The Yankees, Red Sox and Every AL East Team's MVP, Cy Young and ROY Picks
With the 2026 season winding down, it's more likely than not that the American League East will produce this year's AL Cy Young Award winner.
So, that makes for at least two obvious picks if we're going to single out the best candidates for each major AL award on all five teams in the division.
There was nothing too fancy involved in the selection process. MVP is the best player. Cy Young is the best pitcher. Rookie of the Year is the best rookie. So yeah, you know how this goes.
There were some tough calls along the way, though, so bear in mind as you read on that reasonable minds can sometimes disagree.
Baltimore Orioles
1 of 5
MVP: Pete Alonso
Not much doubt about this one, right? In his first season as an Oriole, Alonso leads his new team with 34 home runs and an .861 OPS, plus the entire American League with 97 runs batted in.
While Alonso isn't even in the top 10 in the AL with his 4.0 rWAR, he's a good case study for how WAR doesn't always do everyone justice. He's notably fifth in the AL in Win Probability Added, a stat that does a better job of isolating his sheer offensive impact.
His favorite trick has long been hitting home runs with men on, and that has continued in 2026. His 20 homers with the bases occupied are tied with Kyle Schwarber for the most in MLB.
Cy Young: Shane Baz
There isn't much difference between Baz, Brandon Young and Trevor Rogers in terms of rWAR. Baz is at 1.6, while the other two are at 1.7.
What Baz has in his corner is a bigger workload, with 169.0 innings that lead the team. Those have come in consistent chunks, as he's gone at least 5.0 innings in 25 of his 29 outings.
It doesn't hurt that Baz is finishing 2026 on a strong note. In 13 starts dating back to June 29, he's lowered his ERA for the year from 4.31 to 4.05, all while allowing just five balls over the fence.
Rookie of the Year: Samuel Basallo
As a hitter, Basallo has only been fine. As in, the definition of "fine." His 100 OPS+ puts him at exactly league average.
Those numbers, along with 17 home runs, are strong by catcher standards. He's also done fine work behind the plate, rating as above-average for his blocking and throwing.
As Orioles fans well know, the caveat is that Basallo hasn't been the same since he came off the injured list after a month off in August. He had a .756 OPS before the IL, compared to a .476 OPS since coming off.
Boston Red Sox
2 of 5
MVP: Willson Contreras
This is how you know we're not just going according to whoever has the most rWAR. In those terms, either Wilyer Abreu (5.6) or Ceddanne Rafaela (5.4) would be a better Red Sox MVP pick than Contreras (4.4).
Contreras just feels like the Red Sox's MVP, doesn't he? His arrival over the winter wasn't met with a ton of hype, yet he emerged as a leader and an all-around culture changer for a team that has spent most of the year shattering expectations. For that, he deserves his kudos.
Of course, a .900 OPS and 26 home runs don't hurt either. He also leads the Red Sox in WPA, and has had more RBI in high-leverage than he has in medium- and low-leverage spots.
Cy Young: Sonny Gray
There wasn't a ton of hype for Gray's arrival, either. After back-to-back solid-but-unspectacular seasons in St. Louis, he looked destined to be at best Boston's No. 2 behind Garrett Crochet.
The 36-year-old has continued to pitch effectively. While pitcher wins are an imperfect evaluation tool, Gray's 17-4 record still stands out, particularly alongside a 2.69 ERA and 1.162 WHIP.
True, Gray only has 150.2 innings on the season. Yet he's gone at least 6.0 frames 19 times, making him one of only two AL hurlers to do that.
Rookie of the Year: Payton Tolle
It's a shame for Tolle that this year's AL Rookie of the Year race is so crowded. Were it not for Kevin McGonigle, Parker Messick and Munetaka Murakami, he might be the favorite.
The lefty has a 3.15 ERA over 137.0 innings. Numbers like those are strong enough, and it gets better. After each of his 24 starts, Tolle's ERA has remained at or below 3.39.
