MVPs in the playoffs

Some friends were discussing the postseason in a chat group. A friend mentioned a player’s performance in the postseason. He emphasized that the player didn’t hit well. A main reason why my friend mentioned the player was that the player is a strong candidate for an MVP award.

After the discussion, I was just thinking about those MVP award winners’ performances in the postseason. Did they play well in October?

To make things easier, let’s look back at the MVP award winners over the last 10 seasons.

Let’s start from the 2016 season. The NL MVP award winner is Kris Bryant in 2016. In the 2016 playoffs, he played 17 games, hitting .308/.400/.523 with 3 home runs and 8 RBI. His OPS was over .900 in the postseason. He did play well and helped the Cubs win the World Series. At the same time, Mike Trout won the AL MVP award, but the Angels didn’t clinch a spot in the postseason.

In 2017, the AL MVP award winner was Jose Altuve. In the 2017 postseason, Jose Altuve slashed .310/.388/.634 with 7 home runs and 14 RBI in 18 games. In the NL, the MVP award winner is Giancarlo Stanton, but the Marlins didn’t clinch a berth in the postseason.

In 2018, Mookie Betts won the AL MVP award. In the postseason, he hit .210/.300/.323 with 1 home run and 4 RBI in 14 games. At the same time, Christian Yelich won the NL MVP award. In the 2018 postseason, he played 10 games, hitting .194/.383/.389 with 2 home runs and 3 RBI.

Mike Trout won the AL MVP award again in 2019. But again, the Angels didn’t play October baseball. In the NL, Cody Bellinger won the MVP award. In the 2019 playoffs, he played 5 games, hitting .211/.286/.263. The next year, it was a shortened season. In 2020, Jose Abreu won the AL MVP award. In the postseason, Abreu batted .286/.286/.571 with 1 home run and 2 RBI. Freddie Freeman is the 2020 NL MVP award winner. In the postseason, Freeman slashed .279/.415/.488 with 2 home runs and 7 RBI in 12 games.

In addition, let’s look at the 2021 season. In 2021, Shohei Ohtani won his first MVP award, however, the Angels didn’t clinch. Bryce Harper was the NL MVP award winner. But the Phillies didn’t play October baseball. The next year, Aaron Judge won the AL MVP award. In the playoffs, he slashed .139/.184/.306 with 2 home runs and 3 RBI. In the NL, Paul Goldschmidt won the MVP award. But in the postseason, he didn’t collect any hits in 2 games.

Furthermore, Ohtani won his second MVP award in 2023. Nevertheless, again, the Angels didn’t clinch. In the Nation League, Ronald Acuna Jr. won the award. But in the 2023 postseason, he batted only .143 in 4 games.

Finally, let’s look at the last 2 seasons. Aaron Judge won back-to-back AL MVP awards. He played 14 games in the 2024 postseason, hitting .184/.344/.408 with 3 home runs and 9 RBI. Last postseason, Judge slashed .500/.581/.692 with 1 home run and 7 RBI in 7 games. In the National League, Shohei Ohtani won back-to-back MVP awards. In the 2024 postseason, Ohtani hit .230/.373/.393 with 3 home runs and 10 RBI. Last year, Ohtani slashed .265/.405/.691 with 8 home runs and 14 RBI in 17 games. Moreover, don’t forget he’s a 2-way player. Ohtani made 4 starts in the 2025 playoffs, posting a 4.43 ERA and a 1.13 WHIP over 20.1 innings.

Looking back at the MVP award winners over the last 10 seasons, well, unfortunately some MVP award winners didn’t play October baseball. For example, Mike Trout and Giancarlo Stanton (with the Marlins). Nonetheless, there are some impressive performances. Kris Bryant did hit well in the 2016 playoffs to help the Cubs end the drought. Nevertheless, we’ve actually seen some players struggle in October Baseball.