Cal Raleigh new American League MVP favorite amid Aaron Judge injury

Aaron Judge’s injury scare is causing a shake up in the American League MVP race. 

As recently as Friday night, Judge, who is enjoying another historic season for the Yankees, was roughly a -600 favorite to win the award for the third time in his career. 

Now, after being held out of Saturday’s lineup with what manager Aaron Boone described as a right elbow issue, Judge is no longer the guy at the top of the odds board. 

With Judge’s playing future up in the air, Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh is now a -145 AL MVP favorite at FanDuel Sportsbook over the Yankees’ slugger, who dropped to +115. 

The Bombers’ right fielder will be placed on the injured list and miss at least 10 days, but the team appears to have avoided the worst, according to Boone. 

Boone said after the Yankees’ 9-4 loss to the Phillies on Saturday that Judge suffered a flexor strain in his right arm, but the ulnar collateral ligament in his elbow is completely intact. 

He will serve as a designated hitter when he comes back to the big league club.

Judge has 37 home runs with an MLB-best .347 batting average and 1.160 on-base plus slugging, but any time off the field risks losing ground to Raleigh in the award race. 

Raleigh has been on Judge’s heels all summer as he enjoys a historic season of his own in Seattle. 

Learn all you need to know about MLB Betting

The backstop leads the majors with 39 home runs while slashing .255/.368/.609 and playing solid defense behind the plate for the Mariners heading into Saturday’s play. 

He is within striking distance of Salvador Perez’s single-season record of 48 home runs by a catcher.