Raleigh is expected to fall short of the MVP Award battle against Aaron Judge, but Buster Olney of ESPN says a lot of the players are on Raleigh's side in the debate.
Even despite a historic season that saw him hit 60 home runs, Seattle Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh is expected to fall short in the American League MVP battle on Thursday night.
As noted by Bob Nightengale of USA Today on social media, Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees is expected to take home the award for the third time in four years. Nightengale says the victory is expected to be "narrow."
The baseball writers decide the MVP Award, but for what it's worth, Raleigh seems to have great support from his peers.
He was already named Sporting News Player of the Year by fellow players earlier in the offseason.
Cal Raleigh Takes Home Major End of Season Honor, Could MVP Be Next?
The 'Big Dumper' put together one of the greatest seasons we've ever seen in 2025 for the Seattle Mariners, hitting 60 homers and driving in 125 runs.
And ESPN MLB Insider Buser Olney joined the 'Refuse to Lose' podcast on Thursday to talk about the support that Raleigh has from those players.
What's been interesting is, is that through the postseason, if I had a chance to talk with players before games or on the field, I would throw at them, 'hey, you know, off the record, where do you stand on the Raleigh vs. Judge thing?' And I was amazed at how many players were saying it's Cal Raleigh, he's a catcher. They understand the difficulty of that position, the challenges of that position better than sportswriters do, I think. And as you know, Cal Raleigh won the players vote, so it's interesting going into this vote tonight, I'm assuming that Judge is going to win because I've read a lot of the breakdowns from some of the writers. But on the other hand, I think a lot of players have picked Cal Raleigh.
Only two Mariners players have ever won the MVP Award: Ken Griffey Jr. in 1997 and Ichiro Suzuki in 2001. Felix Hernandez and Randy Johnson are the only M's pitchers to ever win the Cy Young Award.
Raleigh's season
Simply put, Raleigh put together the best season we've ever seen by a catcher. His 60 home runs shattered the previous catcher record of 48. He also had the most home runs ever by a switch-hitter and had the most home runs ever by a Mariners player, surpassing the previous mark of 57 by Griffey.
More from Olney
You can listen to the full interview with Olney on the 'Refuse to Lose' podcast in the player below. He also spoke about the M's pursuit of bullpen help, the offseason roster plan and more, including Julio Rodriguez being denied a Silver Slugger Award.
Buster Olney of ESPN on Raleigh, Julio + Bringing Back Same Core? + Bullpen Help
Refuse to Lose - a Seattle Mariners Podcast · Episode
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