MVP vote: Byron Buxton comes close to winning three million dollars

On Thursday night, Shohei Ohtani and Aaron Judge claimed the MVP title. They are the two best players in the league.

Although Judge and Cal Raleigh were the only two players to receive at least one first-place vote, no fewer than 20 guys received at least one of the 10 votes from a journalist in all.

AL MVP full voting

All ballots here: https://t.co/9A2KTASoXU pic.twitter.com/yW0efH481Y

– BBWAA (@officialBBWAA) November 14, 2025

Of the lot? Byron Buxton.

The outfielder, who finally managed to stay healthy in 2025, finished 11th in the MVP race. He received 14 votes in all, which enabled him to pick up 30 points.

But Buxton, who is reportedly increasingly open to leaving Minnesota on the sidelines of the club's rebuild, still dropped three million dollars on the heels of the vote.

And I'm not saying that because he gambled on the outcome.

In fact, he finished two points behind Jeremy Pena, who scored 32 points and finished 10th in the race. And had he finished in the top-10 in the voting, a clause in his contract would have paid him $3 million.

For a guy who earns around $15 million a year, that's… significant.

Byron Buxton appeared on 14 of 30 ballots and finished two points shy of a very lucrative 10th place in the AL MVP vote. Received three seventh-place votes. #MNTwins https://t.co/sQwkXcJxVM

– DanHayesMLB (@DanHayesMLB) November 14, 2025

It's worth noting that if he had won the MVP award, the player would have received $8 million. Basically, if he had finished in the top-10, he would have been entitled to bonuses of between three and eight million dollars, depending on his rank.

It's ridiculous that the journalists who vote for the MVP have an impact on his salary, but hey.

This content was created with the help of AI.