We just saw one of the closest MVP races in years conclude earlier this month as the MLB announced that Yankees outfielder and perennial MVP favorite Aaron Judge was awarded the third MVP trophy of his career over breakout sensation and power-hitting catcher Cal Raleigh. The decision is seen as a bit controversial, as Raleigh’s record-breaking season, where he posted 60 homers while playing 159 games at the most challenging position in the game (and doing it at a gold glove caliber level, I might add), would usually have been enough to earn him the award in most every season. However, the league went with Aaron Judge, who posted a monster season at the plate, although his numbers were down from a year ago, when he posted one of the best hitting performances in MLB history.
Although many people agree that Judge deserved the MVP award this year, this tough MVP conversation did put into perspective how nuanced this decision can be and how potentially biased the MLB and the MVP voters can get, after all, Aaron Judge is arguably the face of the league and is the premier player in the largest market in America, while Cal Raleigh wears a mask for half the game (limiting his recognizability and popularity)and plays in the much smaller market than judge. Does that mean that this MVP decision was rigged? Not really, but it does show that certain factors play a bigger role in the MVP race than others.
That dynamic persists not just in the MLB’s MVP race in real life, but also in MLB The Show 25’s MVP race in franchise mode. Various factors determine whether one of your players will be named MVP. Can a pitcher win? What positions are most likely to win? What stats are most factored in? These are the questions I’m looking to answer as I go through different simulations: what makes an MVP in MLB The Show 25, and whether it differs from real life. Let’s take a look!
First Simulation
AL MVP Contenders
1: DH Yordan Alvarez .318 AVG/ 57 HR/ 139 RBI
2: SS Corey Seager .316 AVG/ 43 HR/ 107 RBI
3: RF Aaron Judge .315 AVG/ 48 HR/ 116 RBI
NL MVP Contenders
1: DH Marcell Ozuna .280 AVG/ 46 HR/ 116 RBI
2: DH/P Shohei Ohtani .281 AVG/ 43 HR/ 112 RBI
3: 2B Ketel Marte .325 AVG/ 40 HR/ 99 RBI
Yordan Alvarez and Ketel Marte won their individual Hank Aaron Awards; none of these six players were in the top three at their position in Gold Glove voting, but all were in the top three in their Silver Slugger categories.
All of these players are power hitters ranking in the top 15 of home hitters in the league; three of them are DHs, and only one (Corey Seager at shortstop) plays at a premium defensive position, and Seager didn’t particularly play well defensively with a .987 fielding percentage. These numbers tell me that the game is certainly weighing hitting much more heavily than fielding, if they’re considering fielding at all.
Second Simulation
AL MVP Contenders
1: SS Gunnar Henderson .288 AVG/ 44 HR/ 115 RBI
2: SS Corey Seager .274 AVG/ 39 HR/ 108 RBI
3: RF Aaron Judge .295 AVG/ 41 HR/ 97 RBI
NL MVP Contenders
1: DH/P Shohei Ohtani .281 AVG/ 40 HR/ 147 RBI
2: RF Kyle Tucker .286 AVG/ 50 HR/ 118 RBI
3: 1B Rhys Hoskins .254 AVG/ 37 HR/ 133 RBI
Gunnar Henderson and Kyle Tucker won their individual Hank Aaron Awards; none of these six players were in the top three at their position in Gold Glove voting, but all were in the top three in their Silver Slugger categories.
At this point, we are starting to see a trend: power hitters who rack up a lot of runs and lead the Hank Aaron Award race usually wind up at the top of the MVP conversation. We see a few more premier position players like Gunnar Henderson pop up on this list, but we’ve yet to see a full-time pitcher, a catcher, or a center fielder make it, nor have we seen anyone with fewer than 37 homers make it. At this point, the MVP list is starting to look a whole lot similar to the top OPS leaders in the game.
Third Simulation
AL MVP Contenders
1: RF Aaron Judge .318 AVG/ 57 HR/ 138 RBI
2: SS Gunnar Henderson .298 AVG/ 44 HR/ 107 RBI
3: 1B Vladimir Guerrero Jr. .307 AVG/ 41 HR/ 108 RBI
NL MVP Contenders
1: RF Kyle Tucker .338 AVG/ 45 HR/ 128 RBI
2: DH/P Shohei Ohtani .308 AVG/ 44 HR/ 128 RBI
3: SS Mookie Betts .308 AVG/ 32 HR/ 107 RBI
Aaron Judge and Kyle Tucker won their individual Hank Aaron Awards. None of these six players were in the top three at their position in Gold Glove voting, but were all in the top three in their Silver Slugger categories.
NL’s third place finisher in this simulation bucked the trend slightly in these three simulations by making this list without hitting over 35 homers or getting into the top five players in his division in OPS, he likely made this list because he put up better than average numbers in most every statistical category while also being one of the biggest names (he’s got one of the best overall ratings in the game) and playing on the 100+ win Dodgers.
Final Takeaways
In MLB The Show 25, Aaron Judge would have certainly won the MVP race, and it likely wouldn’t have been nearly as close. The Show doesn’t seem to take into effect position, defensive dominance, or any other factor that would have favored Raleigh. MLB The Show 25 seems to rely primarily on OPS to determine the MVP. It also seems to heavily factor in RBIs, overall rating, team success, and home runs.
