Winning a World Series is the epitome of any MLB player. But getting named as the Most Valuable Player as well? That’s a dream realized.
[25 World Series Champs Since 2000, Ranked: The Full List]
Since 2000, there has been a mix of players – ranging from surprise stars to would-be Hall of Famers – who have been named World Series MVP.
Sometimes it’s a player who had a pretty good week or got a key hit. And other times, they put on a performance for the ages that gets squeezed into one epic series.
JUMP TO: Top 5 MVP Hitters | Top 5 MVP Pitchers
The Top 5 World Series MVPs (Hitters)
1. Hideki Matsui (2009)
Designated Hitter, New York Yankees
(Photo by Damian Strohmeyer /Sports Illustrated via Getty Images)
Matsui is the one World Series MVP of this century with an OPS over 2.000 — he hit .615/.643/1.385 with 3 home runs and 8 RBIs in the seven-game 2009 World Series. The Yankees won each of the three games in which Matsui went deep, and in Game 7 he collected six of his total RBIs for the entire series, propelling the Yankees to a 7-3 victory and a championship.
What’s a little surprising about this outburst is that Matsui hadn’t hit particularly well in that postseason before the Fall Classic — it was by no means an extension of an already stellar performance. The veteran hit just .233/.395/.367 in the ALDS and ALCS, with his walks and five RBIs brought on by timely hitting his main contributions. In the World Series itself, though, Phillies pitchers just couldn’t get him to make an out when they needed to, and it cost them back-to-back championships.
2. David Ortiz (2013)
Designated Hitter, Boston Red Sox
(Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
This is not meant to diminish any of the other hitters in these rankings, but what Matsui and Ortiz managed in 2009 and 2013, respectively, is simply ridiculous. Matsui hit one more dinger than Ortiz and put New York on his back in Game 7, giving him the edge, but Boston’s DH batted an absurd .688/.760/1.188 with a pair of homers and 6 RBIs in six games against the Cardinals.
It makes sense that the slugger who sparked debates about whether clutch hitting was a real and measurable thing would go all-out on the sport’s biggest stage, but Ortiz also crushed the ball in the series leading up to the Fall Classic. He hit .385/.556/.923 in the ALDS against the Rays, then, despite a quieter ALCS against the Tigers, still managed to hit one of the most iconic postseason homers in history, with his game-tying grand slam into the Fenway bullpen, which allowed for the Sox to come back and tie the series at 1-1.
3. George Springer (2017)
Center Fielder, Houston Astros
(Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)
George Springer is one of the all-time great postseason performers, but back in 2017, he was just getting started on building that reputation. In the ALDS against the Red Sox, he hit .412/.474/.706 with a homer and 4 runs scored. Then, in the World Series against the Dodgers, Springer erupted with five long balls in seven games, including one in each of the last four games of the series. He would end up batting .292/.386/.611 with 6 home runs for the entire postseason, but in the Fall Classic itself, the MVP annihilated Dodgers’ pitching to the tune of .379/.471/1.000 with 5 HR and 7 RBIs.
Since then, Springer has moved into the top five all-time in postseason homers, with 23 blasts through Oct. 23. The 36-year-old just needs another six long balls to catch MLB’s leader in this category, Manny Ramirez, but even if he doesn’t get there, to this point, he’s been a better hitter in October than in the regular season — and Springer is pretty good in the regular season, too.
4. Freddie Freeman (2024)
First Baseman, Los Angeles Dodgers
(Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)
Freeman didn’t have the eye-popping home run total of George Springer, the on-base percentage of David Ortiz nor the superhuman OPS of Hideki Matsui. What he did do in 2024, however, is drive in a ton of runs for the Dodgers. The key was that Freeman, despite having “just” six hits in five games, made them all huge ones. Four of those six knocks were long balls, which allowed him to drive in 12 runs — the Dodgers scored 25 runs in the entire series, meaning Freeman was responsible for driving in just under half of them himself. In Game 1, his homer was a walk-off grand slam, the only one in World Series history.
It was a matter of timing in more ways than one, too, as Freeman was ice cold entering the World Series — he’d posted just a .461 OPS in the NLDS and NLCS, with seven singles, one walk and a lone RBI over eight games. Despite that — and despite playing through what turned out to be four torn ligaments in his ankle requiring surgery as well as a significant rib injury, the effects of which hampered him in the previous rounds — he was an easy choice for MVP when the Dodgers toppled the Yankees.
