October 2, 2025

47 thoughts on “Yankees.com: Rice puts Yanks on his back with go-ahead slam, 5 RBIs”

  1. I hope like hell Raleigh doesn’t pass the true HR record. That would suck because this guy will probably never hit 40 in a season again. And Judge should still be MVP, he is better in every other category against Raleigh…plus he’s gonna win the batting title.

    1. Concur. Raleigh is having an outlier of a season. Judge will still be MVP. The difference in OPS between Judge and Raleigh is the same as the difference in OPS between Raleigh and Kyle Manzardo.

  3. Brian, I may disagree with your wife. If Judge can get to 50 HR (4th season of 50+) I don’t think Raleigh wins MVP unless he hits 63 + HR…. Judge is obliterating him in almost every other relevant stat…

    1. Cone last night was leaning Raleigh because catcher is such a hard position, and I think he’s right

    2. They’re all hard positions. Judge 9 WAR, 1123 OPS. Raleigh 6.9/949 I think it’s silly that it’s even a question but they’ll probably give it to Raleigh because he’s the new guy and they’re sick of giving it to Ohtani and Judge and Ohtani will win.
      Fielding run value is a push.

    3. FG has him at 8.8 WAR, and they include framing. Now I prefer BR WAR, but I think a lot of voters like and use FG. Plus Raleigh is having a historic season in a park that’s hard to hit in.

    5. Yeah, you could all be right that voters may want a new guy. However, I just don’t think they can justify the major category discrepancies unless he hits 63 HR. Well, h*ll just because I said that Raleigh will win…

  4. I was looking at Judge’s comps on BR and there are some good players but mostly not HOF types. However I think Judge is already a HOF player, easily.

    1. Generally, IIRC, the similarity scores break down below 900. Judge is pretty much an outlier as a hitter. There haven’t been many close to what he can do.

    2. interesting. his closest comp is Soto at 800+. Anyway similarity scores are more of a fun toy than anything else

  6. 4 home runs in 6 games is significantly higher than Raleigh’s pace even this outlier year.
    At his current pace, he’d hit about 1 and 1/2 home runs (a little less) in these six games.
    If Judge had 58 home runs with six games left, would you expect him to tie or beat 62?

    1. Judging from how long it took him to reach and pass 61, he would have no chance. I just worry about Raleigh having those games against the Rockies. I’m sure their pitchers are going through the motions at this point and could have some anti-Yankee bias, too.

  8. I haven’t looked, but I’d bet that every stat (the various WARs) that DO take into account defense have Raleigh closer to Judge than the offensive statistics, where it’s not close – but I bet that EVEN THOSE have Judge still ahead of him.
    Which should be how one answers the question of whether the defensive value of catcher puts Raleigh above Judge, right?

    2. Yes, but Judge being ahead still means that your guess has to put Judge ahead. Judge’s error bar zone is higher than Raleighs, the error bars surround the player’s WAR number.
      Which means there is zero argument for Raleigh. The stats that would maximally favor Judge leave Raleigh in the dust; the stats that would maximally favor Raleigh still put Judge ahead of Raleigh. Game over.

    3. No, the models could be overvaluing Judge’s defense and undervaluing Raleigh’s, for example. Or they’re dead accurate for Judge but still undervaluing Raleigh.

    5. Yes, they COULD be, but the numbers don’t argue for that.
      You get a chart:
      Judge: over, spot on, under
      Raleigh: over, spot on, under.
      There are 9 combinations, of which only two could possibly go Raleigh’s way, and only one would have any real chance of going Raleigh’s way. One of nine.
      In other words, these numbers, taking into account the error bars, clearly favor they guy with the higher WAR. The error bars make it POSSIBLE that actual performance is the REVERSE of the spread of the WAR numbers, but they also say it’s anything but likely, that a rational reading of those numbers available pretty strongly favors Judge.

    2. If Judge’s AL record is unblemished because he played in an era of testing, Raleigh’s season is just as clean.

    3. Could be the truth, but then new PEDs are found all the time, often one step ahead of testing regimes.

    4. I think slick’s point is that anything you say like that re: Raleigh could apply as easily to Judge.

  13. Yeah you guys are suffering from homerism. I don’t think it’s a clear case for Raleigh, although that’s how I’d vote if I could, but acting like it’s some kind of affront against Judge is loser shit. Red Sox fan type energy.

