MLB Power Rankings 2026: Who is the first MVP of the 30 teams?

By the end of the year, there’s a good chance we’ll crown Shohei Ohtani and Aaron Judge as MVPs again. So far, neither player has been their team’s best hitter. Ohtani shows off his two-way prowess with a dominant 0.50 ERA and a respectable 0.915 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, paces the Yankees with nine home runs, but another Bronx Bomber has the highest OPS in MLB. So, who is each team’s first MVP? We’ll take a look at it as part of this week’s power rankings: We might have a new poster for three real results: Munetaka Murakami is tied for third most home runs in MLB and also has the fourth-highest walk rate and 11th-highest strikeout rate. Hunter Goodman looks poised for another 30-plus home run season, but the bigger story is what Antonio Senzatela is doing in a new long relief role on the mound. The veteran right-hander allowed his first run of the season on Sunday, but he also earned the win and now has a 0.63 ERA in six appearances (14.1 innings) while pitching harder than ever. Perhaps lost among the league’s shocking disasters, the Royals have now lost seven straight games and scored the fewest runs in MLB. Michael Wacha (1.00 ERA) and Seth Lugo (1.48), however, are doing their part on the mound to try to give their team a chance. Frame. The losing streak is up to 11. Since 2020, 11 other teams have lost 11 consecutive games at some point during a season; none of them made the playoffs. The Mets can’t seem to score any runs with Juan Soto out, but at least they have a chance to win every time Nolan McLean pitches. He has the lowest WHIP of any qualified pitcher in the National League and, as expected, looks like an early contender for Rookie of the Year. If I told you that Yordan Alvarez led MLB in home runs and fWAR, you would probably assume that the Astros were doing pretty well. And you would assume wrongly. 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. Yeah. Pitching is, as expected, a problem. The offense offers plenty of intrigue, however. CJ Abrams, who nearly doubled his walk rate and barrel rate early on, 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 posting ERAs above 5.00, early work Landen Roupp (2.38) was needed in the Giants’ battling rotation. Roupp hasn’t allowed a home run, or even a barrel ball, in four starts. The Blue Jays rank in the bottom 10 in MLB in runs per game, which certainly wasn’t expected after placing fourth in the category last season. It could be a lot worse if it weren’t for Kevin Gausman and Dylan Cease, who get early-season MVP honors here. The Blue Jays are 5-4 in games they’ve started in, and they’ve kept Toronto’s depleted rotation afloat. Among MLB pitchers who have thrown at least 20 innings, Cease is third in strikeout rate, while Gausman is third in strikeout-to-walk percentage. Even though things have been bad overall in Boston, Willson Contreras gives the Red Sox everything they need at first base. As a team, Boston’s first basemen ranked 27th in fWAR and 26th in wRC+ last year. With Contreras this year, they rank top five in both categories at the position. MLB shortstop leader in fWAR? No, not Bobby Witt Jr., Gunnar Henderson or Elly De La Cruz. That’s Miami’s Otto Lopez, who is hitting .338, the best mark of any player at his position. They have the worst point differential (-38) in all of MLB. No, not a typo. Yes, hard to believe. They have now lost five straight games and nine of 11, and they scored three total runs while being swept by the Braves this 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 his five starts. I’d 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 that spot may have to be reserved for the Angels’ first 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 looks like a huge win, especially with Pablo López out for the year. Bradley is 3-0 with a 1.63 ERA in 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 mix. But he’s been the A’s best hitter this year, and he leads all catchers with six home runs, including a 467-foot blast that is the longest of any MLB player this year. (Marvel here.) Jeremiah Jackson is slashing .303/.319/.561 with five home runs despite just one walk with a chase rate above 40%. It may not be sustainable, but given the injuries around Baltimore’s infield, his production thus far 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 on Sunday), but leads MLB in doubles and has a career-high .388 on-base percentage. The Rangers must be feeling good after their one-for-one trade of Brandon Nimmo for Marcus Semien. Nimmo has been the Rangers’ best hitter (.311/.386/.522), while Semien has played at replacement level thus far in Queens. Bryan Woo has played the role of an ace with a 2.25 ERA in five starts, but the biggest story in the Mariners rotation is Emerson Hancock. With the help of his sweeper, everything seems to be falling into place for the 26-year-old, who is 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. Detroit’s early-season MVP award can be shared between arguably the best pitcher (Tarik Skubal) and rookie (Kevin McGonigle) in MLB. But it’s also worth paying attention to Dillon Dingler, who has ripped baseball’s cover and leads all qualified catchers in OPS. They’ve arguably been the most surprising team in baseball this year, and the breakthrough 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 shift into high gear. Only two teams – the Braves and Dodgers – have a better run differential than them. This may not be a surprise, but Nico Hoerner, the Cubs’ best hitter, certainly is; he’s tied for the MLB lead with 21 RBIs, and he already has three home runs after hitting just seven each over the past two seasons. Sal Stewart leads all National League rookies in hits, home runs, RBIs and hits. In a rookie class loaded with talent, Stewart and Mets pitcher Nolan McLean currently looks like the best in the NL. The answer is still José Ramírez, who is returning to action after a slow start, but Parker Messick needs to be mentioned. 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 victories – came against the Dodgers, Cubs, Braves and Orioles. He’s emerging as a sneaky contender for AL Rookie of the Year. 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 concern that Corbin Carroll wouldn’t be the same after returning from a broken hamate bone in the spring; instead, he’s 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 team’s most valuable player is WBC star Brice Turang. With four home runs and the sixth-highest OPS in MLB, Turang demonstrates that he is much more than a Platinum Glove defender. The best hitter in baseball so far this year is a Yankee, but he’s not who 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 deserves it – 11 appearances, two hits, no runs, 27 strikeouts, two walks. Just nonsense stuff. He has an 8/8 save chance and, at this crushing rate, could end up attracting Cy Young attention. Matt Olson leads the Braves in on-base percentage, slugging percentage 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.