The best seasons in MLB history that didn’t win an MVP award

Unfortunately for New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge and Seattle Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh, it appears that one of the two will go home without winning the AL MVP.

Raleigh and Judge entered the season’s final week with identical -115 odds (bet $100 for a $186.96 payout) on the FanDuel Sportsbook. The fact that Raleigh, who leads baseball with 58 home runs and 121 RBIs, has kept things this close is a remarkable testament to his historic season.

Judge has been his typical incredible self, hitting .326 with 49 home runs, 105 RBIs, and a 1.123 OPS through 146 games. Although Judge will almost certainly finish well behind Raleigh in home runs, his 9.0 bWAR easily tops Raleigh’s 6.9.

Both have a valid case for MVP, though we’re skeptical that they’ll finish tied. Instead, we expect one to join the club of the greatest seasons in MLB history that didn’t result in an MVP award.

For this list, we’re focusing on the greatest runner-up seasons rather than the worst snubs, which is a massive distinction worth mentioning. We’re also omitting Judge and Raleigh from this list, partly because it’s too early to determine where they’ll finish. 

Because the MVP voting is determined on regular-season numbers, we’ve decided to follow the same rules. 

Honorable mention: Matt Kemp, CF, Los Angeles Dodgers (2011)

There are plenty of other players we could have mentioned here — Yankees legend Mickey Mantle’s incredible 1958 season and Shohei Ohtani’s 2022 campaign, when he lost to Judge, both came to mind — but we wanted to spotlight Kemp here, who finished second to Milwaukee Brewers left fielder Ryan Braun in 2011. The problem: A urine sample Braun submitted that October tested positive for an elevated level of synthetic testosterone, and he later served a 65-game suspension in 2013.

At the time, there was a justified argument that Kemp, who finished one home run shy of the 40-40 club, was snubbed. Kemp posted 8.0 bWAR, 39 home runs, 126 RBIs, and a .986 OPS for the Dodgers, who finished 82-79 and third in the NL West. Braun, meanwhile, hit .332 with 33 homers, 111 RBIs, 33 stolen bases, and 7.7 bWAR on a Brewers team that reached the NLCS.

Did Braun win the MVP because his team made the playoffs? Perhaps. While we won’t go so far as to say it was an egregious snub at the time, we will say that Braun finishing above Kemp looks terrible in hindsight.

5. Mark McGwire, 1B, St. Louis Cardinals (1998)

The only counting stat that matters here is 70, specifically the 70 home runs that McGwire hit en route to setting a new MLB record. The home run chase between McGwire and Chicago Cubs outfielder Sammy Sosa captivated fans all season, a much-needed sight after the strike-shortened 1994 season. 

Yes, McGwire later admitted to using performance-enhancing drugs during his historic season, and Sosa alluded to also using PEDs in December 2024. It’s nonetheless incredibly difficult to leave McGwire off this list when he mashed 70 home runs with 174 RBIs, an eye-popping .470 on-base percentage, and a staggering 1.222 OPS for the Cardinals. McGwire’s 7.5 bWAR marked the best of his career, and he topped Sosa’s 6.5 bWAR in the process.

Nearly 30 years later, baseball fans still debate whether the voters snubbed McGwire, considering that he finished with 70 homers. Others continue to suggest that both players’ numbers are tainted by steroid use. Either way, McGwire more than earned a spot on this list, and his 70 homers remain second-most behind only Barry Bonds’ 73 in 2001.

4. Pedro Martínez, SP, Boston Red Sox (2000)

Baseball fans who got into the sport in the mid-to-late 2000s unfortunately missed out on prime Pedro Martínez, whose numbers still look like something out of a video game. Take Martínez’s 2000 season, where he posted a 1.74 ERA, seven complete games, four shutouts, and a mind-blowing 284-32 K-BB ratio in 217 innings. 

Although Martínez earned his third AL Cy Young Award in four years, he finished second behind Athletics first baseman Jason Giambi in MVP voting. Giambi provided the A’s with 7.8 bWAR after hitting .333 with 43 homers, 137 RBIs, and an incredible .477 on-base percentage.

While Giambi was fantastic, Martínez’s numbers speak for themselves. Martínez is the only pitcher to have an 11-bWAR season in the 21st century, and Randy Johnson (10.7) is the only pitcher in that time to even top 10.5 in that span. Neither Justin Verlander nor Clayton Kershaw did it in their prime, and no one in recent years has come close, either. 

3. Dwight Gooden, SP, New York Mets (1985)

Gooden is the only player on this list who wasn’t a runner-up, though a quick look at the stats shows why he warranted a spot. Despite leading the league with 24 wins, a 1.53 ERA, and 268 strikeouts in 276 2/3 innings, Gooden finished fourth in the NL MVP voting. Gooden earned a single first-place vote, while St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Willis McGee won MVP with a .353 average, 216 hits, 56 stolen bases, and 8.2 bWAR.

McGee winning over Gooden is bad on its own, but things get worse. Cincinnati Reds outfielder Dave Parker earned six first-place votes because he led the league with 125 RBIs, and Dodgers left fielder Pedro Guerrero somehow placed third. The fact that Parker finished above Guerrero (8.0 bWAR and a .999 OPS) and Gooden is absurd, though Gooden at least won the Cy Young award. We’re not sure what the voters were thinking here, and it’s definitely one of the stranger MVP results in the modern era.

2. Mike Trout, CF, Los Angeles Angels (2012)

The 2012 AL MVP voting is exactly why we made it clear that not all of these picks were snubs or incorrect. Trout terrorized opposing pitching all season, finishing with a .326 average, 30 homers, 49 stolen bases, and a .963 OPS. Although his 10.5 bWAR easily topped Detroit Tigers third baseman Miguel Cabrera’s 7.1, the latter recorded the sport’s first triple crown in 45 years.

Interestingly, six voters still give Trout a first-place MVP vote, and it’s still hard to blame them. Keep in mind that Trout played most of the season at 20 years old, too. While many of his 2009 draft mates were still in the minors or positioning themselves to finally crack a big-league team, Trout was making life miserable for any pitcher facing the Angels that night.

In our eyes, Trout’s 2012 season is the best of any MVP runner-up since the Division Era began in 1969. However, there’s one player who we feel warranted the top spot on this list.

1. Ted Williams, LF, Boston Red Sox (1941)

The AL MVP race between Williams and New York Yankees superstar Joe DiMaggio truly came down to the wire, and we don’t blame anyone who still believes that Williams should have won. After all, Williams recorded 10.4 bWAR, 37 home runs, and a remarkable 1.287 OPS for the second-place Red Sox. But, more importantly, Williams hit .406, and he’s the last qualifying player to finish with a .400 average.

Williams didn’t go down without a fight, either. He famously went 6-for-8 in a doubleheader on the season’s last day to ensure he finished above .400.

We fully acknowledge that batting average doesn’t mean what it once did. However, it’s always been impressive enough when a player bats .320, even more so in the current baseball climate. Now, consider what it means when a player finishes with a .406 average. This is one of those instances where the numbers speak for themselves.

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