The League Leader

National League

The national league MVP is off to a close runoff between the back-to-back NL MVP Shohei Ohtani and young centerfielder PCA (Pete Crow-Armstrong). While Shohei seemed to be the clear favorite at the start of the season, posting up Cy-young worthy pitching stats and consistency on offense, his role changed to a full-time DH midseason, shaking up the odds for MVP. Meanwhile, PCA is having the best season of his career.

Ohtani’s Case

Shohei Ohtani anchors his latest MVP campaign on elite two-way production. He has compiled a 1.79 ERA over 85.2 innings on the mound alongside 30 home runs at the plate for the Los Angeles Dodgers. This rare combination of frontline pitching and powerful hitting secures his front-runner status.

However, he has stopped pitching and embraced the role of a full-time DH for a considerable amount of the season.

Crow-Armstrong’s Case

With a movie-like walk-off home-run against the Chicago White Sox this week, PCA just became the newest member of the 30-30 club. Meanwhile, his batting average slash line is an impressive .281 / .379 / .550 with 78 RBI and 31 home-runs by August 18. However, the real value of PCA has been his impressive defense.

He currently has a ridiculous WAR over 8.2, and is widely considered to be having among the best defensive seasons of this decade. With Ohtani not returning to pitching anytime soon, PCA is a serious challenger to win his first MVP at age 24. The NL MVP race ultimately comes down to the value of elite defense vs. two-way elite pitching.

American League

Yordan Alverez

The American League MVP race is getting easier to predict each day. After a season plagued with injuries, the Astros are currently on top of the AL West once again, with Yordan Alvarez leading the way. Alvarez is having a career year at the plate, with the American League triple-crown seemingly already secured with over a month of regular season left.

Alvarez’s league-leading batting average and home-run total that is only second to Kyle Schwarber is proving him to be the best hitter in baseball in 2026. While Junior Caminero and others have joined the conversation for the MVP race, Alvarez is the easy favorite to win unless the Astros and Alvarez is struck with more injuries and bad luck.