KANSAS CITY — Come on, did anyone in their right mind believe the Chicago White Sox would go from a laughingstock to the playoffs in two years?
Did anyone have the Toronto Blue Jays, who were 90 feet away from a World Series championship last year, sitting home for October on their bingo card?
If you were told the Seattle Mariners would be playing in perhaps the worst division in baseball history, you’d have predicted they’d have a playoff berth clinched in July, instead of becoming the biggest embarrassment in franchise history, right?
Oh, the 2026 regular-season was filled with plenty of surprises, a whole lot of disbelief, and proof that money doesn’t buy happiness (we’re talking about you again, New York Mets); money isn’t a requirement to
build a power (Milwaukee Brewers, and yes, the Tampa Bay Rays); but money sure does cover up plenty of flaws (yep, you again, Los Angeles Dodgers).
While we gear up for the postseason here are our annual 2026 award superlatives:
Best performance
Ryan O’Hearn, Pittsburgh Pirates: O’Hearn hit three homers and drove in 10 runs in the first six innings of the Pirates' 12-4 victory over Atlanta on July 7 in Pittsburgh.
And unlike so many other fabulous performances that are blemished, not a single hit was off a position player.
3 HOME RUNS
— MLB (@MLB) July 8, 2026
10 RBI
WHAT A NIGHT FOR RYAN O'HEARN 🤯 pic.twitter.com/2vHvxtW2Nr
Worst performance
Kansas City Royals: The somehow committed three errors on a single play during a bizarre sequence against the New York Mets, permitting Mets rookie Carson Benge to score an inside-the-park "Little League" home run in July.
It began when Royals starter Seth Lugo fielded a soft grounder to the left of the mound. He made an off-balance throw to first base that skipped past first baseman Jac Caglianone. Caglianone retrieved the ball and threw wildly halfway between third and home into foul territory. And then there was a third wild throw by third baseman Nick Loftin to the backstop, allowing Benge to score standing up, and laughing on the way to the dugout.
The real joke?
The Royals still won the game over the hapless Mets, 16-12, who surrendered 19 hits and walked 11 batters.
Carson Benge's little league home run is the first time in the history of the Mets that an opponent has committed three errors on one play against them pic.twitter.com/vELofFzZYr
— SNY Mets (@SNY_Mets) July 8, 2026
Best quote
Payton Tolle, Boston Red Sox, on trying to make the roster out of spring training: “Fight like you're the third monkey trying to get on the ark and it's starting to rain.’’
The dude is hilarious and already a cult hero in Boston.
Worst quote
Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Toronto Blue Jays, on the first year of his 14-year, $500 million contract: “I want people to understand one thing: The money they gave me wasn't for what I'm going to do. It was for what I already did. They didn't pay me because I'm going to hit 40 every year. They paid me for what I already accomplished."
Dude, really?
The Blue Jays already paid you for the first six years. They paid you a half-billion dollars for you to continue doing what you did, not hit nine home runs, including just one at home.
Guerrero apologized two days later, saying, “I want to make my contract a great one,’’ but the quote still left owners squeamish fearing future free agents believe the same.
Strangest injury
Ethan Roberts, Chicago Cubs: He was working out in the Citizens Bank Park tunnel in Philadelphia throwing a medicine ball against a wall. It bounced off and dislodged a vent cover from the opposite wall. He reached back, deflected the falling vent, and it cut underneath his right middle finger, and went on the injured list.
“Just random bad luck,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. “You can’t even make it up.”
Best disappearing act
Ketel Marte, Arizona Diamondbacks: Can you imagine telling your boss that you don’t feel like showing up for work, and then ghosting everyone, refusing to answer your cell phone or open your hotel room because you’re pouting, and still welcomed back to work with your boss saying he loves you. Hey, welcome to Marte’s world, when he made fools of the entire organization, and lived to laugh in their faces about it.
The D-backs lost two of those three games. If they had won them, they could have clinched a postseason berth before the weekend. Let that sink in all winter.
