The MVP announcements figure to break a familiar streak. For five straight seasons, Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani have owned at least part of the spotlight, but this year the AL race doesn’t include Judge, and the NL battle looks wide open behind Ohtani.
In the American League, the finalists are Astros slugger Yordan Alvarez, Rays star Junior Caminero and Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. Witt is set to finish inside the top four in MVP voting for a third consecutive year, while Caminero and Alvarez both bring strong cases from seasons that carried their teams in different ways.
Alvarez put together a monster 2026 campaign even with a power drought in August. He won the AL batting title with a .316 average and led the league in on-base percentage (.432), slugging percentage (.601), OPS (1.033), total bases (341), walks (109), extra-base hits (77) and Baseball-Reference offensive WAR (7.2). He also finished second in RBIs with 106 and tied for second in home runs with 42, both career highs.
Caminero, meanwhile, was the best player on the American League’s best team. The 23-year-old All-Star helped the Rays blow past preseason expectations and finish with 98 wins. His strongest argument may be the simplest one: he was in the starting lineup at third base for all 162 games, handling the daily grind on defense while producing at the plate.
Witt’s case comes from the way he drives everything Kansas City does. He scored 94 runs in 2026, fewer than Alvarez and Caminero, but the context matters. The Royals ranked 22nd in the Majors with 690 runs scored, and their .694 OPS with runners in scoring position lagged behind both the Rays and Astros, who each posted a .774 mark in that spot.
In the National League, the field is just as compelling, even if Pete Crow-Armstrong looks like the favorite after a huge season on both sides of the ball. The Cubs outfielder finished with an MLB-leading 10.6 fWAR, which put him 3.6 WAR ahead of Witt at No.
- That gap is rare territory; the last time the top two players in baseball were separated by at least 3.0 WAR was 1956, when Mickey Mantle finished ahead of Duke Snider.
Ohtani is also in position to add another trophy to an already crowded shelf. He’s chasing the fifth MVP award of his career and his third in three seasons with the Dodgers. As a two-way player, his value is obvious: he posted a 143 OPS+, hit 30 home runs and finished with an .889 OPS at the plate, then added 85 2/3 innings on the mound, going 8-2 with a 1.79 ERA and a 237 ERA+.
Brewers second baseman Brice Turang remains very much in the mix too. Pat Murphy’s old prediction about a big jump keeps looking smarter by the year, and Turang backed it up in 2026 with career highs in home runs (21), RBIs (100), on-base percentage (.366) and slugging percentage (.450). He also stole 19 bases and played Gold Glove defense at second base after rubbing shoulders with Team USA’s Aaron Judge and Bryce Harper in the World Baseball Classic.
In Other News...
Rays Just Earned The Kind Of Recognition Fans Will Love
The Rays picked up a wave of national recognition that speaks to both the present and the bigger picture, with Bryan Baker earning the Mariano Rivera award as the top American League reliever and Erik Neander being named MLB Executive of the Year. It was the kind of honors haul that reflects how much attention Tampa Bays pitching and front office drew across the sport, even as the seasons awards conversation kept moving.
Junior Camineros rise was rewarded with a spot on the All-MLB First Team at third base, while Drew Rasmussen landed on the All-MLB Second Team rotation after also finishing fourth in AL Cy Young voting. Bakers season had already put him in the mix among the leagues best relievers, and Rasmussens recognition only adds to the sense that the Rays have more than one arm and one bat shaping the conversation heading into what comes next. [Read more 🡒]
Rays Could Make A Surprising Outfield Move Fans Didn't Expect
The GM meetings in Las Vegas have already started to shape the early offseason market, with a few familiar names drawing attention and a few clubs looking for creative ways to patch holes. The Mariners have shown interest in free agent Ian Happ, the Mets have joined the Yankees in pursuing Alec Bohm, and Ryan Jeffers is expected to turn down the Twins qualifying offer even as Minnesota keeps working to bring him back.
For the Rays, the more intriguing talk may be in the outfield, where a thin free-agent class could push them toward the trade market instead of a straightforward signing. Jonny DeLuca is part of that conversation, and any move involving him would ripple through the rest of the roster construction as Tampa Bay weighs how best to fit its pieces together for next season. [Read more 🡒]
Rays Just Got League-Wide Validation For How They Keep Winning
The Rays front office just picked up another piece of league-wide respect for the way it keeps the club in contention year after year. Erik Neander was named Executive of the Year, a recognition that followed a season in which Tampa Bay turned an unexpected division title into the best record in the American League and added another pennant to its recent run of success.
Kevin Cash also came up just short in the American League Manager of the Year voting, finishing second after guiding a roster that once again outperformed expectations. For a franchise that has built its identity on finding edges others miss, the honors only reinforced how much of the Rays staying power comes from the people steering the operation as much as the players on the field. [Read more 🡒]