Guardians' José Ramírez ranks as one of best players to never win MVP 

Earlier this month, José Ramírez officially came in third in this year’s American League MVP voting, confirming what had been a foregone conclusion from the moment he was announced as a finalist along with Cal Raleigh and Aaron Judge. 

It marked the eighth time that Ramírez earned MVP votes, along with being the fifth season where he finished in the top-four in MVP voting. 

And, in a new story for MLB.com, the great Sarah Langs breaks down why those stats may mean that Ramírez is the greatest player in MLB history to have never won an MVP. 

 José Ramírez ranks as one of best players to never win MVP 

And, just to be clear, Ramírez not having an MVP on his ledger isn’t his fault. It’s not his fault that he reached his peak at the same time as Jose Altuve (2017 MVP winner), Mookie Betts (2019) and Aaron Judge (2022 and 2025). 

The biggest snub arguably came in 2020 when he finished as the runner-up for the MVP behind José Abreu. 

Per Langs, Ramírez’s six top-five MVP wins are tied with Eddie Murray for the most without a win, and is also the only player in baseball history to record four top-three finishes in MVP voting without taking home a win. 

All of that history shows just how good Ramírez has been throughout his career. He’s been worth at least 4.8 bWAR in eight of the past nine 162-game seasons, and has almost always had to do it while also dragging an underwhelming Guardians lineup across the finish line. 

Last year was one of the best seasons of Ramírez’s career, as he hit 30 home runs with 85 RBI, 34 doubles and a career-high 44 steals. 

Even though Cleveland’s season ended on a bit of a dud with a loss to the Tigers in the American League Wild Card Series, the fact they made it to the postseason is a monumental feat in itself considering the Guardians had the second-worst batting average in all of baseball (.226). 

It’ll be interesting to see how things go for Ramírez for the rest of his career. Although he just turned 33, he hasn’t shown any signs of slowing down and still has three years remaining on the seven-year contract he signed prior to the 2022 season. 

Although most players tend to begin to hit a decline once they hit their mid-30’s, Ramírez is arguably still in his peak, and is coming off a season where he just set a new career-high in stolen bases. 

While it’ll always be tough for any player to win MVP in the stacked American League, Ramírez has just as good a chance as anyone. But even if he finishes his career without ever winning an MVP, Langs’ story shows just how good Ramírez’s career has been.