{"id":629614,"date":"2026-03-18T07:26:33","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T07:26:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/629614\/"},"modified":"2026-03-18T07:26:33","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T07:26:33","slug":"maikel-garcia-named-mvp-after-leading-venezuela-to-wbc-title","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/629614\/","title":{"rendered":"Maikel Garcia named MVP after leading Venezuela to WBC title"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kansas City Royals star Maikel Garcia shined on the national stage.<\/p>\n

He took Venezuela to the 2026 World Baseball Championship game. He drove in one of the biggest runs<\/a> in the global tournament.<\/p>\n

And on Tuesday, Garcia was named MVP of the entire thing<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m proud to be a part of this group and a part of this country,\u201d Garcia said postgame via a translator.<\/p>\n

Garcia was dominant throughout his WBC run. He hit .385 in the tournament and posted a .970 OPS (on-base plus slugging). Additionally, Garcia showcased his defensive ability at third base and thrived in key moments.<\/p>\n

Garcia produced the go-ahead RBI single against Italy in the WBC semifinals. He added a sacrifice fly against the United States. There was also a mammoth two-run homer against Japan in the quarterfinals.<\/p>\n

And with those plays came every emotion. Garcia put Venezuela on his back and carried his team across the finish line for the first time.<\/p>\n

It was a feeling he will never forget.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe next time you guys do a ranking for baseball, Venezuela is number one,\u201d Garcia said.<\/p>\n

\"Fox Fox Sports broadcaster Tom Verducci interviews Most Valuable Player Maikel Garcia #11 of Team Venezuela and his translator following the 3-2 victory against Team United States at loanDepot park on March 17, 2026 in Miami, Florida. Al Bello Getty Images <\/p>\n

Garcia was a breakout star with the Royals in 2025. He became an All-Star for the first time and won a Gold Glove. He was also nominated for a Silver Slugger Award and received American League MVP votes.<\/p>\n

The Royals rewarded Garcia with a five-year contract extension<\/a>. He will remain in Kansas City through the 2030 season.<\/p>\n

Now, Garcia will look to build off his WBC momentum. He posted career-highs with 16 home runs and 74 RBIs last season. He logged a 5.8 WAR (wins above replacement) and could exceed those numbers in 2026.<\/p>\n

As a kid from La Sabana, Venezuela, Garcia dreamed of playing on the global stage<\/a>. He was excited to join Team Venezuela and represent his home country.<\/p>\n

Garcia made his countrymen proud. He basked in the celebration alongside his family \u2014 his cousin is MLB star Ronald Acu\u00f1a Jr. \u2014 and teammates.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m proud of what we did and I\u2019m proud to be representing 30 million Venezuelans back in my country,\u201d Garcia said.<\/p>\n

Related Stories from Kansas City Star<\/p>\n


\n \"Profile
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

Jaylon Thompson<\/a><\/p>\n

The Kansas City Star<\/p>\n

Jaylon Thompson covers the Royals for The Kansas City Star. He previously covered the 2021 World Series and the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Jaylon is a proud alumnus of the University of Georgia.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kansas City Royals star Maikel Garcia shined on the national stage. He took Venezuela to the 2026 World…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":629615,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2387],"tags":[5,936,2123,55,2596,2595,2162,4,252,80766,4820],"class_list":{"0":"post-629614","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-kansas-city-royals","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-kansas","10":"tag-kansas-city","11":"tag-kansas-city-royals","12":"tag-kansascity","13":"tag-kansascityroyals","14":"tag-maikel-garcia","15":"tag-mlb","16":"tag-royals","17":"tag-venezuela-baseball","18":"tag-world-baseball-classic"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116248995896882740","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/629614","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=629614"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/629614\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/629615"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=629614"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=629614"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=629614"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}