The Most Valuable Player Award (MVP) is an annual MLB award given to one best player in the American League and one in the National League.

Major League Baseball Most Valuable Player Award.

Since 1931, it has been awarded by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America (BBWAA).

Sport Baseball
League Major League Baseball
Awarded for Regular season most valuable player of American League and National League
Country United States, Canada
Presented by Baseball Writers’ Association of America

Until 2020, the winners received the Kenesaw Mountain Landis Memorial Baseball Award, which became the official name of the award in 1944, in honor of the first MLB commissioner, Kenesaw Mountain Landis, who served from 1920 until his death on November 25, 1944.

Starting in 2020, Landis’ name no longer appeared on the MVP trophy after the BBWAA received complaints from several former MVP winners about the late Commissioner’s role against integration of MLB.

First basemen, with 34 winners, have won the most MVPs among infielders, followed by second basemen (16), third basemen (15), and shortstops (15).

Major League Baseball Most Valuable Player Award.

Of the 25 pitchers who have won the award, 15 are right-handed while 10 are left-handed. Walter Johnson, Carl Hubbell, and Hal Newhouser are the only pitchers who have won multiple times, Newhouser winning consecutively in 1944 and 1945.

Award winners:

Year Lg Name Tm WAR BA OBP SLG HR RBI SB W L SV ERA IP SO Voting
2021 AL Shohei Ohtani LAA 9.0 .257 .372 .592 46 100 26 9 2 0 3.18 130.1 156 Voting
2021 NL Bryce Harper PHI 5.9 .309 .429 .615 35 84 13             Voting
                                   
2020 AL José Abreu CHW 3.0 .317 .370 .617 19 60 0             Voting
2020 NL Freddie Freeman ATL 3.3 .341 .462 .640 13 53 2             Voting
                                   
2019 AL Mike Trout LAA 7.9 .291 .438 .645 45 104 11             Voting
2019 NL Cody Bellinger LAD 8.6 .305 .406 .629 47 115 15             Voting
                                   
2018 AL Mookie Betts BOS 10.7 .346 .438 .640 32 80 30             Voting
2018 NL Christian Yelich MIL 7.3 .326 .402 .598 36 110 22             Voting
                                   
2017 AL Jose Altuve HOU 7.7 .346 .410 .547 24 81 32             Voting
2017 NL Giancarlo Stanton MIA 7.9 .281 .376 .631 59 132 2             Voting
                                   
2016 AL Mike Trout LAA 10.5 .315 .441 .550 29 100 30             Voting
2016 NL Kris Bryant CHC 7.3 .292 .385 .554 39 102 8             Voting
                                   
2015 AL Josh Donaldson TOR 7.1 .297 .371 .568 41 123 6             Voting
2015 NL Bryce Harper WSN 9.7 .330 .460 .649 42 99 6             Voting
                                   
2014 AL Mike Trout LAA 7.7 .287 .377 .561 36 111 16             Voting
2014 NL Clayton Kershaw LAD 8.2 .175 .235 .206 0 3 1 21 3 0 1.77 198.1 239 Voting
                                   
2013 AL Miguel Cabrera DET 7.5 .348 .442 .636 44 137 3             Voting
2013 NL Andrew McCutchen PIT 7.8 .317 .404 .508 21 84 27             Voting
                                   
2012 AL Miguel Cabrera DET 7.1 .330 .393 .606 44 139 4             Voting
2012 NL Buster Posey SFG 7.6 .336 .408 .549 24 103 1             Voting
                                   
2011 AL Justin Verlander DET 8.6 .000 .000 .000 0 0 0 24 5 0 2.40 251.0 250 Voting
2011 NL Ryan Braun MIL 7.7 .332 .397 .597 33 111 33             Voting
                                   
2010 AL Josh Hamilton TEX 8.7 .359 .411 .633 32 100 8             Voting
2010 NL Joey Votto CIN 7.0 .324 .424 .600 37 113 16             Voting

In recent decades, pitchers have rarely won the award.

When Shohei Ohtani won the AL award in 2021, he became the first pitcher in either league to be named the MVP since Clayton Kershaw in 2014, and the first in the American League since Justin Verlander in 2011.

Major League Baseball Most Valuable Player Award.

Ohtani also became the first two-way player to win this award. Since the creation of the Cy Young Award in 1956, he is the only pitcher to win an MVP award without winning a Cy Young in the same year (Don Drysdale, Sandy Koufax, Bob Gibson, Denny McLain, Vida Blue, Rollie Fingers, Willie Hernández, Roger Clemens, Dennis Eckersley, Justin Verlander, and Clayton Kershaw all won a Cy Young award in their MVP seasons).

The BBWAA first awarded the modern MVP after the 1931 season, adopting the format the National League used to distribute its league award.

One writer in each city with a team filled out a ten-place ballot, with ten points for the recipient of a first-place vote, nine for a second-place vote, and so on.

In 1938, the BBWAA raised the number of voters to three per city and gave 14 points for a first-place vote.

The only significant change since then occurred in 1961, when the number of voters was reduced to two per league city.

By Rishabh

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