MVP machines?

In late January, Shohei Ohtani and Ronald Acuna Jr. officially received their Most Valuable Player awards. It’s not the first time that these 2 players received awards. Back in 2018, these 2 players each won the rookie of the year award. Additionally, Shohei Ohtani won the 2021 AL MVP award. While seeing these 2 players receive MVP awards, I was just thinking about a question.

 

Receiving an MVP award isn’t new to Ohtani. Among 30 MLB teams, which team has rich experience in creating MVP players?

 

To understand a little bit, I decided to check on the great baseball reference website.

 

Taking a look at the list of winners from 2000 to 2023. There’s something interesting.

 

Over the last 24 years, there were 6 AL MVP award winners from the Angels. At the same time, there were 6 NL MVP award winners from the Giants. In the Angels, Vladimir Guerrero won the 2004 AL MVP award. Mike Trout won the AL MVP award 3 times and Ohtani is a 2-time AL MVP award winner. Additionally, in the Giants, Jeff Kent was the 2000 NL MVP winner. From 2001 to 2004, Barry Bonds won four NL MVP awards in a row. Hence, from 2000 to 2004, all 5 NL MVP awards went to the Giants. Furthermore, Buster Posey won the 2012 NL MVP award.

 

Well, no teams created 5 MVP award winners during this period. However, there was a team which had 4 MVP award winners. That team is the Cardinals. Albert Pujols is a 3-time NL MVP award winner. He won the award in 2005, 2008 and 2009. Additionally, Paul Goldschmidt was the 2022 NL MVP award winner.

 

In addition, 3 teams each created 3 MVPs during this period. Firstly, the Yankees had 2 players who won the AL MVP awards. Alex Rodriguez won the AL MVP award with the Yankees in 2005 and 2007 and Aaron Judge was the 2022 AL MVP. Secondly, the 2006 and 2007 NL MVP awards all went to the Phillies. Ryan Howard was the 2006 NL MVP award winner and the next year, Jimmy Rollins won the award. Moreover, Bryce Harper won the NL MVP award with the Phillies in 2021. Thirdly, from 2011 to 2013, the AL MVP awards all belong to the Tigers. Justin Verlander won the 2011 AL MVP winner and Miguel Cabrera was named AL MVP in back-to-back seasons in 2012 and 2013.

 

Finally, 7 teams each created 2 MVP award winners and 9 teams each had 1 MVP. Nonetheless, 8 teams didn’t have any MVP winners during this period.

Looking back at the MVP award winners from 2000 to 2023, two teams in California each created 6 MVP winners. 3 players from these 2 teams won the award multiple times. Barry Bonds won the NL MVP award 4 times with the Giants from 2001 to 2004. In the Angels, Mike Trout won the AL MVP 3 times and Shohei Ohtani is a 2-time AL MVP award winner. In the 2024 season, are we going to see an MVP award winner from a team in California? Will the Angels or the Giants create an MVP this season?