Major League Baseball, in conjunction with the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA), has announced the finalists for the 2026 major awards: Most Valuable Player, Cy Young, Rookie of the Year, Reliever of the Year and Manager of the Year. As a reminder, the voting was completed before the playoffs even started. In fact, ballots were due before the first pitch of the playoffs.
That means these are regular-season awards. Further, there's no voting after finalists are announced or anything like that. The word "finalists" is kind of misleading, too.
The ballots have already been tabulated and the league office is simply revealing the top three vote-getters for each award to create a buzz before the winners are announced. Take note that the BBWAA has added a new award this season: Relief Pitcher of the Year for each league. MLB has been naming the 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 added an award for a relief pitcher.
The announcement schedule is as follows. Monday, Nov. 9: Jackie Robinson Rookie of the Year Awards Tuesday, Nov. 10: Manager of the Year Awards Wednesday, Nov. 11: Relief Pitcher of the Year Awards Thursday, Nov. 12: Most Valuable Player Awards Yordan Alvarez, Astros: He stayed healthy for a full season and was every bit as good as we all thought he'd be. In 158 games, Alvarez had 34 doubles, 42 homers, 106 RBI, 105 runs and led the majors in all three slashes: .316/.432/.601 (190 OPS+).
He also led the majors in walks and intentional walks. Junior Caminero, Rays: At age 22, he played 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 already made history, too, as the Rays had previously never had a player finish in the top five of MVP voting. Bobby Witt Jr., Royals: This is now Witt's fourth straight season in the top seven and third straight season in the top four. He finished second in 2024.
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