Curtain call. The crowd chants “MVP!” as Cal Raleigh stepped up in the eighth inning and crushed his second homer of the game, his 60th of the season. The crowd roared, the scoreboard screamed history, and by the end of the night, the Mariners had clinched the AL West for the first time in over twenty years. It wasn’t just a win; it was a moment that put Raleigh in the middle of the MVP conversation. And with that, Aaron Judge ’s MVP case suddenly felt less bulletproof.

Judge has been the model of consistency all year, slashing .328/.455/.681 with an AL-leading OPS over 1.136. He tops the league in both bWAR and fWAR, and his plate discipline, league-best walk rate included, has made him the most complete hitter in baseball. But injuries limited him to DH duty at times, and in an MVP ra

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