Here's who won each World Baseball Classic MVP

At the conclusion of the highly anticipated 2026 World Baseball Classic final between Team USA and Venezuela on Tuesday night, raucous celebrations will take place, a trophy will be presented and this year’s Most Valuable Player will be named.

Who will earn that crown? And what sort of signature moment could boost their resume on Tuesday, much like the pitching of Shohei Ohtani in 2023 or Marcus Stroman in 2017?

Perhaps it’s another Aaron Judge moonshot, a few more well-timed Luis Arraez hits or more fireballs from the teams’ respective bullpens.

We’ll find out after first pitch at 8 p.m. ET on FOX, but in the meantime, here’s the list of the elite from World Baseball Classics past — all five previous winners of the tournament’s MVP.

2023: Shohei Ohtani, RHP/DH, Japan

Though Japan’s 2026 WBC run ended early at the hands of Venezuela, few will soon forget the storybook ending to the 2023 edition.

Ohtani came on in the ninth to close the championship against Team USA, one of the few relief appearances of his career. After walking Jeff McNeil to open the frame, he next induced a Mookie Betts ground ball for a double play.

Nursing a 3-2 lead, Ohtani was then set up for the stuff of legend: facing then-Angels teammate Mike Trout with the game on the line. The Japanese and American captains battled to a full count after Trout whiffed on a pair of triple-digit fastballs from Ohtani. Then Ohtani, perhaps the game’s greatest star, broke out an 87-mile-per-hour sweeper to get the final swing-and-miss, clinching Japan’s third WBC trophy.

Of course, that epic moment was just another in a string of them for Ohtani in the 2023 tournament. He slugged four doubles, one home run and drove in eight runs as the designated hitter, slashing .435/.606/.739.

On the mound, Ohtani surrendered just two runs and five hits in 9 2/3 innings. He won both of his starts — the 9-3 quarterfinal against Italy and the 8-1 pool-play opener against China — before earning the save over Team USA in the final.

The now-four-time MVP was an easy choice.

2017: Marcus Stroman, RHP, United States

Team USA had never broken past the WBC semifinal before winning it all in 2017, and Stroman’s lights-out pitching was a huge reason why the Americans finally reached the mountaintop.

Stroman authored one of the signature moments of his career in the tournament’s final. He tossed six shutout innings in the 8-0 win over Puerto Rico, giving up just one hit with a walk and three strikeouts. Ángel Pagán laced a double to start the seventh, but Stroman already had a 7-0 lead to work with, and the U.S. bullpen stymied Puerto Rico thereafter.

That came after Stroman lost to the same Puerto Rico team just five days earlier to wrap up pool play. He allowed four runs in the first inning before buckling down to finish the next 3 2/3 scoreless, allowing eight hits and a walk with two punchouts.

His first outing, though, was another beauty. He held a powerful Dominican Republic lineup scoreless in 4 2/3 innings in a 7-5 pool play loss, recording four strikeouts and scattering three hits.

Stroman finished the 2017 World Baseball Classic with a 2.35 ERA over 15 1/3 innings, allowing just the four first-inning runs from the Puerto Rico loss in pool play.

2013: Robinson Canó, 2B, Dominican Republic

Canó put the team on his back as the Dominican Republic won its first and only World Baseball Classic in 2013 with an unblemished 8-0 record.

The former Yankees and Mariners All-Star led the DR regulars in batting average (.469), on-base percentage (.514) and slugging (.781) while tying for the team lead with two long balls and six RBI.

Canó was intentionally walked three times in the tournament, all in the semifinal against the Netherlands (twice) and the final against Puerto Rico.

The MVP performance helped Canó become one of just four players at the time who had won both a World Series and a World Baseball Classic.

2009: Daisuke Matsuzaka, RHP, Japan

Before Ohtani took center stage as the top WBC performer for Samurai Japan, Dice-K was carving up international batters and helping his country win its second of back-to-back championships.

Matsuzaka went 3-0 in his starts in 2009, including in the 9-4 semifinal win over Team USA to get Japan into the final. He tossed 4 2/3 innings of two-run ball, striking out four while walking three and allowing five hits.

The former Cy Young vote-getter with the Red Sox also threw six scoreless innings with eight strikeouts against Cuba and four more innings of two-run ball against Korea in pool play.

To this day, Matsuzaka stands as the WBC leader in strikeouts (23), starts (six) and wins (six). Yes, he won all six Classic games he started.

He’s also second in total innings pitched (27 2/3) in the international spectacle.

2006: Daisuke Matsuzaka, RHP, Japan

Samurai Japan wasn’t the only repeat winner in 2009, as its star pitcher was also a repeat winner of the World Baseball Classic MVP.

Matsuzaka preceded his strong 2009 tournament with another sparkling 3-0 record and 1.38 ERA in 2006.

He took the ball for Japan in the 10-6 win in the final against Cuba, striking out five and allowing four hits in four innings. His lone blemish was a solo home run off the bat of Eduardo Paret in the first inning.

Matsuzaka also turned in five innings of scoreless, one-hit pitching against Mexico in a 6-1 win and four innings (one run, three hits) in a 14-3 win over Chinese Taipei.

As the World Baseball Classic continues to grow in popularity, Matsuzaka should always be remembered as one of the tournament’s biggest stars.