Cal Raleigh has won the first hardware battle.
The Mariners catcher won the Baseball Digest/Inside Edge major league player of the year award on Friday, beating out Yankees slugger Aaron Judge as the two await their AL MVP fate.
Raleigh won 12 of 24 first-place votes and garnered 56 points from a panel of writers, broadcasters, executives, managers and former players, with Judge — last year’s winner — getting eight first-place votes and 53 points.
Both players are preparing for the American League Division Series beginning this weekend on the heels of historic regular season campaigns.
Raleigh became the seventh player to hit 60 home runs, demolishing the mark for catchers and switch-hitters, leading the AL with 125 RBIs to guide Seattle to the AL West title and the No. 2 seed.
While he has a compelling MVP case, Judge was no slouch, mashing 53 homers to go with 114 RBIs while leading the AL in average (.331) and OPS (1.144).
His 137 runs scored was second-best.
Shohei Ohtani is seemingly a lock to capture his second straight National League MVP, but Judge’s quest to continue his reign will have to go through Raleigh first.
