Major League Baseball (MLB) is the highest form of professional baseball played in the United States of America and Canada. The league consists of thirty teams, spanning across these two countries. These teams are further divided into the American League (AL) and the National League (AL), each consisting of fifteen teams. Each of these fifteen teams is then placed into the East, Central, and West Divisions of these two leagues.
All thirty teams in the league compete to reach the World Series Game to become the Champion for the year. The player with the best performance during the World Series Game is declared a WS MVP, which stands for World Series Most Valuable Player. He is also presented with the Willie Mays World Series Most Valuable Player (MVP) Award for his efforts. First introduced in 1955, the award was renamed as an honor to Willie Mays in 2017. Notably, most of the MVPs in the World Series have been pitchers with 29 MVP awards as of 2024.
MVPs in the MLB World Series
The MVP award has been presented to the best players in MLB since 1955. The following table lists all the MVP winners in the MLB World Series from its introduction to the modern day as per Fox Sports -
| Year | Winner Name | Team Name | Position |
| 1955 | Johnny Podres | Brooklyn Dodgers | Pitcher |
| 1956 | Don Larsen | New York Yankees | Pitcher |
| 1957 | Lew Burdette | Milwaukee Braves | Pitcher |
| 1958 | Bob Turley | New York Yankees | Pitcher |
| 1959 | Larry Sherry | Los Angeles Dodgers | Pitcher |
| 1960 | Bobby Richardson | New York Yankees | Second baseman |
| 1961 | Whitey Ford | New York Yankees | Pitcher |
| 1962 | Ralph Terry | New York Yankees | Pitcher |
| 1963 | Sandy Koufax | Los Angeles Dodgers | Pitcher |
| 1964 | Bob Gibson | St. Louis Cardinals | Pitcher |
| 1965 | Sandy Koufax | Los Angeles Dodgers | Pitcher |
| 1966 | Frank Robinson | Baltimore Orioles | Outfielder |
| 1967 | Bob Gibson | St. Louis Cardinals | Pitcher |
| 1968 | Mickey Lolich | Detroit Tigers | Pitcher |
| 1969 | Donn Clendenon | New York Mets | First baseman |
| 1970 | Brooks Robinson | Baltimore Orioles | Third baseman |
| 1971 | Roberto Clemente | Pittsburgh Pirates | Outfielder |
| 1972 | Gene Tenace | Oakland Athletics | Catcher |
| 1973 | Reggie Jackson | Oakland Athletics | Outfielder |
| 1974 | Rollie Fingers | Oakland Athletics | Pitcher |
| 1975 | Pete Rose | Cincinnati Reds | Third baseman |
| 1976 | Johnny Bench | Cincinnati Reds | Catcher |
| 1977 | Reggie Jackson | New York Yankees | Outfielder |
| 1978 | Bucky Dent | New York Yankees | Shortstop |
| 1979 | Willie Stargell | Pittsburgh Pirates | First baseman |
| 1980 | Mike Schmidt | Philadelphia Phillies | Third baseman |
| 1981 | Ron Cey | Los Angeles Dodgers | Third baseman |
| Pedro Guerrero | Outfielder | ||
| Steve Yeager | Catcher | ||
| 1982 | Darrell Porter | St. Louis Cardinals | Catcher |
| 1983 | Rick Dempsey | Baltimore Orioles | Catcher |
| 1984 | Alan Trammell | Detroit Tigers | Shortstop |
| 1985 | Bret Saberhagen | Kansas City Royals | Pitcher |
| 1986 | Ray Knight | New York Mets | Third baseman |
| 1987 | Frank Viola | Minnesota Twins | Pitcher |
| 1988 | Orel Hershiser | Los Angeles Dodgers | Pitcher |
| 1989 | Dave Stewart | Oakland Athletics | Pitcher |
| 1990 | José Rijo | Cincinnati Reds | Pitcher |
