CLEVELAND -- José Ramírez was crucial to the Guardians completing a historic comeback to win the AL Central this season, and it has earned him his best finish in MVP Award voting in five years.
Ramírez finished third in 2025 American League MVP Award voting, as announced on Thursday by the Baseball Writers' Association of America. Yankees slugger Aaron Judge took home the honor, while Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh was the runner-up.
Ramírez earned 19 third-place votes and 224 points. Judge earned 17 first-place votes and 355 points, while Raleigh had 13 first-place votes and 335 points.
Ramírez has now earned eight Top 10 finishes in MVP voting in 13 big league seasons and four top-three finishes (also 2017, ‘18 and ‘20). The latter has placed him in great company.
Among third basemen, Ramírez is tied with Hall of Famers George Brett and Brooks Robinson for the second-most top-three finishes in MVP Award voting since the BBWAA introduced the honor in 1931. Hall of Famer Mike Schmidt (five) has the most.
Cleveland fans have had a front-row seat to Ramírez’s excellence over the years, and he had another banner season in 2025. Over a career-high-tying 158 games, Ramírez slashed .283/.360/.503 with 34 doubles, 30 homers, 85 RBIs and 44 stolen bases (a new career high).
Ramírez recorded 6.3 wins above replacement (per FanGraphs), which ranked fourth in the AL behind Judge (10.1), Raleigh (9.1) and Bobby Witt Jr. (8.0). He accounted for nearly half the 13.2 fWAR tallied by all Cleveland position players.
The Guardians collectively struggled offensively in 2025, recording a single-season franchise-low .226 batting average (29th in MLB). But Ramírez was a force and someone they could count on to post and produce day in and day out. Along the way, he continued to etch his name into the record books.
• Ramírez became the fourth player with multiple seasons with 30-plus homers and 40-plus steals, joining Bobby Bonds (four), Barry Bonds and Alfonso Soriano -- both of whom had two. Only Bobby Bonds (1977-78) and Ramírez (2024-25) pulled off the feat in consecutive seasons.
• Ramírez became the first primary third baseman in MLB history with at least 275 homers and 275 steals.
• In his continued march up Cleveland's all-time leaderboards, Ramírez became the franchise leader in extra-base hits and multihomer games, and he passed Jim Thome for second in team history in RBIs (949).
Ramírez’s resumé increasingly looks like it could earn him a spot in Cooperstown one day. For now, he remains one of the most elite and valuable players in the Majors.
The Guardians had one other BBWAA award finalist. Stephen Vogt took home AL Manager of the Year honors on Tuesday, bringing home the award for the second consecutive season.