Odds to win World Series MVP for Rangers

The Arizona Diamondbacks and the Texas Rangers will face off in the 2023 World Series. According to DraftKings Sportsbook, the Rangers are -170 favorites to win it all, while the D-backs are +145 underdogs. But that’s not the only thing up for grabs here — what about World Series MVP?

The World Series MVP has played for the winning team all but once (Yankees infielder Bobby Richardson took home the honors after hitting .367 with 12 RBI in New York’s seven-game loss to the Pirates in 1960). Which begs the question: If the Rangers hoist the Commissioner’s Trophy, who might be named the World Series MVP? Let’s break down the odds below.

Rangers World Series MVP odds

It’s difficult for a pitcher to win the World Series MVP, happening only once in the last eight years. On the other hand, it’s just as hard to predict which hitter is going to get hot in a best-of-7 series. Case in point: Jeremy Pena and Jorge Soler have won each of the last two World Series MVPs for the Astros and Braves, respectively, despite not being on too many people’s radars.

Let’s take a look the Rangers’ World Series MVP odds for the 2023 World Series.

Adolis Garcia +500
Corey Seager +550
Marcus Semien +1500
Nathan Eovaldi +1600
Evan Carter +2000
Mitch Garver +2000
Josh Jung +2000
Jordan Montgomery +2200
Nathaniel Lowe +3000
Jonah Heim +3000
Max Scherzer +7000
Leody Taveras +7000
Jose Leclerc +9000
Dane Dunning +20000
Jon Gray +20000
Josh Sborz +20000

If you were to make a list of the most important players for the Rangers in this series, it would probably start with Eovaldi and Montgomery. Again, though, history isn’t on their side: It’s just very hard to make that big of a mark in voters’ minds when you’re only appearing in two (or, at most, three) of a potentially six- or seven-game series. And outside of those two, there are hardly any arms with a viable path to the trophy. Max Scherzer wasn’t particularly effective in either of his two starts against the Astros in the ALCS and still isn’t handling a full workload, while Leclerc and Sborz are going up against the fact that no reliever has been named World Series MVP since Mariano Rivera back in 1999.

Which brings us to the bats. Garcia and Seager have the shortest odds of any player on the board from either team — unsurprising, considering their respective 1.102 and 1.127 OPSes so far in this postseason. The next Rangers hitter is Semien, who struggled mightily against Houston but was very good during the regular season and will be locked in atop Texas’ batting order for the entire series barring injury. If you’re looking for a couple of dark horses, Carter and Garver are intriguing: They’ve both been hitting in the heart of the order, and they both had big moments against the Astros, particularly in Game 7.