MLB World Series 2024: Dark-Horse Candidates for MVP Race on Fall Classic Bracket

The World Series Most Valuable Player award does not always go to the most notable player on the championship-winning team.

Jorge Soler, Jeremy Pena and Steve Pearce were three of the last six MVPs. All three players got hot at the right time to earn the individual honor.

With so many stars on the rosters of the New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers, it seems more likely that the MVP will go more in the direction of the superstars, like it did with Corey Seager in 2020 and 2023.

However, there are a few role players on each roster who could be in situations to claim the award.

For example, Tommy Edman and Enrique Hernandez came up with multiple clutch hits for the Dodgers in the NLCS, but both players would be viewed as the third favorite at best to win MVP if Los Angeles wins because of Shohei Ohtani and Mookie Betts’ potential impact on the series.

Enrique Hernandez is not the first, second or third option you’d choose as the top MVP candidate from the Dodgers roster.

However, he owns the most postseason home runs of any player on the Dodgers. He has the third-most playoff long balls of any one in the World Series behind Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Judge.

Hernandez came up with home runs in NLDS Game 5 and NLCS Game 3 and has had four multi-hit games this postseason.

He’s played in three previous World Series, but he only has seven hits in 18 World Series appearances.

The World Series numbers do not suggest he will be a major player against the Yankees, but you can’t count out anyone in the MVP race who has as many playoff home runs as Hernandez.

Gleyber Torres led the Yankees in hits and was tied for the team lead in runs in the ALCS.

Torres completed the ALCS with back-to-back multi-hit games against the Cleveland Guardians.

If anything, Torres comes into the World Series with a hot bat, and he will likely get at least four at-bats per game to make contributions out of the leadoff role.

Torres likely has to add a home run or two to his World Series performance to match Soto, Judge and Stanton in overall production. That might be a problem since he has one home run across his last two full postseasons.

But he enters the Fall Classic with as good of a dark-horse resume as any Yankee because he’s reached base, either through a hit or walk, in every game this postseason.

Max Muncy has had more success in the Fall Classic compared to Hernandez, and he could emerge as the Dodgers’ X-factor in the middle of the order.

Muncy had seven hits in the 2020 World Series, only one less than the total recorded by 2020 MVP Corey Seager.

The infielder had three multi-hit games against the Tampa Bay Rays in 2020, and he also had hits in three of five games versus the Boston Red Sox in 2018.

Muncy may only get three at-bats per game to make an impact, depending on his spot in the order, but he has the potential to change any game with one swing of the bat.

He has 13 postseason home runs and he drove in six runs across four different games in the Dodgers’ last World Series trip.

Jazz Chisholm Jr. can change any World Series game with his bat and legs.

Chisholm started to find a bit of a rhythm at the plate in the ALCS with hits in three of the last four games.

The former Miami Marlins player is only 6-for-45 in his postseason career, but he does have a .316 career batting average against the Dodgers. He has a .817 career OPS inside Dodger Stadium.

Chisholm probably needs an otherworldly series to surpass what Soto, Judge and Stanton are capable of at the plate, but there’s enough of a case to be made for a dark-horse run at the MVP award.

A handful of key hits and a few stolen bases might be enough to generate some MVP momentum, especially if any of the Yankees sluggers struggle at any point.