ESPN Simulation Projects Surprising AL MVP Winner

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Michael DeRosa | Last updated Mar 24, 2025 10:42 AM ET

Major League Baseball's Opening Day is rapidly approaching, as the season officially kicks off on Thursday, March 27. This is always an exciting time of year for baseball fans, as they get to see their favorite teams back on the field.

With baseball season just about here, there are naturally a ton of predictions floating around about what we might see during the 2025 MLB campaign.

ESPN recently joined in the fun by doing 25 simulated seasons for the upcoming campaign. After doing so, they revealed 12 surprising player results from their simulated seasons, with a big one including Seattle Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh.

In one of ESPN's simulations, Raleigh was picked as the AL MVP winner with an incredible projected season. During the simulation, the 28-year-old had 43 home runs, 102 RBIs, and a .253/.330/.552 slash line. He also had a 6.8 WAR figure in the simulation.

ESPN's simulation projecting Raleigh as the AL MVP winner is undoubtedly surprising. As talented as a player Raleigh is, he is not viewed by many as a top MVP candidate, but perhaps he could be a dark-horse player to keep an eye on this campaign.

Raleigh has provided a lot of power at the plate for the Mariners over the last three seasons, hitting at least 27 home runs in each. This includes setting new career highs with 34 home runs and 100 RBIs this past season. He also won his first Gold Glove Award in 2024, so he is solid defensively. But could he hit a new level in 2025 and win AL MVP? Time will tell.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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