notes: Judge vs. Raleigh a great debate, did voters get MVP right?

Over the past few years many of baseball’s biggest awards have tended to go in a landslide. Each of Shohei Ohtani’s four MVPs were unanimous, as was Ronald Acuña Jr.’s NL MVP in 2023. Paul Skenes was a unanimous pick for NL Cy Young this year, and Tarik Skubal won each of his back-to-back honors decisively, including a unanimous selection in 2024. That made this year’s AL MVP race between Aaron Judge and Cal Raleigh particularly fascinating. Jud…

Bill Madden: Making sense of why the AL MVP vote was so close

NEW YORK —The innate beauty of the Baseball Writers Association’s Most Valuable Player award — which sets it apart in terms of prestige from all the other sports awards — is that to this day, some 95 years after its…

Judge vs. Raleigh: Stunning AL MVP Debate and Red Sox Rebrand News

The AL MVP race between Aaron Judge and Cal Raleigh sparked significant debate, with both players delivering historic seasons. Judge won in a tight contest, marking one of the narrowest MVP decisions ever, but opinions differ on whether he deserved the award over Raleigh, who had a record-setting 60 home runs as a catcher. Supporters of Judge argue his offensive metrics were unprecedented, while those favoring Raleigh highlight the unique challe…