Jorge Soler Becomes Second Cuban-Born Player to Win World Series MVP Award

On July 29, Jorge Soler was hitting .192 for a fourth-place Royals team that was going nowhere fast. Three months later, he's the World Series MVP.

Soler took home the prize by hitting .300 with three home runs and six RBIs over six games, leading the team in homers, RBIs and extra-base hits. His heroics stand as the crown jewel for a front office that completely revamped its outfield out of necessity at the trade deadline, which ended up propelling Atlanta to its first World Series title in 26 years.

Soler, NLCS MVP Eddie Rosario, Adam Duvall and Joc Pederson were all added at the end of July to help cover an outfield that had lost Ronald Acuña Jr. to a torn ACL, as well as Marcell Ozuna for a domestic violence arrest. All four played crucial roles in the postseason run.

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Soler shined in the biggest moments during the Fall Classic. He homered to lead off the top of the first inning in Game 1, becoming the first player to ever do that. He hit what ended up being the game-winning home run as a pinch hitter in Game 4, and his three-run blast in the third inning of Game 6 provided all the scoring the Braves would need.

Soler is the second Cuban-born player to win the World Series MVP Award, joining Livan Hernández of the Marlins in 1997. He's the third player to win the award after being acquired by his team midseason, joining Boston's Steve Pearce in 2018 and Donn Clendenon of the Mets in 1969.