    1. No, it’s really not. So far the only argument you’ve posted is that, IF both error bands went the other way – the least likely situation – Raleigh might just edge Judge – according to the measure chosen to give Raleigh the best chance. But the MORE likely situations with the error bands have Judge ahead even there.
      What’s your strong non-homerist argument?

    2. AI gives Judge leading by 8.6 to 6.7 in bwar – Judge has more than 20% more WAR than Raleigh. In fwar he’s leading by 9.0 to 8.4 which is statistically closer, and probably within the error bars.
      But we actually see Raleigh leading nowhere, except, of course, in home runs. I mean, you really have to TRY to make Raleigh look AS GOOD as Judge. You have to presume the stats we actually have are wrong at the error margins, and really even that only works with fwar.
      So fwar could suggest, that although Judge has the better number, maybe they’re really equal.
      What’s the reasonable argument that Raleigh, despite every number out there, is actually better?

    3. Yeah. No player ever “deserves” to win a popularity contest, although there are times when a specific player clearly doesn’t. As Cody Bellinger noted well before joining the Yankees, the affront against Judge was Altuve in 2017.

      BTW, I am a big Belli fan (how is that not a thing in the bleachers yet, with a row of protruding potbellies painted to display his name?). Cashman should re-sign him, he’s worth a premium just for his grudge energy, let alone his bat and his defensive versatility.

    4. No, I also said—first—that Raleigh plays a much harder position and that Cone, who we all rightly revere, was leaning Raleigh

  15. ABS Challenge System coming to MLB full time in ’26

    Upon further review, the ABS Challenge System has been confirmed for the 2026 MLB season.

    The Joint Competition Committee voted Tuesday afternoon to bring the Automated Ball-Strike (ABS) Challenge System, powered by T-Mobile, to the big leagues following several years of experimentation in the Minor Leagues and use in MLB Spring Training and the All-Star Game this year.

    “The previous rule changes that have been adopted by the Joint Competition Committee have had staying power and created momentum for the game,” MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement. “We used the same process with ABS that started with listening to fans, conducting extensive testing at the Minor League level, and trying at every step to make the game better. Throughout this process we have worked on deploying the system in a way that’s acceptable to players. The strong preference from players for the Challenge format over using the technology to call every pitch was a key factor in determining the system we are announcing today.”

    Considered a middle ground between so-called “robot umps” that could call every ball and strike and the long-standing tradition of the natural human error that comes with human umps, the ABS Challenge System gives teams the opportunity to request a quick review of some of the most important ball-strike calls in a given game.

    https://www.mlb.com/news/abs-challenge-system-mlb-2026

  16. UJD – yes, of course, that’s what we’re discussing – it is absolutely true, Raleigh plays a harder position. So we should give him credit for that.
    AND THAT’S THE WHOLE POINT. THAT’S WHY THE PRO-RALEIGH POSITION WOULD LOOK AT WAR – BECAUSE BOTH FORMS OF WAR INCORPORATE POSITIONAL ADJUSTMENTS WHEN THEY CALCULATE A PLAYER’S OVERALL DEFENSIVE CONTRIBUTION.
    But….
    …and when you do makew those positional adjustments, what you see is that it’s much closer, but JUDGE IS STILL AHEAD EVEN THEN! Or, in the most extreme and biased view, and only with respect to bwar, Raleigh MIGHT possible be just about equal with Judge, but even that’s is the least likely possibility baked into the data – and his actual number is still non-trivially lower than Judge’s.
    That still leaves NO argument that I’ve heard as to why Raleigh should actually be AHEAD of Judge. Even his harder position gives numbers that just have him trailing Judge by less.

    1. You speak as if we’re not taking positional difficulty into account, and we have to. But we ARE taking positional difficulty into account, and when we do, Raleigh doesn’t win.
      I’m perfectly happy to concede to an argument that Raleigh is better than Judge this year. But someone has to actually make that kind of argument first, don’t they?

  17. I tend to agree with the “best case they’re equal” argument here. In which case, Judge gets it since the “tie” went to Altuve in 2017 so it’s his turn. Raleigh can get the next “tie”, if he’s good enough to do it again.

    1. But if in Raliegh’s “best case they’re equal” – then in every other measure except home runs, where Judge is no slouch, either – and that includes the other WAR! – Judge is ahead, often way ahead.
      And isn’t a batting title (Judge’s first) for a huge slugger who gets consistently screwed on low pitches at least somewhat comparabally impressive to the home run title?
      (Anyway, I’m done with this now, I think – thanks, all!)

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