Sports fans love to argue. It’s basically the bedrock of being a fan. Whether you're sitting at a bar in South Philly or scrolling through a toxic thread on X, someone is always yelling about who the "real" best player is. Most of the time, the MVP race is a mess of split votes and "what about his defense?" or "he doesn't have enough wins." But every once in a long while, the bickering just stops. Everyone looks at the same player and agrees. That’s when you get to the core of what does unanimous mvp mean—it means there wasn't a single person with a vote who could find a reason to say no.
It sounds simple. It isn't.
To be a unanimous MVP, a player has to receive every single first-place vote from the panel of sportswriters and broadcasters who decide the award. In the NBA, that’s 100 votes (plus one fan vote usually). In Major League Baseball, it’s 30 votes from the Baseball Writers' Association of America. If 99 people say you’re the best and one person decides a guy on a different team had a "grittier" season, you aren't unanimous. You’re just "near-unanimous." And in the world of sports history, that tiny distinction is a massive chasm.
The First Time the NBA Actually Agreed
For decades, the NBA was famous for having "that one guy." You know the one. The voter who wanted to be different. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, and Michael Jordan—the literal gods of the hardwood—never did it. Not once. Shaq came one vote short in 2000 because Fred Hickman voted for Allen Iverson. LeBron James came one vote short in 2013 because Gary Washburn voted for Carmelo Anthony.
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Then came 2016.
Stephen Curry didn't just play basketball that year; he broke it. He led the Golden State Warriors to a 73-9 record, the best in history. He hit 402 three-pointers. He joined the 50-40-90 club while leading the league in scoring. It was so undeniably dominant that for the first time in the history of the league, all 131 first-place votes went to the same guy. When people ask what does unanimous mvp mean, Curry is the blueprint. He didn't just win; he removed the possibility of a counter-argument.
Honestly, it’s kinda wild it took that long. Think about MJ in '96. 72 wins. A title. The scoring lead. Still, he didn't get every vote. It takes a specific alignment of individual brilliance, team success, and a lack of a "spoiler" candidate to make it happen.
Baseball’s Long History of Consensus
While the NBA has only seen it once, Major League Baseball has a much longer list of unanimous winners. But don't let that fool you into thinking it's easy. Since the current voting format was established in 1931, it has happened fewer than 30 times.
In the MLB, the BBWAA (Baseball Writers' Association of America) assigns two writers from each city in the league to vote. Because the American League and National League are separate entities with their own awards, it’s slightly more common to see a unanimous sweep.
Take Shohei Ohtani.
What he did in 2021 and 2023 changed the definition of the sport. He was a top-tier pitcher and a top-tier power hitter simultaneously. In 2021, he got all 30 first-place votes. Then, in 2023, he did it again. He is the only player in history to be a unanimous MVP twice. Most players dream of just getting a vote. Ohtani convinced 30 people—twice—that there was nobody else even worth considering for the top spot.
Other legends have hit this mark, too. Mickey Mantle did it in 1956. Frank Robinson did it in 1966. More recently, guys like Albert Pujols (2009), Mike Trout (2014), and Bryce Harper (2015) have joined the club. It usually requires a "Triple Crown" type of season or a statistical outlier so giant that a voter would look like an idiot for picking anyone else.
Why the "Unanimous" Part Matters So Much
You might think, "Who cares? An MVP is an MVP."
Technically, you're right. The trophy looks the same. But in the context of a player's legacy, the "unanimous" tag is a permanent gold star. It’s the ultimate tiebreaker in "Greatest of All Time" debates. It signifies a season where there was no "voter fatigue" and no "narrative" strong enough to derail the objective truth of their dominance.
It’s about the gap.
A standard MVP win implies you were better than the field. A unanimous MVP win implies the field wasn't even in the same zip code as you. It's the difference between winning a race by a nose and winning by three laps.
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The NFL and the Tom Brady Factor
The NFL is a different beast. The voting pool is smaller (50 media members), which you’d think would make it easier to reach a consensus. It doesn't. Football is so specialized that voters often disagree on the value of a quarterback versus a record-breaking wide receiver or a dominant defensive end.
Tom Brady became the first-ever unanimous NFL MVP in 2010.
