Where Ex-Red Sox Players Land On World Series MVP Board
The unlikely World Series matchup could produce an outside-of-the-box MVP
The Diamondbacks and Rangers are heading to the 2023 World Series, and the unlikely matchup could produce a surprise MVP.
Arizona came back from a 3-2 deficit in the National League Championship Series to take down Philadelphia Phillies. The Texas Rangers also bounced back from a 3-2 deficit in the American League Championship Series and throttled the Houston Astros in Game 7.
NLCS MVP Ketel Marte is 10-1 to win World Series MVP, and ALCS MVP Adolis García is +550 to win the award at FanDuel Sportsbook. AL MVP contender Corey Seager is the favorite at 5-1.
While the inclination is to go chalk and pick the best player from the winning team, history hasn't backed that logic.
Last season's World Series MVP Jeremy Peña was 25-1 to win the award, according to Covers. When the Atlanta Braves won in 2021, Jorge Soler was 35-1 to win MVP in the Fall Classic. Seager took home MVP honors for the Los Angeles Dodgers at 8-1 in 2020. Stephen Strasburg was +1950 when the Washington Nationals won the World Series in 2019 and Steve Pearce was 55-1 when the Boston Red Sox won the Fall Classic in 2018.
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The past five years show there is value in taking more of a long-shot option since we're dealing with a small sample size of at most seven games, a span where any player can break out. Covers did find that 42% of pitchers won the MVP since the introduction of the award, and New York Yankees second baseman Bobby Richardson is the only player to win MVP on the losing team in 1960.
Let's first look at the top 10 favorites before taking a deep dive at long shots.
Corey Seager +500
Adolis García +550
Ketel Marte +1000
Corbin Carroll +1000
Marcus Semien +1400
Christian Walker +1600
Evan Carter +1600
Zac Gallen +1700
Nathan Eovaldi +1700
Jordan Montgomery +1800
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Former Red Sox pitcher Eovaldi does have experience in big games and has been one of Texas' best pitchers this postseason. If 17-1 is the best number you can find, that's certainly worth a flier, especially if the series extends to the point where he gets two starts under his belt.
Fellow former Red Sox Tommy Pham had a quiet NLCS, but he's 21-1 to win World Series MVP. Other considerations include Josh Jung (18-1), Nathaniel Lowe (25-1), Lourdes Gurriel Jr. (28-1), Jonah Heim (33-1) or Merrill Kelly (55-1). Dane Dunning and Jon Gray are the biggest long shots at 320-1.
First pitch for Game 1 of the World Series is scheduled at 8:03 p.m. ET.
