Seattle Mariners star Cal Raleigh blasts 60th home run of the season, improves MVP odds

The GIST: The still-chaotic push for the MLB playoffs — and toward our men’s pro baseball bracket challenge — continues ahead of Sunday’s regular-season finale. That said, a different race is grabbing headlines, with Seattle Mariners superstar Cal Raleigh chasing NY Yankees slugger Aaron Judge’s single-season American League (AL) home run record.

• And that’s not all they’re swinging for: Raleigh and Judge are at the center of a closely contested campaign for AL MVP. Lucky for us, the hits just keep coming.

🔱 Raleigh sits at 60 home runs, two shy of Judge’s 2022 record: The Big Dumper deposited his 60th dinger of the season in Wednesday’s 9–2 American League West–clinching win over the Colorado Rockies. Sixty in a season is impressive alone, especially for a catcher, amid a breakout season that included winning the Home Run Derby and breaking record after record along the way.

• But Raleigh has his sizable posterior geared toward a little history, as he’s within striking distance of Judge’s astounding AL record of 62 home runs with three games to go.

👀 MVP race remains too close to call: Boasting a league-best .330 batting average, Judge was the favorite to defend his AL MVP crown…until Raleigh’s recent surge extended his MLB–leading home run total and flipped the odds in his favor. Both boppers still have three games remaining to make their cases. Batter up, baby.