Seattle Times shares Cal Raleigh cope as Yankees Aaron Judge bests Mariners star’s historic season for AL MVP originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
New York Yankees OF Aaron Judge won his second straight AL MVP award, and third overall in the last four years, on Thursday night, edging out Seattle Mariners C Cal Raleigh. It was a decision that wasnt well-received in the Pacific Northwest.
The Seattle Times Ryan Divish shared an emotional case for Raleighs intangibles in reporting the catchers MVP vote loss. As Divish pointed out, the award was voted on before the postseason.
The Mariners magical run to Game 7 of the ALCS wouldve edged out the Yankees four-game elimination in the ALDS, both series having been played against the AL champion Toronto Blue Jays.
His value to his team and its success is not calculable by numbers or metrics. His leadership and presence cant be quantified, but couldnt be discounted, Divish prefaced before saying, Despite a performance that likely wont ever be replicated or surpassed by another catcher, it wasnt good enough to win the American League Most Valuable Player award.
Raleigh had 60 home runs but was inferior to Judge in every other major statistical category. In most worlds, thats grounds for an MVP win for Judge. But theres a level of Yankees fatigue around the MLB. Its like Los Angeles Dodgers fatigue, but worse, since New York hasnt been winning it all, so it feels unearned.
Judges case definitely isnt helped since his 2022 home run chase for Roger Maris non-asterisk 61-HR record cut into college football games on ESPN. There was no similar fanfare for Raleighs similar chase this year.
Raleigh had a generational season in Seattle, while Judge had a business-as-usual season in New York. Its a tough pill to swallow for Mariner fans, but its how baseball is.
The big markets spend and collect hardware, while the smaller markets have surprise seasons that more often than not come short.