The Cleveland Guardians barely managed to make the playoffs last season. That alone should’ve been more than enough for Jose Ramirez to be the American League MVP.
The Dominican superstar made sure to put the team on his shoulders. Even when things weren’t going their way, Ramirez still gave them consistency on offense.
That’s why it’s not much of a surprise to hear that he ranked among the top in several categories in his position.
As pointed out by SleeperMLB on X, Ramirez was one of the elite third basemen in the league last season:
“Third Base (3B): HR: Eugenio Suárez – 49, RBI: Eugenio Suárez – 118, H: Maikel Garcia – 170, OPS: José Ramírez – .863, fWAR: José Ramírez – 6.3,” SleeperMLB posted on X.
Third Base (3B):
HR: Eugenio Suárez – 49
RBI: Eugenio Suárez – 118
H: Maikel Garcia – 170
OPS: José Ramírez – .863
fWAR: José Ramírez – 6.3 pic.twitter.com/Ydzsr2lAQy— SleeperMLB (@SleeperMLB) December 23, 2025
Ramirez is a perennial MVP candidate. Unfortunately, his peak has happened at the same time as Shohei Ohtani and Aaron Judge have also been in the American League. That, plus playing for a small-market team, hasn’t done much to help his case to get the praise and recognition that he so clearly deserves.
Even so, he’s never been in it for the individual glory. He’s not the type of player who’s going to complain or make it all about him. If anything, he just wants to do whatever it takes to help his team win, even if that means taking a hometown discount.
Hopefully, he will finally get the monkey off his back at one point and win the MVP he has so clearly earned.
But even if that’s not the case, he still has a prime opportunity to go down as the greatest position player in Cleveland Guardians history once it’s all said and done.
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