CLEVELAND, Ohio — One of these seasons the MVP award may belong to Jose Ramirez. Unfortunately, 2025 wasn’t that season.

The American League MVP award went to Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees in a close race over Seattle catcher Cal Raleigh. Ramirez, Cleveland’s switch-hitting third baseman, finished third in the voting by members of the Baseball Writers Association of America.

In the National League, Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Dodgers won his fourth MVP award.

Judge hit .331 (129 for 541) with 53 homers and 114 RBI in 152 games. He led the big leagues with a 9.7 WAR, according to Baseball Reference, batting average, OPS at 1.144, OPS+ at 215 and total bases with 322.

The power-hitting outfielder also led the league with 132 runs and 124 walks. It was Judge’s third MVP award with the Yankees.

Judge totaled 355 points to Raleigh’s 335 points. Judge received 17 first place votes and 13 second place votes. Raleigh finished just the opposite with 13 first place votes and 17 second place votes.

It was the closest MVP race since 2019, when Mike Trout won over Alex Bregman by the same margin.

Ramirez finished with 225 votes, including 19 third-place votes, six fourth place votes and five fifth place votes.

Raleigh hit .247 (147 for 596) with 60 homers and 125 RBI. He led the big leagues in homers and finished first in the AL in RBI.

The switch-hitting Raleigh became the first catcher in history to hit 60 homers in a season. He hit 48 of those as a catcher, the most ever.

Raleigh played 120 of his 159 games at catcher and didn’t have a passed ball as the Mariners won the AL West and advanced to the ALCS against Toronto.

Ramirez hit .283 (168 for 593) with 30 homers and 85 RBI in 158 games. For the second straight year, he hit 30 homers and stole more than 40 bases. He also scored 103 runs.

Stephen Vogt, Ramirez’s manager, was asked what people don’t know about his third baseman on Tuesday after he won his second straight BBWAA Manager of the Year award.

“The easy one is what a leader he is — the way he pushes his teammates, the way he pushes us coaches to be better. He does it by example on the field.

“Jose Ramirez has the highest baseball IQ that I’ve ever seen. He sees things that none of us see. He’s always thinking ahead.

“He knows when a pitcher is going to throw a ball in the dirt before he throws it. He knows when to steal third to take away a pitcher’s breaking ball. By far he’s one of the most cerebral players I’ve ever been around.”

Ramirez has finished third in the MVP voting three times. He’s finished no lower than sixth seven times.

Cleveland has not had an MVP since Al Rosen won it in 1953.

In the NL, Ohtani won his third straight MVP award and fourth in the last five years. Kyle Schwarber of the Phillies was second and Juan Soto of the Mets finished third.

Ohtani’s victory was unanimous from the BBWAA.

He hit .282 (172 for 611) with 55 homers and 102 RBI in 158 games. He led the big leagues with 146 runs and the NL with a 1.014 OPS.

On the mound, Ohtani made 14 starts, going 1-1 with a 2.87 ERA.

Schwarber hit .240 (145 for 604) with 56 homers and 132 RBI. He led the NL in homers and led the big leagues with 132 RBI, while posting a .928 OPS.

Soto hit .263 (152 for 577) with 45 homers and 105 RBI. He scored 120 runs and led the NL with 38 steals to go along with his 45 homers.

He led the big leagues with 127 walks, while leading the NL in on-base percentage with .396.

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