Clayton Kershaw of the Los Angeles Dodgers was the first National League pitcher to be named MVP since Bob Gibson in 1968. Denny McLain also won in the AL that year. Since then, six pitchers in the AL won MVP Awards: Vida Blue in 1971, Rollie Fingers in 1981, Guillermo (Willie) Hernandez in 1984, Roger Clemens in 1986, Dennis Eckersley in 1992 and Justin Verlander in 2011.
Kershaw was the fourth NL pitcher to win MVP and Cy Young Awards in the same season. The others: Don Newcombe in 1956, Sandy Koufax in 1963 and Gibson in ’68. Six AL pitchers have won both awards the same season: Blue, Fingers, Hernandez, Clemens, Eckersley and Verlander.
It marked the 10th season a pitcher was named MVP in the NL. The others: Carl Hubbell twice, Dizzy Dean, Bucky Walters, Mort Cooper, Jim Konstanty, Newcombe, Koufax and Gibson. There have been 12 pitchers who won MVP Awards in the AL.
It was the 11th time a Dodgers player was honored. The others: Roy Campanella three times, Dolph Camilli, Jackie Robinson, Newcombe, Maury Wills, Koufax, Steve Garvey and Kirk Gibson.
With Mike Trout’s victory in the AL voting, this was the 11th time players from one market were MVPs the same year and the fifth time involving the Dodgers. While in Brooklyn, Camilli won in 1941 with the New York Yankees’ Joe DiMaggio; Campanella and the Yankees’ Yogi Berra won in 1951 and ’55, and Newcombe won with the Yankees’ Mickey Mantle in 1956. Other dual-market MVPs were Philadelphia’s Chuck Klein of the Phillies and Jimmie Foxx of the Athletics in 1932, New York’s Carl Hubbell of the Giants and Lou Gehrig of the Yankees in 1936, New York’s Willie Mays of the Giants and the Yankees’ Berra in 1954, Chicago’s Ernie Banks of the Cubs and Nellie Fox of the White Sox in 1959, and the Bay Area’s Jeff Kent of the San Francisco Giants and Jason Giambi of the Oakland Athletics in 2000 and Barry Bonds of the Giants and Miguel Tejada of the A’s in 2002. There were never dual MVP winners in Boston or St. Louis. In 1947, the Boston Braves’ Bob Elliot was the NL MVP, but the Red Sox’ Ted Williams ran second in the AL to DiMaggio.
The Miami Marlins have never had an MVP winner. Stanton was the franchise’s second runner-up. The other was Hanley Ramirez in 2009.
Kershaw, Stanton and McCutchen were the only players named to every ballot.
Ballots from two writers in each league city prior to postseason play are tabulated on a system that rewards 14 points for first place, nine for second, eight for third on down to one for 10th.
2014 NL MVP
| Player, Team | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th | 8th | 9th | 10th | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clayton Kershaw, Dodgers | 18 | 9 | 1 | 2 | 355 | ||||||
| Giancarlo Stanton, Marlins | 8 | 10 | 12 | 298 | |||||||
| Andrew McCutchen, Pirates | 4 | 10 | 15 | 1 | 271 | ||||||
| Jonathan Lucroy, Brewers | 1 | 13 | 6 | 7 | 1 | 167 | |||||
| Anthony Rendon, Nationals | 1 | 5 | 8 | 10 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 155 | ||
| Buster Posey, Giants | 1 | 6 | 9 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 152 | ||
| Adrian Gonzalez, Dodgers | 1 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 57 | ||||
| Adam Wainwright, Cardinals | 1 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 53 | |||||
| Josh Harrison, Pirates | 1 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 52 | ||||
| Anthony Rizzo, Cubs | 1 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 37 | |||||
| Hunter Pence, Giants | 1 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 34 | |||||
| Johnny Cueto, Reds | 1 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 22 | ||||||
| Russell Martin, Pirates | 2 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 21 | ||||||
| Matt Holliday, Cardinals | 1 | 1 | 2 | 17 | |||||||
| Jhonny Peralta, Cardinals | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 17 | ||||||
| Carlos Gomez, Brewers | 2 | 3 | 1 | 13 | |||||||
| Justin Upton, Braves | 1 | 1 | 4 | 10 | |||||||
| Jayson Werth, Nationals | 1 | 1 | 3 | 9 | |||||||
| Denard Span, Nationals | 1 | 1 | 8 | ||||||||
| Yasiel Puig, Dodgers | 2 | 1 | 8 | ||||||||
| Devin Mesoraco, Reds | 1 | 1 | 5 | ||||||||
| Lucas Duda, Mets | 1 | 3 | |||||||||
| Freddie Freeman, Braves | 1 | 2 | |||||||||
| Justin Morneau, Rockies | 1 | 2 | |||||||||
| Dee Gordon, Dodgers | 1 | 1 | |||||||||
| Troy Tulowitzki, Rockies | 1 | 1 |