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Matthew Stafford-Drake Maye and the Closest MVP Races in Sports This Century
Celebrating a championship will always be the crowning achievement in professional sports, but individual accolades can define a legacy.
In every major North American sport, we've seen breakout stars have great seasons and win their league's Most Valuable Player award. Securing an MVP does not guarantee a Hall of Fame path, but it certainly helps a career résumé down the road.
Across the last 25 years, we've witnessed some fantastic, tight MVP races—including a pair in 2025 from the NFL and MLB.
Each league—from those two sports to the NBA and beyond—does its voting a bit differently, but the following races went to the wire.
2000 NHL MVP
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In case you believe a one-point margin is the peak of contested voting, check back two years later for the same award. However, that does not diminish what happened in a stellar chase for the Hart Memorial Trophy at the turn of the millennium.
Chris Pronger and Jaromír Jágr treated NHL fans to an epic battle for the league's MVP award in the 1999-2000 season.
Pronger, the hard-hitting St. Louis Blues defenseman, nabbed 25 first-place nods and totaled 396 voting points. Jagr collected only 18 first-place votes, but a plus-13 edge in second-place votes helped him finish at 395 total voting points. He missed back-to-back Hart Trophies by the slimmest of margins.
For good measure, Pavel Bure's puck wizardry for the Florida Panthers led to 346 total voting points and a third player with nearly 60 percent of the overall voting share.
2001 American League MVP
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Only two players vying for an MVP? That's cute.
The 2001 season was easily one of the most entertaining years in MLB history. It featured Barry Bonds slugging a record-breaking 73 homers in the National League and a ridiculously fun MVP race in the American League.
Ichiro Suzuki, a longtime star in Japan, became an immediate icon for the Seattle Mariners. He posted an AL-best .350 batting average with an MLB-high 56 stolen bases. His teammate, Bret Boone, hit .331 with 37 homers and an AL-leading 141 runs driven in. Jeremy Giambi, a first baseman of the rival Oakland Athletics, posted an AL-best .477 on-base percentage with 38 home runs and 120 RBI.
Catch your breath.
Ichiro secured 11 first-place votes and 289 total voting points for AL MVP, sneaking past both Giambi (eight, 281) and Boone (seven, 259). Cleveland Guardians second baseman Roberto Alomar even had two first-place votes, rounding out a truly epic MLB campaign.
2002 NHL MVP
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Back in 2001-02, the NHL needed a tiebreaker.
Montreal Canadiens goaltender José Théodore and Calgary Flames winger Jarome Iginla both finished with 434 total voting points for the Hart Memorial Trophy.
It didn't come without controversy, either, as Théodore appeared on all 62 ballots but Iginla missed one—and ballots were not made public then.
Tin-foil hats aside, Théodore took home the Hart Trophy since he received 26 first-place votes compared to Iginla's 23. It was the first-ever tiebreaker for the NHL's most prestigious award, and it remains the lone deadlock in Hart voting history.
2003 NFL MVP
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By definition, the 2003 NFL race couldn't have been closer: Peyton Manning and Steve McNair split the award.
Yes, the league crowned co-MVPs.
Manning threw for 4,267 yards and 29 touchdowns while guiding the Indianapolis Colts to a 12-4 record. McNair, meanwhile, racked up 3,353 total yards with 28 scores and took the Tennessee Titans to a 12-4 mark in the same division.
The Colts beat McNair and the Titans twice during the regular season, but Manning had superior talent in Indianapolis. Voters credited McNair for carrying Tennessee.
Manning and McNair both landed 16 first-place votes, becoming the second duo to share an MVP after Brett Favre and Barry Sanders did so in 1997.
2005 NBA MVP
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The early 2000s were loaded with contested NBA races. Tim Duncan clipped Jason Kidd in 2001-02 and Kevin Garnett in 2002-03, then Steve Nash had an even tighter margin—in two ways—over Shaquille O'Neal in 2005.
Nash finished with 65 first-place votes, while Shaq snagged 58. Additionally, both notched 81-plus percent of the voting share.
The result: Nash at 1,066 points, slightly ahead of 1,032 for O'Neal.
This remains the NBA's closest MVP vote of the century to date. Nash and Shaq became teammates on the Suns three years later.
2005 WNBA MVP
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Late in the first decade of the WNBA, two familiar faces battled to the finish in what became an intriguing MVP result.
Sheryl Swoopes won the award for the third time in her legendary career. She averaged 18.6 points, 4.3 assists, 3.6 rebounds and 2.0 steals per game, helping the Houston Comets return to the postseason and totaling 327 voting points.
Swoopes received the first-place vote on 16 ballots. Lauren Jackson, the 2003 MVP and the runner-up in 2005, had 20 first-place votes.
The difference came in the third- and fourth-place positions, where Swoopes appeared on 16 ballots to Jackson's four. Jackson, who averaged 17.6 points and 9.2 rebounds on the Seattle Storm, ended with 325 voting points.
2006 American League MVP
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Chalk one up for the little guys. Metaphorically, of course.
