New York Yankees star Aaron Judge must get a kick out of this.
New York Yankees superstar Aaron Judge won his second straight AL MVP award and third overall last year, narrowly beating out Seattle Mariners slugger Cal Raleigh.
Judge received 17 first-place votes to Raleigh's 13, finishing with 355 points compared to 335 for Raleigh.
At the time, voting for Raleigh was understandable. After all, he had just bashed 60 home runs — the most ever for a catcher by a long shot — and led the Mariners to an AL West division crown, their first in nearly two-and-a-half decades.
Judge's Yankees finished second in the AL East, and Judge finished seven homers shy of Raleigh's total.
However, Judge led the majors in batting average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage, finishing with a 1.144 OPS to Raleigh's .948, which should have made the choice fairly obvious.
But due to Raleigh's 60 dingers and voter fatigue, Judge was only able to squeak by.
Fast forward to 2026, and let's just say that the difference between Judge isn't even night and day. It's like Pluto (which I know is no longer a planet, but whatever) to Jupiter.
Judge surely hasn't been quite as dominant as last season, but he has still been terrific, owning a slash line of .267/.402/.633 with 16 long balls and 30 RBI. New York has suddenly dropped four straight, but it is still an impressive 26-16.
Then, there is Raleigh, who doesn't even look recognizable.
Seattle Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh. Credit: Troy Taormina-Imagn Images.Big Dumper is slashing a meager .157/.238/.320, numbers that would make Austin Wells look decent. He has struck out 54 times over 172 plate appearances, he is hitting .161 with no home runs with runners in scoring position and he has gone hitless over his last 40 plate appearances. His last hit? April 28.
Perhaps there really was something to his Spring Training slump and his relative no-show in the World Baseball Classic. And maybe he shouldn't have snubbed Randy Arozarena?
Whatever the case may be, Raleigh is in quite the quagmire right now, and while Judge is a stand-up guy who would never take pleasure in the misfortunes of others, he must be snickering deep down.
Prior to 2025, Raleigh was never an elite hitter. He was a decent one, having homered 34 times to go along with 100 RBI in 2024, but even then, he registered a .748 OPS. In fact, he owns a lifetime .782 OPS, a number that has absolutely been skewed by his ridiculous showing last year.
Raleigh is a career .220 hitter with a .309 OBP, so it shouldn't be too surprising that he has come crashing down to earth ... although I'm not sure anyone expected that he would be hitting well below the Mendoza line with a sub-.600 OPS.
Judge, on the other hand, is a career .293/.412/.616 masher. Aside from his disastrous 27-game debut in 2016, he has always been one of the very top hitters in the game and has already established himself as an all-time great, his October bugaboos aside.
Raleigh? Let's just say he was never quite on Judge's level, and that is becoming blatantly obvious this season.
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