Major League Baseball's awards season has now come and gone, and a number of Philadelphia Phillies walked away empty-handed when results for two of the biggest awards were announced this past week. Of all the Phillies players who were in consideration for postseason awards, Phillies ace Zack Wheeler was the only true contender, once again finishing in second place for the NL Cy Young Award when the votes were finally tallied.
With Wheeler's second-place finish to Atlanta Braves starter Chris Sale officially in the books, all attention shifted to Thursday's announcement of the NL MVP results, with Phillies superstar and former two-time NL MVP Bryce Harper a darkhorse contender to win this year's award.
All speculation about Los Angeles Dodgers Shohei Ohtani potentially losing votes after spending 2024 as the Dodgers' primary DH was quickly dashed when the votes were revealed, as the Japanese phenom walked away with the third MVP of his career. The results weren't even close this time around, with Ohtani being selected unanimously across BBWAA ballots this year.
Phillies' Bryce Harper, Zack Wheeler and Kyle Schwarber receive votes for NL MVP
No one will deny that Bryce Harper had a solid season in 2024. The slugger's .285 batting average, 30 home runs, 87 RBI and 4.8 bWAR this year were once again impressive. Those numbers were good enough to be considered one of the best seasons Harper has produced during his six-year stint in a Phillies uniform. But when all was said and done, outstanding seasons from Ohtani, Francisco Lindor, and Ketel Marte would prove to be too much for BBWAA writers to ignore this year.
That said, Harper turned in a respectable showing on this year's MVP ballot, taking the sixth spot and earning 130 points from BBWAA voters, starting with four fourth-place selections and reaching a high of nine votes in the fifth spot before earning scattered votes for the sixth spot onward. With Ohtani taking all 30 votes as the top selection, Harper's 130 total points were easily dwarfed by the 420 earned by Ohtani this year.
Phillies ace Zack Wheeler came in 12th, earning a single fourth-place vote as well as a handful of votes across the board for a total of 31 points. Slugger Kyle Schwarber also received MVP votes this year, earning a 15th-place finish with 15 total points earned from a smattering of votes earned further down the ballot.
This year's MLB awards season wasn't a complete shutout for Phillies players, with Harper taking home some shiny new hardware when NL Silver Sluggers were announced earlier this month. For Harper, it was the fourth time in his career earning this honor, and his first since taking over first base duties full-time in 2023. There should be little doubt that Harper will use his sixth place showing in this year's NL MVP voting as fuel this offseason to perform even better in 2025.