Freddie Freeman of the Atlanta Braves won the NL MVP, becoming the 16th first baseman to win the award in the NL.
The list includes three-time winner Albert Pujols (2005, 2008, 2009), Frank McCormick in 1940, Dolph Camilli in 1941, Phil Cavarretta in 1945, Stan Musial in 1946 (he also won twice as an outfielder), Orlando Cepeda in 1967, Willie McCovery in 1969, Steve Garvey in 1974, Keith Hernandez and Willie Stargell in a tie in 1979, Jeff Bagwell in 1994, Ryan Howard in 2006 and Joey Votto in 2010.
The AL MVP Award has been won by a first baseman 15 times. This is the third time both MVPs in the same season were first basemen. It also occurred in 1994, with Frank Thomas in the AL and Bagwell in the NL, and in 2006 with Justin Morneau in the AL and Howard in the NL.
This marks the seventh time a Braves player has been honored. The others were two-time winner Dale Murphy in 1982 and ‘83, Bob Elliott in 1947, Henry Aaron in 1957, Terry Pendleton in 1991 and Chipper Jones in 1999.
Mookie Betts, the 2018 AL MVP with the Red Sox, came the closest to matching Frank Robinson’s feat of winning MVPs in both leagues (in the NL with the Reds in 1961 and in the AL with the Orioles in 1966). Betts is the first player to have won an MVP in one league and been the runner-up in the other.
Freeman, Betts, Manny Machado, Fernando Tatis Jr. and Marcell Ozuna were named to every ballot.
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.
2020 NL MVP
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th | 8th | 9th | 10th | Points | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Freddie Freeman, Braves | 28 | 2 | 410 | ||||||||
| Mookie Betts, Dodgers | 2 | 21 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 268 | |||||
| Manny Machado, Padres | 2 | 16 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 221 | ||||
| Fernando Tatis Jr., Padres | 2 | 5 | 14 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 201 | |||
| Juan Soto, Nationals | 3 | 2 | 5 | 10 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 172 | |||
| Marcell Ozuna, Braves | 2 | 1 | 11 | 14 | 2 | 167 | |||||
| Trea Turner, Nationals | 2 | 1 | 6 | 8 | 6 | 4 | 83 | ||||
| Mike Yastrzemski, Giants | 1 | 3 | 8 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 81 | ||||
| Corey Seager, Dodgers | 3 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 43 | |||||
| Trevor Bauer, Reds | 1 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 32 | |||||
| Trevor Story, Rockies | 2 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 23 | ||||||
| Ronald Acuña Jr., Braves | 2 | 5 | 5 | 21 | |||||||
| Dominic Smith, Mets | 2 | 4 | 2 | 16 | |||||||
| Yu Darvish, Cubs | 2 | 2 | 2 | 14 | |||||||
| Paul Goldschmidt, Cardinals | 1 | 1 | 1 | 9 | |||||||
| Brandon Belt, Giants | 1 | 2 | |||||||||
| Wil Myers, Padres | 1 | 2 | |||||||||
| Max Fried, Braves | 1 | 1 | |||||||||
| Ian Happ, Cubs | 1 | 1 | |||||||||
| Dansby Swanson, Braves | 1 | 1 | |||||||||
| Ryan Tepera, Cubs | 1 | 1 | |||||||||
| Devin Williams, Brewers | 1 | 1 |
View individual ballots on separate page
"My dad and I… we were just taking batting practice and having fun when I was a kid, and look where we are now." @Braves superstar @FreddieFreeman5 is your 2020 NL MVP! pic.twitter.com/9sWG2OBAnb
— MLB Network (@MLBNetwork) November 13, 2020