Seventeen to thirteen. On November 13, 2025, Aaron Judge won his third AL MVP, edging Seattle's Cal Raleigh 355 points to 335 after hitting .331 with 53 home runs and winning the first batting title of his career. It was the New York Yankees captain's second straight MVP and his third in four years.
It also wasn't a coronation. After the unanimous vote in 2024, this one went down to the wire, and I think that's a compliment to both guys.
The Other Guy Hit 60
Let's give Raleigh his due, because he earned every one of those 13 first-place votes. The Mariners catcher hit 60 home runs -- the most ever by a catcher, and by a switch-hitter -- and led the AL with 125 RBI. He did that while squatting behind the plate for a playoff team. That's absurd. (I say this as someone who spent most of September refreshing Judge's slash line like it was a stock ticker.)
Judge beat him in just about everything else. He hit .331/.457/.688 and led the majors in all three. He led MLB in OPS (1.144), OPS+ (215), and WAR, whether you prefer Baseball-Reference's 9.7 or FanGraphs' 10.1. He led the AL in runs (137), walks (124), and total bases (372). Raleigh had the two headline numbers. Judge had the rest of the page.
The voters split exactly along that line. All 30 ballots had Judge and Raleigh 1-2 in some order, and it was the closest MVP race since Mike Trout beat Alex Bregman by the same 20 points in 2019. I don't think Raleigh got robbed. I also don't think it's crazy that 13 people disagreed with me.
The Batting Title Nobody Expected Him to Want
Here's the part of 2025 I keep coming back to. Judge has spent his whole career as a slugger who walks a ton and strikes out a ton, and batting average has always been the stat standing between him and a Triple Crown. He lost the 2022 title to Luis Arraez by five points. In 2024 he finished third.
So in 2025 he just went and won it. By 20 points.
He flirted with .400 into June (hitting .412 about a quarter of the way into the season, which isn't a sentence you get to write very often), cooled off to something merely great, and clinched the crown on the final day of the season, going 1-for-4 in a 3-2 win over Baltimore. Bo Bichette and Jacob Wilson tied for second at .311.
That .331 is the best average of his career. And it put him in a very small club: only Jimmie Foxx (1938) and Mickey Mantle (1956) had ever won a batting title in a 50-homer season. Judge's 53 are the most home runs any batting champion has ever hit. Mantle won the Triple Crown that year, so Judge still has something to chase. (Raleigh's 60 homers and 125 RBI are the only reason this isn't a Triple Crown article.)
The Elbow Scare
It wasn't a smooth ride. On July 22 in Toronto, Judge fired a throw home trying to cut down Davis Schneider and felt it in his elbow. The diagnosis was a flexor strain in his right elbow -- no UCL damage, which was the only phrase anybody in the Bronx wanted to hear -- and he hit the injured list five days later.
He came back on August 5 as a DH and went 0-for-3 in a 2-0 loss to Texas. It wasn't exactly a triumphant return. He didn't play the outfield again until September 5, and for a few weeks it felt like the MVP race was drifting toward Seattle.
Then the stretch run happened. On September 24 against the White Sox, Judge hit his 50th and 51st homers in an 8-1 win, making him the fourth player ever with four 50-homer seasons (Babe Ruth, Mark McGwire, and Sammy Sosa are the others). The Yankees pulled even with Toronto atop the AL East that night.
The Season Around Him
The club finished 94-68, tied with the Blue Jays, and lost the division on an 8-5 head-to-head tiebreaker despite closing on an eight-game winning streak. The whole year had started with a franchise-record nine-homer game against Milwaukee on March 29, when Judge hit three of them and drove in a career-high eight runs. In July he became the fastest player ever to reach 350 career homers, getting there in his 1,088th game (McGwire needed 1,280).
October was short, and it's been told elsewhere. Cam Schlittler saved the season in the Wild Card round against Boston. Judge's three-run homer off the foul pole tied ALDS Game 3 at 6-6 in a game the Yankees won 9-6. Toronto won the series in four anyway.
What gets lost is that Judge was great in all of it. He went 13-for-26 across seven playoff games. That's a .500 average from the guy people spent years calling a postseason disappointment. It didn't matter, and that's the part that stings.
