2026 MLB Power Rankings: Who’s The Early MVP For All 30 Teams?

By year’s end, odds are we’ll be crowning Shohei Ohtani and Aaron Judge as the MVPs yet again. To this point, though, neither player has been his team’s best hitter. Ohtani is flashing his two-way prowess with a dominant 0.50 ERA and a respectable .915 OPS, but another Dodgers teammate leads MLB in hits and batting average and is well ahead of him in every slash-line category. Judge, meanwhile, is pacing the Yankees with nine home runs, but another Bronx Bomber has the highest OPS in MLB. So, who is every team’s early MVP? We’ll take a look as part of this week’s power rankings: We might have a new poster boy for three true outcomes: Munetaka Murakami is tied for the third-most homers in MLB and also has the fourth-highest walk rate and 11th highest strikeout rate. Hunter Goodman looks poised for another 30-plus homer season, but the bigger story is what Antonio Senzatela is doing in a new long relief role on the mound. The veteran righty allowed his first run of the season Sunday, but he also picked up the win and now sports a 0.63 ERA in six appearances (14.1 innings) while throwing harder than ever before. Perhaps lost among the shocking disasters around the league, the Royals have now lost seven straight games and have scored the fewest runs in MLB. Michael Wacha (1.00 ERA) and Seth Lugo (1.48) are doing their part on the mound to try to give their team a chance, though. Woof. The losing streak is up to 11. Since 2020, 11 other teams have lost 11 straight games at some point in a season; none of them made the playoffs. The Mets can’t seem to score runs with Juan Soto sidelined, but at least they have a chance to win every time Nolan McLean pitches. He has the lowest WHIP of any qualified National League pitcher and, as expected, looks like an early Rookie of the Year contender. If I told you Yordan Alvarez was leading MLB in home runs and fWAR, you’d probably assume the Astros were doing quite well. And you would assume incorrectly. They have two wins in their last 14 games — both against the Rockies, who also swept them during that stretch — and their pitchers have a 6.11 ERA. Yikes. The pitching is, as expected, a problem. The offense, however, offers plenty of intrigue. CJ Abrams, who has nearly doubled both his walk rate and barrel rate in the early going, ranks fourth among all qualified hitters in OPS. As a team, the Nationals are tied for second in runs scored with the Dodgers and Astros, just one run behind the Braves. With Logan Webb, Adrian Houser and Tyler Mahle all sporting ERAs over 5.00, the early work from Landen Roupp (2.38) has been needed in the Giants’ scuffling rotation. Roupp hasn’t allowed a home run, or even a barreled ball, through four starts. The Blue Jays rank in the bottom 10 in MLB in runs per game, which certainly wasn’t expected after they ranked fourth in the category last season. It could be a lot worse if it weren’t for Kevin Gausman and Dylan Cease, who get co-early-season-MVP honors here. The Blue Jays are 5-4 in games in which they’ve started, and they’ve held the depleted Toronto rotation afloat. Among MLB pitchers who’ve thrown at least 20 innings, Cease is third in strikeout rate while Gausman is third in strikeout-to-walk percentage. As bad as it has been overall in Boston, Willson Contreras is giving the Red Sox everything they’ve needed at first base. As a team, Boston first basemen last year ranked 27th in fWAR and 26th in wRC+. With Contreras this year, they rank in the top five in both categories at the position. MLB’s shortstop leader in fWAR? Nope, not Bobby Witt Jr., Gunnar Henderson or Elly De La Cruz. It’s Miami’s Otto Lopez, who’s hitting .338, the best mark of any player at his position. They have the worst run differential (-38) in all of MLB. No, not a typo. Yes, hard to believe. They’ve now lost five straight games and nine of 11, and they scored three runs total while getting swept by the Braves over the weekend. At least they have Cristopher Sánchez, who started three of the team’s eight wins and hasn’t allowed more than two earned runs in any of his five starts. I would like to use this section to rave about Mike Trout, who leads all qualified AL center fielders in OPS as he turns back the clock to start the year… but this spot might need to be reserved for the Angels’ early Cy Young contender. José Soriano is 5-0 with a ridiculous 0.28 ERA. The Twins’ trade for 25-year-old right-hander Taj Bradley at last year’s deadline is looking like a huge win, especially with Pablo López out for the year. Bradley is 3-0 with a 1.63 ERA through five starts; Griffin Jax, the player Bradley was traded