Mariners fans will not appreciate the Dodgers gaslighting with Will Smith

There's been a deep and at times heated debate over who deserves to be named 2025 AL MVP between Cal Raleigh and Aaron Judge. Objectively speaking, both have had tremendous campaigns and in a lot of seasons each would be the clear favorite if not for each other.

However, what has been frustrating for Mariners fans is the irrational take of certain Yankees/Judge supporters, who don't think Raleigh deserves to even be in the conversation. To hold such an opinion is outright asinine. (Although this is also a fanbase which has people who genuinely believe no other team's supporters have had it worse since 2009.)

Similarly, asinine is what comes to mind when reviewing comments being made by the Los Angeles Dodgers' official social media channels, about their catcher Will Smith. More specifically, that they believe he's the best catcher in baseball:

In theory, this is just some harmless fun, but come on! And we wouldn't mind, but the Dodgers have been repeat offenders this season when it comes to making this audacious claim about Smith.

Look, this isn't about saying Smith isn't an excellent catcher in his own right — which he is, with a resume which includes two World Series rings and three All-Star selections. Heck, we'll even give you that his career batting average and OPS are both better than Raleigh's.

However, the reality is that since 2022 when Raleigh first became a regular starter in the Majors, he has exceeded Smith in most categories which matter. This is highlighted by a 19.2-16.6 edge in bWAR, 151-80 in home runs, .496-456 in slugging percentage and 133-125 in OPS+.

Where it really gets embarrassing for the Dodgers, though, is when you compare the two catchers for this season specifically. The reality is that it's not even close, with Raleigh dominating Smith in most categories, including 7.3-4.5 in bWAR, .589-.497 in slugging percentage, 125-61 in RBI and of course 60-17 in home runs.

What about Cal Raleigh and Will Smith behind the plate?

At this point, we should add that one of the main frustrations for a lot of Mariners fans/Raleigh supporters is that those making the case for Judge seem to almost be forgetting that defensive play also matters. Want to focus on just offense, then there's the Hank Aaron Award for that.

Las year, Raleigh won the first Gold Glove and Platinum Glove Awards of his Major League career, something which Smith has yet to do. In 2025, the Mariners' clubhouse leader has still performed well as a catcher, albeit so has his Dodgers' rival.

As per Baseball Savant, where Raleigh has a significant edge is in ranking in the 93rd percentile for framing with seven catcher framing runs. In comparison Smith ranks in the second percentile with -10 catcher framing runs.

Raleigh also has zero passed balls on the season, although Smith isn't exactly a disaster in this area in comparison, with just two passed balls in 2025. It's not all one-way traffic though defensively, with Smith leading Raleigh when it comes to CS Above Avg (87-66 in percentile rankings) and Pop Time (61-39).

At the end of the day, though, there can be no disputing Raleigh's standing as the best catcher in the game. Heck, last time we checked Smith isn't in the running to win AL MVP and you can take that as your exclamation mark — case closed!

(Although as I wrote that last sentence, it did make me realize that perhaps this is just one big troll job by the Dodgers, resulting in me wasting my time writing more than 600 words on this subject. In which case...well played, Dodgers social media team.)