By virtue of them not being finalists, we knew that neither Cam Schlittler or Ben Rice were going to win the 2026 American League Most Valuable Player Award. However, we had a pretty good feeling that the Cy Young and the slugger were going to finish high in the voting. On Thursday night, the announcement came, and Schlittler and Rice finished in fourth and ninth place respectively.
The Astros’ Yordan Alvarez took home the award over fellow finalists Junior Caminero and Bobby Witt Jr. Alvarez ended
up being the unanimous winner, receiving all 30 first place votes. Caminero was a clear second, receiving all but three second place votes.
One of the three second-place votes that didn’t go to Caminero did go to Schlittler — shout out Dave Skretta of the Associated Press. The rest of his votes range somewhere between third and 10th. He only just narrowly missed being named a finalist, as he finished only seven points behind Witt for third. While a pitcher winning MVP has happened in recent memory, it can often be hard for them to get close considering that they have an award for themselves in the Cy Young. Finishing fourth matches Shane Bieber in 2020 — although there’s quite a big caveat on that one — for the best finish for a pure pitcher (sorry, Shohei) since Clayton Kershaw’s National League win in 2014.
As for Rice, he received two third place votes himself, but all the rest of his ranged between fifth and 10th place. I think if I were voting, I would’ve had him higher up in ninth, but I am somewhat biased in the fact that I watch him every day.
Those were the only two Yankees to receive votes, which isn’t particularly surprising. You can view the full list here.
There were certainly plenty of aspects to the Yankees’ 2026 season that were diaspointing, but Schlittler and Rice certainly weren’t the reasons.