for, has a 7.04 ERA in Tampa Bay. On a team with so much offensive firepower, Shea Langeliers can sometimes get lost in the shuffle. But he has been the A’s best hitter this year, and he leads all catchers with six homers, including a 467-foot blast that is the longest by any player in MLB this year. (Marvel at it here.) Jeremiah Jackson is slashing .303/.319/.561 with five homers despite walking just once with a chase rate over 40%. It may not be sustainable, but considering the injuries around the Baltimore infield, his production to this point has been vital. The other contender for the early-season honor is Taylor Ward, who hasn’t provided the power many expected (he hit his first home run of the year Sunday) but leads MLB in doubles and has a career-high .388 on-base percentage. The Rangers have to be feeling good about their one-for-one swap of Brandon Nimmo for Marcus Semien. Nimmo has been the Rangers’ best hitter (.311/.386/.522), while Semien has played at a replacement level so far in Queens. Bryan Woo has looked the part of an ace with a 2.25 ERA through five starts, but the bigger story in the Mariners’ rotation is Emerson Hancock. With the help of his sweeper, it seems to all be coming together for the 26-year-old, who’s 2-1 with a 2.28 ERA and tied for the second-lowest WHIP (0.76) among all qualified MLB starters. The Rays rank 10th in OPS, thanks in large part to Yandy Díaz. He has the second-highest wRC+ of any qualified DH in MLB behind only Yordan Alvarez and is tied for the second-most hits of any player in baseball behind only Andy Pages. The early-season MVP award in Detroit can be split between arguably the best pitcher (Tarik Skubal) and rookie (Kevin McGonigle) in MLB. But it’s also worth giving some attention to Dillon Dingler, who has been tearing the cover off the baseball and leads all qualified catchers in OPS. They’ve been arguably the most surprising team in baseball this year, and the breakout appears to be here for 23-year-old Jordan Walker. He ranks first among position players in bWAR and is tied for third in MLB in home runs and fifth in OPS. After a slow start, the Cubs are starting to kick into gear. Only two teams — the Braves and Dodgers — have a better run differential than them. That may not be a surprise, but Nico Hoerner being the Cubs’ best hitter certainly is; he’s tied for the MLB lead with 21 RBI, and he already has three home runs after hitting just seven each of the past two seasons. Sal Stewart leads all National League rookies in hits, homers, RBI and slugging. In a rookie class loaded with talent, Stewart and Mets pitcher Nolan McLean currently look like the best in the NL. The answer is always Jose Ramírez, who’s back to doing his thing after a slow start, but Parker Messick needs a mention. He’s 3-0 with a 1.05 ERA, and he had to earn those numbers. His four starts — all of which ended in Guardians wins — came against the Dodgers, Cubs, Braves and Orioles. He’s emerging as a sneaky AL Rookie of the Year contender. Brandon Lowe leads all MLB second basemen with seven home runs and a .600 slugging percentage and leads his new team with a .975 OPS. There was some fear that Corbin Carroll might not look the same after returning from a broken hamate bone in the spring; instead, he has been even better than usual, slashing .300/.390/.600. Carroll ranks eighth in MLB in OPS and leads the league in triples. While Jacob Misiorowski continues to rack up strikeouts — he leads MLB in the category — the most valuable player on the team is WBC standout Brice Turang. With four homers and the sixth-highest OPS in MLB, Turang is demonstrating he’s a lot more than a Platinum Glove defender. The best hitter in baseball so far this year is a Yankee, but it’s not the one you might think. Ben Rice leads all qualified hitters in on-base percentage (.476), slugging (.800), OPS (1.276) and wRC+ (246). Meanwhile, on the mound, Cam Schlittler leads all AL starters in K/BB% and fWAR. It takes a lot for a closer to be singled out on this list, but Mason Miller is deserving — 11 appearances, two hits, no runs, 27 strikeouts, two walks. Just absurd stuff. He’s 8-for-8 in save chances and, at this overpowering pace, could end up getting Cy Young consideration. Matt Olson leads the Braves in on-base percentage, slugging and OPS and has more doubles (10 total) than any first baseman in MLB. Shohei Ohtani has a 0.50 ERA and a 51-game on-base streak that is the third-longest in franchise history, but he’s not the team leader in WAR. That honor belongs to Andy Pages, who leads MLB in hits and batting average and ranks third in OPS.



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