Worst encore
Cal Raleigh, Seattle Mariners: OK, nobody though that Raleigh would hit 60 home runs again, but this? He had a .156/.266/.291 slash line with 122 strikeouts in his first 90 games this season. He went from 60 homers to just 23, the biggest dropoff by a 60-home run from one season to the next in history. He also has plummeted from 351 total bases a year ago to just 163, the biggest dropoff in history.
Best walk-off
Erik Neander, Tampa Bay Rays: Neander, the brilliant president of baseball operations, celebrated the Rays’ AL East title the following day by walking five miles from midtown Manhattan to Yankee Stadium.
It was leisurely two-hour walk.
.@RaysBaseball President of Baseball Ops Erik Neander just revealed on our Rays TV broadcast that he WALKED to Yankee Stadium today from midtown Manhattan. That’s a 5-mile, 1.5-hour-plus stroll 😂
— Ryan Bass (@Ry_Bass) September 24, 2026
“It’s like you walk Central Park and then you walk another Central Park.” 🚶♂️💨 pic.twitter.com/jtycYsej8V
Best in-season comeback
Fernando Tatis, San Diego Padres: Tatis had the same amount of homers as you and your buddies the first 55 games of the season: zero. He began turning it on May 29, producing the highest OPS in the National League since the All-Star break, and is now hitting .291 with 25 homers and 81 RBIw with an .832 OPS.
He’s the first player in history to produce 25 home runs in a season after going homerless through his first 50-plus games, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. He’ll certainly finish in the top 10 on the MVP ballot.
Best formerly discarded prospects
Yordan Alvarez, Houston Astros; Pete Crow-Armstrong, Chicago Cubs; Junior Caminero, Tampa Bay Rays (tie)
In 2016, the Los Angeles Dodgers acquired reliever Josh Fields from the Houston Astros, giving up Alvarez, a 19-year-old out of Cuba.
In 2021, the New York Mets acquired shortstop Javy Baez from the Cubs, giving up their former first-round pick, Pete Crow-Armstrong.
In 2021, Cleveland acquired reliever Tobias Myers, giving up a 17-year-old out of the Dominican Republic, Junior Caminero.
Oops. Oops. And oops.
Best investment
Kwaanza Jones and Jose E. Feliciano, San Diego Padres: Just five weeks ago, they bought the Padres for a staggering $3.9 billion.
Now, they already are raking in the profits of having a postseason team with a waiting list for season tickets next year.
NL Manager of the Year
Pat Murphy, Milwaukee Brewers: It was a toss-up between Murphy and Walt Weiss, but Murphy tipped the scales this past week during their 100th victory when he yanked All-Star catcher William Contreras out of the game.
“He didn’t run the ball out and [Phillies shortstop Trea Turner] muffed it," Murphy explained. “I didn’t know whether he was going to be safe. Everyone knows how much William does for our team, how hard he plays, how hard he competes.
“But we don’t accept that, and he knows that."
Bravo!
The next night, Contreras slide head-first into first base trying to beat out an infield single.
No one requires more discipline than Murphy in the game, and as he’s proven yet again, no one is a better manager.
AL Manager of the Year
Will Venable, Chicago White Sox: He took over a team that lost a record 121 games in 2024, and 102 games last year, and took them to the postseason.
In 2024, they finished 51 ½ games out of first place.
This year, they entered Saturday one game out of first place.
He could become he first manager in history to lose 100 games one year and win the division the next
Executive of the year
Alex Anthopoulos, Atlanta: Anthopoulos was mocked when he had three of his top starters – Spencer Strider, Spencer Schwellenbach and Hurston Waldrep – go down in spring training, and he didn’t panic by signing free agent Lucas Giolito or making a rash trade. Shortstop Ha-Seong Kim opened the year on the injured list and was never the same after slipping on ice and tearing a finger tendon in January. Catcher Sean Murphy had hip surgery last September and his recovery lingered into the season. Outfielder Jurickson Profar was suspended 162 games for being popped a second time using performance-enhancing drugs.
