World Series Most Valuable Player Award

The Willie Mays World Series Most Valuable Player (MVP) Award is given to the Major League Baseball (MLB) player deemed to have the most impact on his team's performance in the World Series, which is the final round of the MLB postseason. The award was first presented in 1955 as the SPORT Magazine Award, but is now decided during the final game of the Series by a committee of reporters and officials present at the game.

On September 29, 2017, it was renamed in honor of Willie Mays in remembrance of the 63rd anniversary of The Catch, which occurred the year before the award's debut; Mays never won the award himself.

Pitchers have been named Series MVP twenty-nine (29) times; four of them were relief pitchers. Twelve of the first fourteen World Series MVPs were won by pitchers; from 1969 until 1986, the proportion of pitcher MVPs declined—Rollie Fingers (1974) and Bret Saberhagen (1985) were the only two pitchers to win the award in this period. From 1987 until 1991, all of the World Series MVPs were pitchers, and, since 1995, pitchers have won the award nine times. The most recent pitcher to win the award is Stephen Strasburg, who won in 2019.

Trophy
Up until 2017, the World Series MVP trophy was similar to the Commissioner's Trophy, albeit scaled down and with a single large gold-plated flag. After being renamed to Willie Mays World Series MVP Award for the 2018 edition and onward, the trophy is a wooden pedestal topped by a bronze sculpture of Willie Mays making the iconic catch in the 1954 World Series.

General Motors has provided a vehicle to the World Series MVP winner for 14 straight seasons through 2018. Since 2019, Disney Parks, Products and Experiences has sponsored the award.