Cleveland Guardians' Jose Ramirez comes up short again of winning American League MVP.
Jose Ramirez will have to wait another season to add American League MVP to his growing Hall of Fame resume. The Cleveland Guardians superstar third baseman has received almost every other accolade a player can dream of when they make their big-league debut, but is still waiting for the most valuable one.
Ramirez had a chance to win the 2025 AL MVP, and was named one of three finalists for the award alongside New York Yankees’ Aaron Judge and Seattle Mariners’ Cal Raleigh.
Unfortunately, for Ramirez and the Guardians, he finished third in the MVP race once again. Ultimately, Ramirez received no first- or second-place votes and earned 19 third-place votes.
While it would’ve been great to see Ramirez win the award, there’s no question that the voters got this decision correct.
Aaron Judge simply had another historically dominant offensive season, recording a wRC+ of 204 during his back-to-back 50+ home runs season. Even Cal Raleigh, who hit the most home runs by a catcher in MLB history while being one of the game’s best defensive backstops, couldn’t overtake the Yankees star.
Ramirez finished the 2025 season with a .283/.360/.503 slash line, including .863 OPS, while stealing a career-high 44 bags during his age 32 season. These are certainly star-level numbers, but they just weren’t good enough to be considered the most valuable in the American League.
Coming up just short of MVP is a position Ramirez has been in multiple times throughout his career. The 33-year-old now has four top-three finishes for the award, coming in 2017, 2018, 2020, and now 2025. Ramirez has also finished sixth in 2022, 10th in 2023, and fifth in 2024 in the voting.
Hopefully, at some point during Ramirez’s career, he’ll be able to call himself the most valuable player over a season. He’s been one of baseball’s most consistent players for over a decade, but Father Time remains undefeated, so Ramirez is running out of time to win the award.
Perhaps, 2026 is finally the season Ramirez wins the one award he’s come so close to so many times.