Earlier this year, I sent a text to arts & entertainment editor Anna Jordan expressing my desire for a column about baseball. Since that day, I have been methodically rising up the ranks of the Daily Trojan, doing everything in my power to infiltrate the system and install myself as a figure capable of making important decisions — decisions like creating a new column.

Today, nearly seven months later, my dream has been realized. Having successfully tricked the managing team into naming me sports editor for the Fall 2025 semester, I now wield total control over the sports section and thus bestow upon myself the title of baseball columnist.

Okay, maybe I’m being hyperbolic. Maybe I just really like baseball and happen to be a sports editor. But brace yourself, dear reader! You have entered a world in which “friendly debates” and “different perspectives” hold no weight. There exist only facts — i.e., whatever I tell you — and fiction. Prepare to be enlightened.

Alright, we’ve marked “witty intro to first column” off the checklist; let’s talk baseball.

One of my favorite aspects of each Major League Baseball season is following the MVP races. Some years, two or three players will be locked in a battle for the whole season, like the legendary 2019 National League MVP race between Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Christian Yelich and Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Cody Bellinger that spawned one of my all-time favorite commercials. In other years, one player will dominate the rest of the league from start to finish, like Dodgers two-way star Shohei Ohtani’s all-timer 50/50 season to win NL MVP in 2024.

The 2025 season, in my opinion, has been more of the latter in both leagues. While Ohtani has faced some competition from other NL stars, it still feels inevitable that he’ll secure his fourth MVP in five years come November. The American League race is even more one-sided, as New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge continues to separate himself with what is possibly the best career peak by any right-handed hitter in history.

At least … that’s what the narrative should be.

If you spend some time on baseball social media circles, you’ll notice something odd. Not only do a large number of baseball fans claim the AL MVP race is close, but they truly, honestly believe Judge is not the frontrunner; that title supposedly belongs to Seattle Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh.

Have we lost our minds?

I understand that there will always be contrarians. Every baseball season is bound to feature an MVP runner-up with a sizeable group of people — typically fans of said runner-up’s team — claiming he was robbed of the award. But I beg you: look at the numbers.

In case you don’t spend your free time looking up baseball stats, as I do, I’ll give you a quick recap. Raleigh currently leads the AL with 50 home runs and 107 RBIs, posting a .245 batting average and 167 OPS+ — a statistic measuring hitting ability where 100 is league average.

Judge’s counting numbers lag a bit behind, with 40 home runs and 93 RBIs; however, he leads MLB by a wide margin with a .321 AVG and 201 OPS+.

“Ooh, Raleigh has more home runs!” you say. “I like home runs!” 

I’m aware. Did you see the OPS+? Two hundred and one — literally twice as productive as the average hitter. Do you know how many players have hit that mark in a full season in the last 20 years? One. His name is Aaron Judge, and he’s on pace to do it for the third time in his career.

Wins Above Replacement, a cumulative statistic that tracks how much a player contributes compared to a hypothetical minor leaguer, tells a similar story. Judge’s 6.8 WAR trounces Raleigh’s mark of 5.9: The gap between Judge and Raleigh is as much as the gap between Raleigh and Chicago Cubs infielder Nico Hoerner. 

“But Raleigh’s a catcher!” you protest. “Shouldn’t he get extra credit for his defense?”

Oh, you mean how he ranks among the bottom 40% of catchers in pop time? Or the bottom 8% of catchers in blocking? His only defensive claim to fame is his framing, or “lying to the umpire” — a skill that looks to become obsolete as early as next season with the implementation of automatic balls and strikes. Forgive me if I’m not impressed.

Now, let me be clear: I am not, have never been and will never be anything resembling a fan of the Yankees. I have heard the phrases “27 rings” and “RE2PECT” far too many times to ever consider supporting that team in any capacity.

However, I am a fan of really good baseball players; Aaron Judge, for all intents and purposes, is a really good baseball player. Since 2022, he has racked up a ridiculous 197 home runs, 443 RBIs and 33.0 WAR to go with a 205 OPS+ — all of which lead the AL in that span by a lot. 

And there’s the problem: Judge has been doing this for a while. Raleigh, on the other hand, is a first-time All-Star this season with career highs in virtually every major statistic. Judge’s historic dominance has come to be expected, but Raleigh’s not-quite-as-good performance is an outlier.

Should Raleigh win MVP just because he’s a fresh face? Of course not. It’s not Judge’s fault that 2025 is his third “greatest season of all time” contender in four years. Simply put, Judge is a generational player, and we cannot allow ourselves to grow numb to greatness.

Of course, let’s not forget that there’s still a month left of baseball to play. Judge could hit 20 home runs in September and shut the door on Raleigh for good — or, he could tear his ACL tomorrow and leave the door wide open.

For today, however, there is no question in my mind that Aaron Judge should be the 2025 AL MVP. Don’t overlook the numbers simply because you’ve seen him do this before; he is having one of the best peaks by a hitter we’ve ever seen, and he deserves to be awarded as such.

Bennett Christofferson is a junior writing about baseball’s biggest stories and controversies in his column “Dugout Diaries,” which runs every other Wednesday. He is also a sports editor at the Daily Trojan.