Dodgers Ohtani and Yankees Judge recipients of MLB MVP awards
Baseball’s MVPs have been decided. Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani wins the National League award, while Yankees’ Aaron Judge takes home the title again for the American League.
We’re a quarter of the way through the 21st century and have been lucky enough to see some of the greatest players in baseball history over the past 25 years.
Since 2000, future Hall of Famer Albert Pujols’ 101.3 Wins Above Replacement (WAR) leads all players, with Alex Rodriguez tied for second ways back at 89.7 bWAR.
Justin Verlander, now 42 years old, has the highest mark of any pitcher at 82.2 and is one of eight active players who rank among the top 25 in WAR over the past 25 years. Five of the top 25 have already been inducted into Baseball’s Hall of Fame.
Here’s a look at the full list, using Baseball-Reference‘s WAR calculations:
25 best MLB players of the 2000s, ranked by WARAlbert Pujols – 101.3 WARAlex Rodriguez – 89.7 WARAdrian Beltre – 89.7Mike Trout – 87.5Justin Verlander – 82.2Clayton Kershaw – 78.1Mookie Betts – 75.2Max Scherzer – 74.7Zack Greinke – 72.4Robinson Cano – 68.7Miguel Cabrera – 67.2Carlos Beltran – 65.1Chase Utley – 64.6Freddie Freeman – 64.2Paul Goldschmidt – 63.8Joey Votto – 63.6Roy Halladay – 62.4Aaron Judge – 62.3CC Sabathia – 61.8Manny Machado – 61.7Ichiro Suzuki – 60Mark Buehrle – 60Barry Bonds – 59.1Evan Longoria – 58.9Chipper Jones – 58.3