Yankees’ Aaron Boone Makes Stance On MVP Race Clear

The American League MVP race is a two-horse competition, if you still consider it a competition at all. New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge and Seattle Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh have been far and away the top two performers in the AL this season.

Judge entered Saturday with a .330/ .458/ .687/ .1.144 slash line on the season with 52 home runs and 111 RBI. Raleigh was at .248/ .360/ .594/ .954 with 60 homers and 125 RBI.

For some fans and analysts, it’s a close call between Judge and Raleigh for the MVP.

But not for Yankees manager Aaron Boone.

“To me, (Judge is) the clear-cut MVP,” Boone said on Friday night following New York’s win over the Baltimore Orioles. 

"Nothing Aaron Judge does surprises me, to me he's the clear-cut MVP"

– Aaron Boone pic.twitter.com/HPcWrJMJgM

— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) September 27, 2025

“You know, batting title … I feel like he’s been on base seven times a day the last week … whether they don’t pitch to him, pitch to him …  hitting it out of the ballpark … (he) made a really good play in right field to open the game. You see his athleticism out there. I don’t put anything past (No.) 99. I mean, he’s he’s playing like an all-time great.”

Judge has won the AL MVP twice before, in 2022 and 2024 (Shohei Ohtani won it in 2023), which would give the slugger three MVP trophies in four seasons if he were to receive the award in 2025.

The Yankees, meanwhile, are still in the running to win the AL East. New York has an identical record to the Toronto Blue Jays with two games remaining on the schedule for both teams, although Toronto owns the head-to-head tiebreaker.