Yankees’ Aaron Judge wins tight race to take home his third AL MVP, and second in a row

New York Yankees’ slugger Aaron Judge earned four more first-place votes than Seattle Mariners’ catcher Cal Raleigh to win the American League MVP.

Judge outpolled Raleigh, 17-13, in first-place votes. It was the closest MVP race since 2019, when Mike Trout won over Alex Bregman by the same margin.

Judge’s second consecutive victory is also his third overall. He is the 13th player to be named MVP at least three times. Barry Bonds is the all-time record-holder with seven MVP Awards, all in the NL (1990, 1992-93, 2001-04). Shohei Ohtani, the 2025 MVP in the National League, has won four times, including last year in the NL and in 2021 and 2023 in the AL

Other three-time winners in the AL: Jimmie Foxx (1932-33, 1938), Joe DiMaggio (1939, 1941, 1947), Yogi Berra (1951, 1954-55), Mickey Mantle (1956-57, 1962), Alex Rodriguez (2003, 2005, 2007) and Mike Trout (2014, 2016, 2019). Three-time winners in the NL: Stan Musial (1943, 1946, 1948), Roy Campanella (1951, 1953, 1955), Mike Schmidt (1980-81, 1986) and Albert Pujols (2005, 2008-09). 

This election marks the 20^th time a player has won the award in back-to-back years. Bonds did it four times in the NL (1992-93, 2001-02, 2002-03 and 2003-04) and Ohtani twice (2023 AL and 2024 NL, 2024-25 NL). Judge’s back-to-back victories in AL voting matches that of Foxx (1932-33), Hal Newhouser (1944-45),  Berra (1954-55), Mantle (1956-57), Roger Maris (1960-61), Frank Thomas (1993-94) and Miguel Cabrera (2012-13). Back-to-back winners in the NL in addition to Bonds and Ohtani: Ernie Banks (1958-59), Joe Morgan (1975-76), Schmidt (1980-81), Dale Murphy (1982-83) and Pujols (2008-09). 

This marks the 23rd time that a Yankees player has been honored, the most MVP Awards overall for one club in BBWAA voting dating to 1931. The St. Louis Cardinals are second with 18, the most in the NL. Judge joins fellow three-time winners DiMaggio (1939, 1941, 1947), Berra (1951, 1954-55) and Mantle (1956-57, 1962); two-time winners Maris (1960-61) and Rodriguez (2005, 2007) as well as Lou Gehrig (1936), Joe Gordon (1942), Spud Chandler (1943), Phil Rizzuto (1950), Elston Howard (1963), Thurman Munson (1976) and Don Mattingly (1985).

Judge’s victory is the13th for a right fielder in the AL. He was primarily a center fielder when he won in 2022 and 2024. Judge joins a right field list including two-time winners Maris (1960-61) and Juan Gonzalez (1996, 1998), Jackie Jensen (1958), Frank Robinson (1966), Reggie Jackson (1973), Jeff Burroughs (1974), Jose Canseco (1988), Ichiro Suzuki (2001), Vladimir Guerrero (2004) and Mookie Betts (2018). The NL MVP Award has been won by a right fielder 15 times.

The second-place showing by Raleigh is the third for a Mariners player. Other runners-up were Ken Griffey Jr. to Thomas in 1994 and Alex Rodrguez to Gonzalez in 1996. Griffey won the award in 1997, and Rodriguez won three times, once with the Rangers and twice with the Yankees.

The Guardian’s José Ramirez finished third in the voting for a third time, duplicating his showings in 2017 and 2018. He was the runner-up in the 2020 voting to Jose Abreu. Cleveland’s last MVP was Al Rosen in 1953. 

 Judge, Raleigh, Ramirez and Bobby Witt Jr. were named on every ballot.

Ballots, submitted before the postseason, were cast by two writers in each league city. They are tabulated on a system that rewards 14 points for first place, nine for second, eight for third on down to one for 10th.

2025 AL MVP

View individual ballots on a separate page.