The Cleveland Guardians know they have one of the best players in the game on their team, even if he doesn’t have the ultimate individual prize to prove it. Third baseman Jose Ramirez is a perennial All-Star and a consistent Silver Slugger winner, but he has never been honored with an AL MVP award, despite being one of the most prominent vote-getters in history.
Ramirez is coming off back-to-back 30-30 seasons, and he has a new contract extension that secures his future with the Guardians, likely for the rest of his career. So, he is well-positioned to make a run at MVP again.
The Guardians star has been named a top contender for the major MLB award by analyst Will Leitch, who says it could finally happen in 2026.
“MVP: Jose Ramirez, Guardians,” Leitch wrote. “Ramirez may well end up in Cooperstown someday — and he has the stability now of knowing he’ll be with the Guardians through 2032, when he’ll turn 40 — but he still hasn’t gotten that elusive MVP. He has finished in the top 10 eight times, including third last year, and he probably should have won over Jose Abreu in 2020. But ‘J-Ram’ will keep putting up his numbers, and maybe one of these years, things will line up perfectly for him to be the MVP.”
Ramirez has finished third in the voting three times, including last season, when he trailed winner Aaron Judge and runner-up Cal Raleigh. His best finish was second to Abreu in 2020, when he fell short by 71 voting points. Perhaps he would have been able to overtake him if not for the pandemic-shortened season.
Judge has won the award in three of the past four seasons, failing only in 2023 when he missed games with a toe injury. That year, Ramirez was 10th behind Shohei Ohtani, who won two AL MVP awards before moving to the National League.
Despite the high level of competition, Ramirez always remains in the running thanks to his consistency. If he were to reach the 30-30 plateau again, he would be the only player other than seven-time NL MVP Barry Bonds to do so in three straight seasons.
Statistics aside, no player may be more truly valuable than Ramirez is to the Guardians. He has taken a hometown discount on consecutive contract extensions to allow the organization to surround him with more talent, which speaks not only to his dedication to the franchise but also to the lack of a supporting cast.
It is scary to think of where the Guardians would be without him, and hopefully, he will be rewarded with the AL’s highest honor before his career ends.
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