5. Pablo Sandoval (2012)
Third baseman, San Francisco Giants
(Photo by Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)
While Pablo Sandoval won World Series MVP in a four-game sweep of the Royals — and certainly deserved it given he hit .500/.529/1.125 in the series — you can think of the award as being for his entire postseason. Sandoval went 3-for-4 with a homer and 3 RBIs in Game 4 of the NLDS to help the Giants force a Game 5, and then had another two hits and a run in that decisive contest. In a seven-game NLCS against the Cardinals, Sandoval hit .310/.355/.586 with two dingers, two doubles and six RBIs, with two of the final three games of the series — all Giants’ wins — featured two-hit games from him.
It was a great postseason overall for him, in which he batted a collective .364/.386/.712 with six home runs and 13 RBIs, and it led to San Francisco’s second World Series championship in three seasons, and, eventually, the middle title in a trio won over five years.
Honorable Mentions: Steve Pearce (2018 Red Sox), Derek Jeter (2000 Yankees), Troy Glaus (2002 Angels)
The Top 5 World Series MVPs (Pitchers)
(Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images)
1. Madison Bumgarner (2014)
Pitcher, San Francisco Giants
Madison Bumgarner started two World Series games — Game 1 and Game 5 — and relieved in another. It wasn’t just a little bit of relief, either: he twirled five innings out of the bullpen in Game 7 and faced 17 batters, earning a save in the process, and giving the Giants their third World Series title since 2010. Even wilder isn’t that Bumgarner pitched so much in Game 7 on limited rest — or even that he pitched so well, giving up just a pair of hits and no runs in that effort — but that he had thrown a complete game in Game 5 just days before: he threw 106 pitches on Oct. 21 in Game 1, another 117 on Oct. 26 in Game 5 and then 68 in relief, 50 for strikes, on the 29th to close out the series, literally.
Bumgarner did all of this while allowing a total of one run against the Royals — his ERA for these 21 innings was a minuscule 0.43. Simply incredible.
(Photo credit should read JEFF HAYNES/AFP via Getty Images)
T-2. Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling (2001)
Pitchers, Arizona Diamondbacks
You can’t separate the performance of Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling in the 2001 World Series, which is why they were named co-MVPs in Arizona’s defeat of the New York Yankees. Johnson pitched in three games — two starts, one relief appearance — and totaled 17.1 innings while allowing just two runs. Schilling also appeared in three games, all three of them starts, for a total of 21.1 frames. Schilling allowed twice as many runs in his additional innings — the horror, four in total — so Johnson has the slight edge even though his one relief appearance meant he pitched a little bit less. You really can’t go wrong with either of them: the Big Unit posted a 1.04 ERA in the World Series with 19 strikeouts and just nine hits allowed, while Schilling whiffed 26 with a 1.69 ERA that would simply amaze if not put directly in competition with that of his teammate’s.
(Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images)
4. Josh Beckett (2003)
Pitcher, Florida Marlins
The 2003 Marlins weren’t supposed to defeat the juggernaut Yankees, even after sending Cubs fans home miserable thanks to a massive comeback in the NLCS. Thanks to the performance of young stars like Josh Beckett, though, Florida would take home their second World Series championship. Beckett made two starts, totaling 16.1 innings, where he struck out 19 Yankees and posted a 1.10 ERA. This wasn’t a matter of luck, either, but instead pure dominance: the 23-year-old limited New York’s powerful lineup to all of eight hits and five walks in those 16+ innings of work.
(Photo by Toni L. Sandys/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
5. Stephen Strasburg (2019)
Pitcher, Washington Nationals
In what would end up being his final postseason competition, Stephen Strasburg excelled, and the Nationals would become champions. In two games against the Astros — the 2019 edition of which was one of the great teams of the entire century — he pitched 14.1 innings, including 8.1 in Game 6, which forced a decisive Game 7. All the protecting of his arm that the Nationals did in his early days was basically for this moment: Strasburg, 30, threw an NL-leading 209 innings in the regular season and another 36.1 in the postseason, and became a champion in the process. His career was, for all intents and purposes, over following this victory, but they say flags fly forever for a reason.
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