During the 2006 MLB season, New York Yankees star Derek Jeter hit .343 and drove in 97 runs. Boston Red Sox legend David Ortiz amassed AL-best totals of 119 walks, 54 homers and 137 RBI.
However, neither of them won AL MVP. Justin Morneau, the power-hitting first baseman of the "small-market" Minnesota Twins, took home the award instead.
Morneau smacked 34 homers and drove in 130 runs, playing a key part of the Twins' midseason ascent from sub-.500 afterthought to AL Central champions.
Jeter came closest to Morneau in the voting, but the Minnesota star nabbed 15 first-place votes and 320 points to Jeter's 12 and 306, respectively.
2017 National League MVP
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The juxtaposition of how Giancarlo Stanton and Joey Votto competed in the 2017 NL MVP race is a perfect description of baseball's beauty.
Stanton, who finally stayed healthy during this season, was a powerful figure at the plate. He blasted 59 homers and drove in 132 runs—both of which led the majors—and recorded an NL-best .631 slugging percentage.
Votto unnerved pitchers in a different way. He hit 36 homers with 100 RBI but drew an MLB-high 134 walks and led MLB with a .454 on-base rate, too.
Stanton, by virtue of a lone additional vote in the second- and third-place categories, edged Votto by a final tally of 302 points to 300.
2019 American League MVP
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When there's not really a wrong choice, that makes for a great MVP race.
Mike Trout was on the verge of running away with the award in 2019, but an injury—the start of a frustrating trend—sidelined the Los Angeles Angels superstar late in the season. He still amassed 45 homers with 104 RBI, an AL-best .645 slugging percentage and an MLB-high .438 on-base rate.
However, Trout's absence gave Houston Astros third baseman Alex Bregman a chance to trim the gap. He did just that, tallying a final line of 41 homers and 112 RBI with an MLB-high 119 walks.
Together, they accounted for all 30 first- and second-place votes for AL MVP.
Bregman fell only 20 total voting points shy of Trout, who secured 17 of the first-place votes and celebrated the third and likely final AL MVP of his career.
2023 WNBA MVP
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Flipping to a three-woman MVP race, the 2023 WNBA season put a stellar spotlight on Breanna Stewart, Alyssa Thomas and A'ja Wilson.
The short version: Stewart won.
Just like in 2005, the MVP winner finished second in first-place votes, while down-ballot positions decided the award. Thomas commanded 23 first-place votes, with Stewart (20) and Wilson (17) close behind.
Stewart went 20-23-17 in the first-, second- and third-place categories for 446 total voting points, while Thomas finished with a 23-12-25 line (439 points) and Wilson went 17-25-17 with a fourth-place selection (433).
2024 NFL MVP
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Two of the most dynamic quarterbacks in NFL history put together a stellar—and sort of confusing MVP race—during the 2024 season.
Buffalo Bills superstar Josh Allen ended up earning the Associated Press MVP, as he landed 27 of the 49 available first-place votes. Lamar Jackson of the Baltimore Ravens secured the other 22 and finished only 26 voting points behind Allen's 378.
In other words: Both of them collected 71-plus percent of the voting share.
Strangely enough, the same group tabbed Jackson as the AP's first-team All-Pro selection. It was a fittingly odd manner to close a wild MVP race.
2025 AL MVP
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Aaron Judge entered the 2025 season with a chance to earn his third AL MVP in a four-year stretch. He certainly played at that level, leading the majors in batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage and OBP. He tallied an AL-high 124 walks and belted 53 homers with 114 RBI.
On paper, everything about that campaign screams MVP.
But as the New York Yankees outfielder kept on thriving, Cal Raleigh assembled one of the greatest years ever at his position. The "Big Dumper" smashed 60 home runs—a single-season record for a catcher—and drove in 125 RBI.
Raleigh's sensational bat also served as a catalyst for the Seattle Mariners, who locked up their first AL West crown in 24 years.
Judge wound up edging past Raleigh with 17 first-place votes and 355 total voting points compared to Raleigh's 13 first-place votes and 335 total voting points.
2025 NFL MVP
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To the very end, we didn't know the winner. Given that a meager five voting points separated Matthew Stafford and Drake Maye, that was a correct opinion.
And the veteran QB pulled out a razor-thin triumph.
Stafford paced the NFL with 4,707 yards and 46 touchdowns, tossing just eight interceptions in a remarkable age-37 season. He propelled the Los Angeles Rams to 12 wins as the league's highest-scoring offense.
However, he faced a deserving, semi-surprise contender in Maye. After the New England Patriots went 4-13 in his rookie year, Maye soared under new coach Mike Vrabel. Maye posted an NFL-best 72.0 completion rate with 4,394 yards and 31 touchdowns to eight picks, plus 450 yards and four scores on the ground. New England earned the No. 1 seed in the AFC at 14-3.
Stafford landed 24 of the 50 winning votes and 366 points, while Maye received 23 first-place nods and 361 points.
It was the closest NFL MVP vote since 2003.
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