Two brothers who made history on the mound and three hitters whose bats helped decide series form a special group in Cuban baseball. Liván Hernández, Orlando Hernández, Randy Arozarena, Yordan Álvarez and Adolis García have all won the Most Valuable Player award in a League Championship Series—the final step before the World Series.
Their performances span from the 1997 Marlins to the 2023 Rangers. Five players, five franchises and different ways of leading a team to a league championship. Four earned the honor in the American League, while Liván remains the only Cuban to win it in the National League.
The younger Hernández brother blazed the trail with Florida in 1997. His most memorable performance came in Game 5 against Atlanta, when he struck out 15 batters in a complete-game, 2–1 victory. That afternoon left the Marlins one win away from their first pennant.
Florida eliminated the Braves in six games and then defeated Cleveland in the World Series. Liván also earned World Series MVP honors, completing an awards double that none of the other four members of this group has accomplished in the same postseason.
Two seasons later, it was Orlando
Hernández’s turn. El Duque was named MVP of the 1999 American League Championship Series with the Yankees against Boston after starting Games 1 and 5. New York won the series in five games and returned to the World Series, where it swept Atlanta.
The brothers had won the same award in different leagues just two years apart. Another two decades passed before a Cuban-born hitter joined the list.
Cubans Delivered Pennants on the Mound and at the Plate.
Randy Arozarena ended that wait with Tampa Bay in 2020. Against Houston, he hit .321 with four home runs and a 1.152 OPS. The Rays needed seven games to advance after winning the first three and watching the Astros tie the series.
Arozarena delivered again in the deciding game, hitting a home run that helped Tampa Bay capture the pennant. His award came during a postseason that made him the centerpiece of the Rays’ offense and one of the most recognizable names that October.
In 2021, Yordan Álvarez followed with Houston. The left-handed slugger battered Boston’s pitching with 12 hits in 23 at-bats, a .522 average, six RBIs and seven runs scored.
His hits included three doubles, a triple and a home run, providing an offensive spark as the Astros won the series in six games.
Houston had fallen behind 2–1 before winning the final three games. Álvarez capped the series with a 4-for-4 performance in Game 6, when the Astros secured their World Series berth.
Adolis García added his name in 2023 with a historic performance against those same Astros. The Texas outfielder drove in 15 runs, setting a record for any postseason series. In Game 7, he hit two home runs and drove in five in the Rangers’ 11–4 victory.
García’s honor completed a stretch of three Cuban MVP winners in four American League Championship Series from 2020 through 2023. Arozarena, Álvarez and García accomplished it with different teams, extending a history that Liván and El Duque had begun on the mound in the 1990s.