Major League Baseball, in conjunction with the Baseball Writers’ Association of America (BBWAA), has announced the finalists for the major 2026 awards: Most Valuable Player, Cy Young, Rookie of the Year, Reserve of the Year and Manager of the Year.
Remember, the polls were done before the games even started. In fact, the cards were due before the first table in the playoffs. That’s just the decisions of the times. Furthermore, the vote is not announced after the finals, or anything like that. The word “finalists” is also kind of misleading. The votes have already been tabulated and the league office only reveals the top three vote-getters for each of the buzzer-creating awards before the winners are announced.
Note that the BBWAA is making a new award this season: The Relief Pitcher of the Year for each league. MLB named Mariano Rivera American League Reliever of the Year and Trevor Hoffman National League Reliever of the Year, but this is the first time the BBWAA has awarded relief pitchers.
The announcement schedule is as follows.
Monday, Nov. 9: Jackie Robinson Rookie of the Year Awards
On Tuesday, Nov. 10: Manager of the Year Awards
Wednesday, Nov. 11
Wednesday, Nov. 11
Thursday, Nov. 12: Most Valuable Player Awards
Onto the finalists.
American League MVP
Yordan Alvarez, Astros: He stayed healthy at full time and in every way as we all thought he would be. In 158 games, Alvarez had 34 doubles, 42 home runs, 106 RBI, 105 runs and led the majors in all three slashes: .316/.432/.601 (190 OPS+). He also led seniors in volunteer walks and walks.
Junior Caminero, Radius; At age 22, he played in all 162 games, leading the Rays to the best AL record. He hit .276/.360/.524 (144 OPS+) with 42 home runs, 101 RBI and 100 runs, posting a 5.7 WAR. He’s also already made history, as the Radio never before had a player finish in the top five of MVP voting.
Bobby Witt Jr., Royals: This is now Witt’s streak of four seasons with seven titles and third straight season with four titles. Second in 2024. This season he finished .281/.359/.441 (125 OPS+) with 33 doubles, 18 homers, 54 RBI, 94 runs, 45 hits and a 6.7 WAR.
American League Cy Young
Dylan Stop, Blue Jays: In his first season, when he signed a big deal with the Jays, he stopped short of being one of the few spots in the ballclub. He went 11-6 with a 2.40 ERA (184 ERA+), a 1.10 ERA and 239 strikeouts in 169 innings, finishing with a 5.5 WAR. He was an All-Star Game starter.
Parker Messick, Guardians: In 32 starts, Mexico was 12-9 with a 2.56 ERA, 1.06 ERA and 193 strikeouts in 186 innings, helping the Rangers win the AL Central for the third straight season. Fun fact: Eight bowlers in Rookie of the Year and Cy Young history. Fernando Valenzuela in 1981 is the only one to win both in the same year.
Cam Schlittler, Yankees: Fresh off a great half-season and the playoffs in 2025, Schlittler just kept impressing. In his age-25 season, he was 144-6 with a 1.95 ERA, 0.92 ERA and 239 strikeouts in 193 innings, leading the Yankees rotation despite several key injuries. AL IN THE WAR AND THE ERA HE RAISED.
American League Rookie of the Year
Kevin McGonigle, Tigers: A first-round pick out of high school in 2023, McGonigle made the Tigers out of true recruiting and took the league by storm. He returned home to Philadelphia for the All-Star Game and finished with an AL-best 7.1 ERA. In 707 plate appearances, he hit .278/.376/.420 (126 OPS+) with 28 doubles, five triples, 18 home runs, 72 RBI, 97 runs and 12 strikeouts, all while playing good defense at both shortstop and third base.
Parker Messick, Guardians: He got his foot wet in 2025, but the workload was low enough that he kept his rookie status in 2026, in which he excelled. In 32 starts, Mexico was 12-9 with a 2.56 ERA, 1.06 ERA and 193 strikeouts in 186 innings, helping the Rangers win the AL Central for the third straight season.
Payton Tolle, Red Sox: The 6-foot lefty was a second-round pick in 2024 and made his debut last season, though he didn’t even pitch 20 innings and struggled. Just around the corner, he was ready. In 26 starts, he is 9-6 with a 3.03 ERA (135 ERA+), 1.10 ERA and 171 strikeouts in 148 2/3 innings.
American League Relief Pitcher of the Year
Bryan Baker, Radio: After spending five seasons in relative obscurity, Baker emerged this year at age 31. He led the majors with 41 saves while pitching to a team-best 1.44 ERA and 0.91 ERA with 63 strikeouts in 62 innings.
Cade Smith, Guardians: While Baker tied for the MLB lead in saves with 41, Smith was a key closer in his first season. He had a 1.95 ERA, 0.96 ERA and 107 strikeouts in 74 innings for a playoff team.
Louis Varland, Blue Jays: In his fifth MLB season, Varland found something to do with his 1.27 ERA, 1.00 ERA and 97 strikeouts in 78 innings. In late April, he was the Jays’ closer, finishing 35 for 37 in the fall.
American League Manager of the Year
Kevin Cash, Radio: The Rays missed players in 2024 and 2025 and returned to the Tropics after hurricane damage left them without a home in ’25. They went on to win 98 games and take over one of the toughest divisions in baseball, finishing as the best team in the AL.