So what does Anthopoulos do? He grabs veteran Dominic Smith off the scrap heap, and he hits .338 in April and .310 in May. Martín Pérez, who is designated for assignment afer two starts, re-signs with the team and becomes one of their invaluable starters. There was the heist of utility man Mauricio Dubón, acquired from the Houston Astros for infielder Nick Allen. And then the shrewd under-the-radar pickup of Tyler Mahle, who has been the best pitcher pickup outside Tarik Skubal at a fraction of the cost.
And Atlanta wins the NL East going away.
NL MVP
Pete Crow-Armstrong, Chicago Cubs: He looked lost in April and May, and then showed the baseball world what a five-tool player looks like the rest of the summer. He hit 39 homers and stole 27 bases with a 1.091 OPS since May 30, while becoming the first player in Cubs’ history to hit 40 homers and steal 40 bases (45 homers and 41 steals) while playing spectacular defense.
It may have been a different outcome if Shohei Ohtani continued to pitch, but once he stopped, Crow-Armstrong hit 26 home runs and stole 19 bases, as Marquee Sports Network pointed out.
AL MVP
Yordan Alvarez, Houston Astros: Alvarez is not only the best pure hitter in the game since Barry Bonds, producing one of the greatest all-around seasons in baseball history while just narrowly missing out on the Triple Crown, he also carried the Astros on his back all season.
He produced a 1.035 OPS while the rest of the team combined for a .688 OPS_slugging .721 and a 1.282 OPS with runners in scoring position. He even conducted a fiery team meeting when the Astros were on the brink of elimination.
NL Cy Young
Jacob Misiorowski, Milwaukee Brewers: He’s not only the finest pitcher in the NL, but the most entertaining, and must-watch TV. The dude has 247 strikeouts and allowed just 94 hits, the greatest ratio in history. He has a 38.2% strikeout rate, the second-best of all time, and a .158 opponent’s batting average the best by any qualified starter. You’ll see him on the national stage on Saturday pitching Game 1 of the postseason for the Brewers.
AL Cy Young
Cam Schlittler, New York Yankees: Simply, he was the most dependable starter in baseball, and should be the third pitcher in Yankees history to win the award unanimously. He made 33 starts, and permitted no more than one earned run in 25 of them, second to only Hall of Famer Sandy Koufax in 1963 (25). His road ERA was a mininiscule 1.16, third-best in history.
NL Rookie of the Year
Sal Stewart, Cincinnati Reds. Stewart has hit 32 home runs and driven in 110 runs, vying to become only the third rookie in history to lead his respective league in homers, joining Ted Williams and Walt Drapo of the Boston Red Sox. He was incredible with runners in scoring position, slashing .301/.361/.569.
AL Rookie of the Year
Kevin McGonigle, Detroit Tigers: McGonigle is everything the Tigers could have imagined, and more. He’s the youngest rookie to reach base 262 times with 94 walks an an OPS-plus (126) since a fella named Ted Williams. He is a true superstar in the making.
NL Reliever of the year
Mason Miller, San Diego Padres: He’s not only the best reliever in the game, but one of the most valuable players in the National League. The Padres aren’t in the postseason without Miller yielding a .142 batting average with 16.5 strikeouts per nine innings. Incredibly, he has given up just five extra-base hits to the 259 batters he faced.
AL Reliever of the Year
Cade Smith, Cleveland Guardians: The Guardians aren’t in the postseason without him, either. He has been invaluable to their third consecutive playoff run, saving a major-league leading 41 saves. The Guardians have gone 69-2 this year when leading after eight innings, winning 25 one-run games, with Smith pitching 73.1 innings –second most by a reliever in baseball – with 107 strikeouts. He hasn’t given up a run in his last 12 appearances, spanning 14.1 innings, winning three games and saving seven others.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Our 2026 MLB awards: The best, worst and weirdest from a wild season