Four Yankees
With the third MVP, Judge joined Joe DiMaggio, Yogi Berra, and Mantle as the only Yankees with three. That's the whole list. DiMaggio, Berra, and Mantle also needed a lot of fingers for their World Series rings.
Judge doesn't have one. He's collected the batting title, the AL home run record, and now the hardware that puts him next to three of the biggest names the franchise has ever had. The 2025 season gave him everything a hitter can win on his own. The one thing left isn't up to him alone -- and I'd bet he'd trade all three trophies for it.
| Batting Average / OBP / SLG | .331 / .457 / .688 (all MLB leads) |
| OPS / OPS+ | 1.144 / 215 (both MLB leads) |
| Home Runs | 53 (2nd in AL to Cal Raleigh's 60) |
| RBI | 114 (Raleigh led the AL with 125) |
| Runs / Walks / Total Bases | 137 / 124 / 372 (all AL leads) |
| WAR | 9.7 bWAR / 10.1 fWAR (MLB lead in both) |
| Batting Title | .331, 20 points ahead of Bo Bichette and Jacob Wilson (.311) |
| AL MVP Vote | 17 first-place votes, 355 points; Raleigh 13 and 335 |
| 2025 Postseason | 13-for-26 (.500), 1 HR, 7 RBI in 7 games |
Three Homers in the Nine-Homer Game
The Yankees crush the Brewers 20-9 with a franchise-record nine home runs. Judge hits three of them and drives in a career-high eight runs.
Fastest to 350
Judge hits his 350th career home run in his 1,088th game, the fastest anyone has reached the mark. Mark McGwire held the old record at 1,280 games.
Elbow Strain Sends Him to the IL
Five days after hurting his right elbow on a throw home in Toronto, Judge lands on the injured list with a flexor strain. There's no UCL damage, and he returns as a DH on August 5.
Fourth 50-Homer Season
Judge hits his 50th and 51st home runs against the White Sox, tying Babe Ruth, Mark McGwire, and Sammy Sosa for the most 50-homer seasons in MLB history.
Batting Title Clinched
Judge goes 1-for-4 in a 3-2 win over the Orioles on the final day and wins his first batting title at .331. The Yankees finish 94-68 but lose the AL East to Toronto on a tiebreaker.
The Foul-Pole Homer
With the Yankees facing elimination in ALDS Game 3, Judge's three-run homer off the foul pole ties the game 6-6. The Yankees win 9-6, then fall to Toronto in Game 4.
Third AL MVP
Judge edges Cal Raleigh 355-335, with 17 first-place votes to Raleigh's 13, for his second straight MVP and third overall. He joins Joe DiMaggio, Yogi Berra, and Mickey Mantle as the only three-time MVPs in Yankees history.
Frequently Asked Questions
Did Aaron Judge win the 2025 AL MVP?
Yes. Judge won the 2025 AL MVP on November 13, 2025, receiving 17 of 30 first-place votes and 355 points. Seattle catcher Cal Raleigh finished second with 13 first-place votes and 335 points, and Cleveland's Jose Ramirez finished third. Every voter had Judge and Raleigh first and second in some order.
How many MVP awards does Aaron Judge have?
Three: 2022, 2024, and 2025. That makes him the fourth Yankee with three MVPs, joining Joe DiMaggio (1939, 1941, 1947), Yogi Berra (1951, 1954, 1955), and Mickey Mantle (1956, 1957, 1962).
What was Aaron Judge's batting average in 2025?
Judge hit .331 in 2025 to win his first batting title, leading both the AL and the majors. Bo Bichette and Jacob Wilson tied for second in the AL at .311. It's the highest batting average of Judge's career.
Who else has won a batting title while hitting 50 home runs?
Only two players before Judge: Jimmie Foxx in 1938 (50 home runs) and Mickey Mantle in 1956 (52 home runs, in a Triple Crown season). Judge's 53 home runs in 2025 are the most ever by a batting champion.
How did Aaron Judge do in the 2025 playoffs?
He went 13-for-26 (.500) with a home run and seven RBI in seven games. His three-run homer off the foul pole tied ALDS Game 3 against Toronto, and the Yankees won that game 9-6, but the Blue Jays won the series 3-1.