Chad Tracy, Red Sox: Tracy took over as manager after the Red Sox got off to a 10-17 start. He went 77-58, making the playoffs. The turnaround involved an absurd stretch in which the Red Sox won 32 of 37 games.
Will Venable, White Sox; Venable became the first manager for the 2025 season, taking over a team that lost a recent MLB-record 121 games the previous year. They lost 102 in 2025, but this season they improved by 24 games and made the playoffs. This is not based on a lot of free tools or techniques with a lot of external help. It was mainly an internal improvement.
National League MVP
Pete Crow-Armstrong, Cubs; We’ve seen flashes of his style before, but PCA put it all together in 2026. He finished as a .280/.372/.570 (156 OPS+) hitter with 31 doubles, five triples, 45 home runs, 107 RBI, 119 runs and a 9.8 WAR. He led the majors in WAR, runs, home runs and led the NL in slugging percentage, OPS and OPS+. He became the seventh player ever to join the 40-40 club as well.
Shohei Ohtani, Dodgers: The four-time MVP looked like he was going to win a fifth straight season, but injuries caught up to him recently. Still at the plate, Ohtani hit .275/.377/.512 with 26 doubles, four triples, 30 home runs, 81 RBI, 89 runs, 11 runs and 3.2 WAR. On the mound he was 8-2 with a 1.79 ERA, 0.95 ERA and 95 strikeouts in 85 innings with a 3.2 WAR.
Brice Turang, Brewers: Nationally retired, Turang has yet to make an All-Star Game, though he did make his 2026 start as a member of Team USA’s World Baseball Classic. In the regular season, Turang hit .268/.366/.450 (124 OPS+) with 37 doubles, three triples, 21 home runs, 100 RBI, 102 runs and 7.3 WAR, rating him as one of the best defenders in baseball.
National League Cy Young
Jacob Misiorowski, Brewers; It’s the opposite of dreaming here entering the season and it happened dream time. In 30 starts, Miz posted a 1.80 ERA, 0.80 ERA and 252 strikeouts in 174 innings. He went 16-5 for the team with the best record in baseball and led the majors in ERA, strikeouts and strikeouts, among other things.
Chris Sale, Braves; The spindly left-hander won his first Cy Young at the age of 35 in 2024. He could only make 27 starts this season, but he was better in a few rate stats. Overall, he was 14-9 with a 2.16 ERA, 0.98 ERA and 200 strikeouts against only 31 walks in 162 ⅔ innings.
Christopher Sánchez, Phillies: In the first season, Sánchez moved to the starting lineup after a scoreless streak of 50 innings. In the middle of the season, the All-Star Game started in Philly. He finished the season 18-7 with a 2.91 ERA, 1.20 ERA and 231 strikeouts in 207 innings. Majors in the fall of BELLVM 8.1.
National League Rookie of the Year
Carson Benge, Mets: The 2024 first-rounder made the team out of spring training and hit .282/.346/.430 with 20 home runs, 22 steals and 4.3 WAR.
Sal Stewart, Reds; It’s a battle of Old School vs. New School. Stewart only posted a 1.8 WAR, but he had 32 home runs and 111 RBI, putting him in thin air for a rookie. He is one of just 15 rookies ever with at least 30 homers and 100 RBI. The last eight players have won Rookie of the Year. The only ones who didn’t win before joining the playoffs or someone else did it in another season (two rookies in 1950 reached 30-100).
JJ Wetherholt, Cardinals; Defensemen love Wetherholt’s metrics and help him to a 4.5 WAR in 139 games. He hit .242/.339/.365 with 17 homers, 14 steals and 89 runs.
National League Relief Pitcher of the Year
John Duran, Phillies: In his first season with the Phillies, Duran was 33 of his 35 shutouts with a 1.82 ERA, 0.99 ERA and 84 strikeouts in 59 innings.
Mason Miller, Padres: In 70 innings across 66 appearances, Miller pitched to a 1.67 ERA, 0.90 ERA and struck out 129 hitters. He won five games and converted 38 of his chances, 41 of which were missed.
Trevor Megill, Brewers: Although the Brewers didn’t always use a closer tradition, Megill was the closest to him, with 30 saves in 33 chances with a 2.63 ERA, 0.89 ERA and 69 strikeouts in 61 2/3 innings.
National League Manager of the Year
Don Mattingly, Phillies: Mattingly began the season as the bench coach before taking over a 9-19 team for the fired Rob Thomson. But immediately the Phillies got hot. They end up going 79-55 under Mattingly, doing so again despite starting 10 games under .500.
Pat Murphy, Brewers: Managers almost never win this award in back-to-back seasons because it’s usually given to the person whose team has exceeded the highest expectations. Who can do that for two years straight? Well, Murphy now has three to go. In 2025, the Brewers had a franchise record with 97 wins and the best record in baseball. In 2026, they had a franchise record with 103 wins and the best record in baseball.
Walt Weiss, Braves; In 2025, the last season of Brian Snitker’s career, the Braves went a disappointing 76-86. Weiss went 94-68 in the offseason, returning the Braves to the top spot in the NL East after a two-year hiatus.