First baseman Paul Goldschmidt was named the 2022 National League MVP, giving the Cardinals a league record 18 winners.
St. Louis’ total of MVP winners is second only to the New York Yankees’ 21 in the American League. Goldschmidt joins a list that includes three-time winners Stan Musial (1943, 1946, 1948) and Albert Pujols (2005, 2008-09), plus Frankie Frisch (1931), Dizzy Dean (1934), Joe Medwick (1937), Mort Cooper (1942), Marty Marion (1944), Ken Boyer (1964), Orlando Cepeda (1967), Bob Gibson (1968), Joe Torre (1971), Keith Hernandez (1979, co-winner with Willie Stargell) and Willie McGee (1985).
Goldschmidt’s victory was the 17th for a first baseman in the NL, including all three victories by Pujols and one each by Musial (1946), whose other two victories came as an outfielder, Cepeda (1967) and Hernandez (1979, co-winner with Stargell, another first baseman). Other winners at that position were Frank McCormick (1940), Dolph Camilli (1941), Phil Cavarretta (1945), Willie McCovey (1969), Steve Garvey (1974), Jeff Bagwell (1994), Ryan Howard (2006), Joey Votto (2010) and Freddie Freeman (2020). The AL MVP Award has been won by a first baseman 15 times.
Goldschmidt, the runner-up in NL MVP voting in 2013 and 2015 with the Diamondbacks, is the fourth NL player and the eighth overall to have finished second in the voting twice before winning the BBWAA’s MVP Award for the first time. Others in the NL to do so were Stargell, a runner-up in 1971 and 1973 before winning in 1979; Andre Dawson, a runner-up in 1981 and 1983 before winning in 1987; and Pujols, a runner-up in 2002 and 2003 before winning in 2005 (and also in 2008 and 2009). In the AL, Lou Gehrig was a runner-up in 1931 and 1932 before winning in 1936 (he also won in 1927 before the BBWAA took over the award in 1931); Ted Williams was a runner-up in 1941 and 1942 before winning in 1946 (and also in 1949); Alex Rodriguez was a runner-up in 1996 and 2002 before winning in 2003 (and also in 2005 and 2007) and Mike Trout was a runner-up in 2012 and 2013 before winning in 2014 (and also in 2016 and 2019).
Goldschmidt, Manny Machado, Nolan Arenado, Freddie Freeman and Mookie Betts were named on all ballots.
Ballots, submitted before the start of the postseason, were cast by two writers in each league city. They are tabulated on a system that rewards 14 points for first place, nine for second, eight for third on down to one for 10th.
2022 NL MVP
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th | 8th | 9th | 10th | Points | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paul Goldschmidt, Cardinals | 22 | 8 | 380 | ||||||||
| Manny Machado, Padres | 7 | 13 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 291 | |||||
| Nolan Arenado, Cardinals | 1 | 2 | 15 | 11 | 1 | 232 | |||||
| Freddie Freeman, Dodgers | 6 | 6 | 13 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 220 | ||||
| Mookie Betts, Dodgers | 1 | 1 | 14 | 4 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 154 | |||
| Austin Riley, Braves | 5 | 9 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 116 | ||||
| J.T. Realmuto, Phillies | 3 | 8 | 2 | 6 | 7 | 98 | |||||
| Pete Alonso, Mets | 1 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 7 | 81 | |||
| Francisco Lindor, Mets | 1 | 2 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 3 | 77 | ||||
| Sandy Alcantara, Marlins | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 39 | |||
| Trea Turner, Dodgers | 1 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 29 | |||||
| Dansby Swanson, Braves | 2 | 5 | 7 | 23 | |||||||
| Michael Harris II, Braves | 1 | 1 | 1 | 9 | |||||||
| Julio Urías, Dodgers | 1 | 8 | |||||||||
| Jeff McNeil, Mets | 1 | 3 | 6 | ||||||||
| Daniel Bard, Rockies | 1 | 2 | |||||||||
| Kyle Schwarber, Phillies | 1 | 2 | |||||||||
| Edwin Díaz, Mets | 2 | 2 | |||||||||
| Starling Marte, Mets | 1 | 1 |