| 1991 | Jack Morris | Minnesota Twins | Pitcher |
| 1992 | Pat Borders | Toronto Blue Jays | Catcher |
| 1993 | Paul Molitor | Toronto Blue Jays | Designated hitter, |
| 1994 | Series cancelled due to player's strike | ||
| 1995 | Tom Glavine | Atlanta Braves | Pitcher |
| 1996 | John Wetteland | New York Yankees | Pitcher |
| 1997 | Liván Hernández | Florida Marlins | Pitcher |
| 1998 | Scott Brosius | New York Yankees | Third baseman |
| 1999 | Mariano Rivera | New York Yankees | Pitcher |
| 2000 | Derek Jeter | New York Yankees | Shortstop |
| 2001 | Randy Johnson | Arizona Diamondbacks | Pitcher |
| Curt Schilling | Pitcher | ||
| 2002 | Troy Glaus | Anaheim Angels | Third baseman |
| 2003 | Josh Beckett | Florida Marlins | Pitcher |
| 2004 | Manny Ramirez | Boston Red Sox | Outfielder |
| 2005 | Jermaine Dye | Chicago White Sox | Outfielder |
| 2006 | David Eckstein | St. Louis Cardinals | Shortstop |
| 2007 | Mike Lowell | Boston Red Sox | Third baseman |
| 2008 | Cole Hamels | Philadelphia Phillies | Pitcher |
| 2009 | Hideki Matsui | New York Yankees | Designated hitter |
| 2010 | Edgar Rentería | San Francisco Giants | Shortstop |
| 2011 | David Freese | St. Louis Cardinals | Third baseman |
| 2012 | Pablo Sandoval | San Francisco Giants | Third baseman |
| 2013 | David Ortiz | Boston Red Sox | Designated hitter |
| 2014 | Madison Bumgarner | San Francisco Giants | Pitcher |
| 2015 | Salvador Pérez | Kansas City Royals | Catcher |
| 2016 | Ben Zobrist | Chicago Cubs | Outfielder |
| 2017 | George Springer | Houston Astros | Outfielder |
| 2018 | Steve Pearce | Boston Red Sox | First baseman |
| 2019 | Stephen Strasburg‡ | Washington Nationals | Pitcher |
| 2020 | Corey Seager | Los Angeles Dodgers | Shortstop |
| 2021 | Jorge Soler | Atlanta Braves | Outfielder, Designated hitter |
| 2022 | Jeremy Peña | Houston Astros | Shortstop |
| 2023 | Corey Seager | Texas Rangers | Shortstop |
MLB World Series MVP Winners according to Teams
The following list presents all the teams that have won the MVP awards in MLB World Series as of 2024 as per Fox Sports-
| MLB teams | No. of MVP awards |
| New York Yankees | 12 |
| Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers | 9 |
| St. Louis Cardinals | 5 |
| Boston Red Sox | 4 |
| Oakland Athletics | 4 |
| Baltimore Orioles | 3 |
| Cincinnati Reds | 3 |
| Milwaukee/Atlanta Braves | 3 |
| San Francisco Giants | 3 |
| Arizona Diamondbacks | 2 |
| Detroit Tigers | 2 |
| Florida Marlins | 2 |
| Houston Astros | 2 |
| Kansas City Royals | 2 |
| Minnesota Twins | 2 |
| New York Mets | 2 |
| Philadelphia Phillies | 2 |
| Pittsburgh Pirates | 2 |
| Toronto Blue Jays | 2 |
| Anaheim Angels | 1 |
| Chicago Cubs | 1 |
| Chicago White Sox | 1 |
| Texas Rangers | 1 |
| Washington Nationals | 1 |
MLB World Series MVP FAQs
A. Corey Seager was the winner of the MVP award in the 2023 World Series.
A. Four MLB players have won the World Series MVP awards multiple times. They are Sandy Koufax, Reggie Jackson, Bob Gibson and Corey Seager.
A. Larry Sherry (1959), Livan Hernandez (1997) and Jeremy Pena (2022) have won the World Series MVP awards as rookies.
A. Pitchers in MLB have won WS MVP twenty-nine times as of 2024.
A. Yes, Derek Jeter was the World Series MVP award winner in 2000.