That season, he threw 36 touchdowns and only 4 interceptions. He led the Patriots to a 14-2 record. It was a masterclass in efficiency. Since then, Lamar Jackson achieved the feat in 2019. Watching Lamar that year was like watching someone play Madden on "Rookie" mode against NFL professionals. He broke the single-season rushing record for a QB and led the league in passing touchdowns. When the ballots came back, it was 50 for Lamar, 0 for everyone else.
The "Voter Spoiler" Phenomenon
If you want to understand what does unanimous mvp mean, you have to understand the people who prevent it. Usually, it's one or two voters who use a different set of criteria.
- The "Best Player on the Best Team" Rule: Some voters refuse to vote for a player if their team didn't make the playoffs, even if that player's stats are legendary.
- The "Definition of Value" Argument: This is the most common. A voter might argue that while Player A had the best stats, Player B was more "valuable" because his team would have won zero games without him, whereas Player A’s team would have still been okay.
- Pure Bias: Historically, some writers simply wouldn't vote for certain players due to personal grudges or "unwritten rules" about rookies or certain playing styles.
This is why the unanimous tag is so prestigious. You didn't just beat the other players; you beat the biases and the different philosophies of 30 to 100 different human beings with their own opinions on how the game should be played.
Comparing Unanimous Seasons Across Sports
It is hard to compare a 2016 Steph Curry to a 2023 Shohei Ohtani or a 2019 Lamar Jackson. But the common thread is the "Aha!" moment.
When you watched those seasons in real-time, you didn't need to check the stats (though the stats were insane). You just knew. There was a feeling of inevitability every time they took the field or the court.
Key Unanimous MVP Seasons to Remember
- Wayne Gretzky (1982): The Great One. In the NHL, he captured all first-place votes for the Hart Trophy. He scored 92 goals that year. 92! Nobody was going to vote for anyone else.
- Stephen Curry (2016): The only one in NBA history. Changed how the game is played from the youth level up to the pros.
- Lamar Jackson (2019): Proved that a dual-threat QB could be the most efficient passer in the league while also being its most dangerous runner.
- Shohei Ohtani (2021, 2023): Redefined the limits of the human body in professional baseball.
Misconceptions About Unanimous Voting
People often confuse "unanimous" with "undisputed."
Just because a player wins unanimously doesn't mean fans don't complain. In 2016, LeBron James fans still argued that he was the "better" player overall, even if Curry had the "better" regular season. Being a unanimous MVP doesn't mean you are the best player to ever live; it means you had a specific window of time where your performance was so high that it silenced the critics for exactly one voting cycle.
Also, it doesn't guarantee a championship.
Steph Curry’s Warriors lost in the Finals in 2016. Tom Brady’s 2010 Patriots didn't win the Super Bowl. Lamar Jackson’s 2019 Ravens were bounced early. The MVP is a regular-season award. Being unanimous means you conquered the marathon, but it says nothing about your luck in the sprint of the playoffs.
How to Track Future Candidates
If you want to spot the next unanimous MVP, look for three specific things happening at once:
The Statistical Freak-Show.
The player needs numbers that haven't been seen in decades, or ever. We’re talking 50+ home runs, a 30-point triple-double average, or a QB rating that looks like a typo.
The "Best Team" Narrative.
It is almost impossible to be a unanimous MVP on a mediocre team. Your team usually needs to be the #1 seed or at least a very strong contender. Winning matters to voters.
The Absence of a Rival.
This is the big one. To go unanimous, there can't be a "1B" to your "1A." In 2022, Aaron Judge had an incredible season, but Shohei Ohtani was also doing Ohtani things. Because there were two "once-in-a-generation" things happening, the vote was split. To be unanimous, you need to be the only story in town.
Actionable Insights for Sports Fans
Understanding the weight of a unanimous MVP changes how you watch the game. It moves the conversation from "is he good?" to "is he historic?"
- Check the voting breakdown: Don't just look at who won. Look at the "share" of first-place votes. If a player gets 95% of the votes, they were dominant. If they get 51%, it was a toss-up.
- Watch for the "spoiler" vote: Whenever an MVP is announced, the first thing people look for now is the one person who didn't vote for the winner. It usually sparks a massive debate about media transparency.
- Value the consistency: If you see a player like Ohtani or Mahomes consistently getting nearly all the votes year after year, you are witnessing an era that will be talked about for a century.
The unanimous MVP is the rarest bird in the sports world. It represents the one moment where everyone—the writers, the fans, the stats, and the eye test—all pointed in the same direction and said, "Yeah, that's the one."