Overview

• With two games remaining, Aaron Judge hit his 53rd homer Saturday as the Yankees pursued the AL East, bolstering a league-best batting line and OPS.
• Cal Raleigh sits at 60 home runs, the first catcher to reach that mark, after helping Seattle clinch the AL West with roughly 120 starts behind the plate.
• Major metrics favor Judge overall in WAR on both Baseball-Reference and FanGraphs, with the fWAR gap narrower because it credits catcher framing.
• Endorsements reflect a split field: Yankees manager Aaron Boone and teammates back Judge, Jayson Stark predicts Judge, and Bob Nightengale argues Raleigh should win.
• Voters cite subjective factors such as position value, defensive workload and potential voter fatigue as BBWAA ballots loom with results expected in the postseason months.