Mr. Octobers: Players with the Most World Series MVPs

• Position: Shortstop
• Team(s) during WS MVP: Los Angeles Dodgers (2020), Texas Rangers (2022)

Though it feels like Corey Seager has been around the league for decades now, his MLB debut was only in 2015. In those past eight seasons, he’s racked up four All-Star seasons, three Silver Slugger Awards, an NLCS MVP Award, and two World Series Championships coupled with two World Series MVP Awards. 

Seager is about as consistent of a player as they come. He might not lead the league in home runs – though he did have 33 of those in the 2023 season – but he always seems to be at the top of the leaderboard for on-base percentage and batting averages. The short-stop is also a highly-ranked defensive player who makes insane plays look easy. 

In 2020, Seager won the World Series with the Dodgers, recording 22 hits and 20 RBIs in the 2020 postseason. With the Texas Rangers in 2023, Seager recorded 21 hits and 12 RBIs in the postseason and hit 3 home runs in the championship series. When he was awarded the World Series MVP for his performance, Seager joined Reggie Jackson as one of only two players to win the award with two different teams. Seager and Jackson are also the only two position players to win the award twice.

• Position: Right Field
• Team(s) during WS MVPs: Oakland Athletics, New York Yankees

14-time All-Star Reggie Jackson is about as legendary of an athlete as they come. The Hall-of-Famer was a part of 5 World-Series Championship teams, three with the A’s, and two with the Yankees. In 1973, Jackson hit Oakland’s only two home runs of the series, which occurred in Game 7 after a nail-biting back and forth between the A’s and Mets.

It was during the 1977 World Series that the “Mr. October” nickname was born. Jackson earned this title after his epic Game 6 of the 1977 Series in which he hit three home runs off three different Dodgers pitchers. He batted .450 during the series with five home runs and 8 RBIs, solidifying himself as Mr. October with a performance for the ages.

• Position: Left Hand Pitcher
• Team(s) during WS MVPs: Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers

In the 1963 World Series, Sandy Koufax put on an unforgettable performance that helped lead Dodgers to another championship, his third with the team but his first as MVP of the Series. He set a World Series record by striking out 15 batters in Game 1. He pitched a complete-game shutout in Game 7, allowing only three hits with six strikeouts, leading the Dodgers to a 2-1 victory.

In 1965, Koufax once again put on a show that solidified him as an all-time great in baseball history. Koufax pitched through immense pain due to arthritis in his pitching arm, yet pitched a complete-game shutout in Game 5 of the Series, allowing only four hits and striking out ten Minnesota Twins batters. In Game 7 he delivered another shutout performance, allowing only three hits and striking out ten batters, leading the Los Angeles Dodgers to a 2-0 victory and securing their second World Series championship in three years.

• Position: Right Hand Pitcher

• Team(s) During WS MVPs: St. Louis Cardinals

Bob Gibson, nine-time All-Star and two-time Cy young Award winner, is a St. Louis great for many reasons, but it was his legendary World Series performances that really cemented him as one of the best Cardinals players of all time. In the 1964 World Series, Gibson put on the performance of his lifetime, throwing three complete games, including a shutout in Game 5 against the New York Yankees. 

Like deja vu in 1967, Gibson delivered three complete-game victories, including an iconic Game 7 performance where he pitched on two days' rest, leading the Cardinals to another World Series win.