MLB executive's novel idea for AL MVP race won't fly with Mariners fans

In the mostly challenging history of the Mariners, they've still twice had players win the AL MVP award, with Ken Griffey Jr. in 1997 and Ichiro Suzuki in 2001. Many hope Cal Raleigh joins that prestigious list this year and he's certainly worthy, but he's facing a significant obstacle to his chances.

The significant obstacle in question is the Yankees' Aaron Judge, who is having a tremendous campaign and has also twice previously been named AL MVP, in 2022 and last season. The question is, which one will ultimately take home the award in 2025?

This has been the subject of copious amounts of passionate and sometimes heated debates among baseball fans, and not just those who support the Mariners or Yankees. Further, it's been the kind of debate which has been extremely polarizing, with many individuals only capable of seeing one side of the argument and on occasion leading to some ridiculous takes like this one:

Now yes, there's no denying Judge is having a phenomenal offensive campaign, but it's not as if Raleigh is some shrinking violet, with him setting a number of impressive home run records.

In addition, plenty of Judge advocates are conveniently forgetting the defensive side of the game, with catcher being exponentially more demanding and Raleigh just being better at his position compared to the Yankees' right fielder, who has also started 55 games at DH compared to Raleigh's 35.

The point is that both players deserve the reward, but there can only be one winner ... or can there be? Consider a fun read from Mark Feinsand of MLB.com in which he gets execs to weigh in on Judge vs. Raleigh, with one quote in particular really jumping out:

"Both are beasts and very impactful to their teams. If they had these type of years but not in the same year, both would be unanimous. Both should be rewarded. Most Valuable Players this year instead of Most Valuable Player. Simply add the ‘s’ on the end."

Anonymous MLB executive

Cal Raleigh and Aaron Judge for Co-MVPs actually makes a lot of sense

Co-MVPs wouldn't actually set a precedent, with it happening once before in 1979 when Willie Stargell and Keith Hernandez shared the NL award. From our perspective this seems like a good solution when it comes to Raleigh and Judge, but we appreciate plenty of Mariners fans won't accept it, with a lot of Yankees fans probably having a similar sentiment.

Whatever happens, it figures to go down to the wire and not just because there's only a 0.6 fWAR gap between the two. Also factoring in will be where the Mariners and Yankees both finish in the standings, with the M's specifically having a tremendous chance at winning the AL West and even claiming a first-round bye by securing the second seed in the AL.

Of course we want to see Raleigh win the award outright, as he is having arguably the best ever season in Major League history by a catcher. And before any Judge supporters tell us to leave it to the experts, consider that the M's clubhouse leader has the edge in votes among the 12 front office executives Feinsand asked in his survey.