The scouting report on Tolle might as well read "Fastball!" from top to bottom, but introducing a sinker to complement his four-seamer and cutter has really paid off. His overall fastball Run Value is in the 93rd percentile.
New York Yankees
3 of 5
MVP: Ben Rice
Since Rice has exactly as much rWAR (2.9) as Paul Blackburn, this is another for the "Hear Us Out" file.
What we know about the Yankees is that they have spent three months of this season without Aaron Judge, and even longer without a functioning Aaron Judge. With the club roughly in the middle of the pack in OPS, someone had to carry a significant share of the offensive burden, and Rice has done much of the heavy lifting.
Despite his more recent struggles, he's still rocking an .871 OPS with 36 home runs. He's also crushed in the clutch, going off for a .325/.435/.701 line in high-leverage situations.
Cy Young: Cam Schlittler
At last, an easy one. Schlittler is probably going to win the AL Cy Young Award, and Toronto Blue Jays fans will just have to make peace with that.
Schlittler leads the AL with 6.7 rWAR and a 2.01 ERA. The difference between his peripherals and Cease's is ultimately marginal, which is a credit to both pitchers. Yet Schlittler has pitched 17.1 more innings than his AL East counterpart, which is not a marginal difference.
The fear that yours truly had about Schlittler is that he would burn out as he went further beyond his previous career high for innings. Instead, he's allowed one earned run or less in eight of his last nine starts.
Rookie of the Year: Spencer Jones
Jones got off to a difficult start in May, going 4-for-24 with 12 strikeouts. While it was only a brief sample, it appeared to validate preexisting concerns about his swing-and-miss tendencies.
Cut to now, and he has an .818 OPS since he resurfaced from the minors on June 5. The strikeouts are still there, but subdued just enough to allow his huge raw power to carry him. Only four qualified hitters have a better barrel rate than Jones since June 5.
So, you have to hand it to the Yankees. They seem to have something figured out when it comes to 6'7" sluggers.
Tampa Bay Rays
4 of 5
MVP: Junior Caminero
Caminero's next home run will be his 40th of the year, and it will mark the second time in two seasons that he will have reached that threshold. Not bad for a guy who's still in his age-22 season.
In fact, he stands to go where only Hall of Famer Eddie Mathews has gone before in this regard.
Perhaps this alone says enough about Caminero as the Rays' MVP, but he likewise deserves credit for raising his OBP by 56 points relative to 2025. Despite his 18 errors, he's also upped his Defensive Runs Saved from -5 to +2.
Cy Young: Drew Rasmussen
This was a compelling case of having three feasible options and no real "wrong" choice. Which is to say that Nick Martinez and Bryan Baker at least deserve shoutouts.
Martinez leads the Rays with 160.0 innings, and is also rocking a 3.04 ERA and MLB-best rate of 1.4 walks per nine innings. Baker is 39-for-42 in saves, with a 1.61 ERA and 0.911 WHIP.
However, Rasmussen just keeps ticking along. He's the only pitcher in MLB to post a sub-3.00 ERA in each of the last six seasons. And this year, he leads the AL with a 0.907 WHIP and a 5.78 K/BB ratio.
Rookie of the Year: Victor Mesa Jr.
The Rays don't have a standout rookie like Samuel Basallo, Payton Tolle or Spencer Jones, so Mesa is sort of a "Someone Has to Get It" selection.
The guy deserves credit for being a heck of a right fielder, whether you ask Defensive Runs Saved (+8) or Outs Above Average (+7). By now, baserunners definitely know to fear his arm.
Further to his credit, Mesa is finishing the year strong at the plate. He had a .584 OPS after 28 games. He has since put up an .877 OPS over 36 games, allowing himself to carve out a true everyday role for the best team in the American League.
Toronto Blue Jays
5 of 5
MVP: Kazuma Okamoto
There's a case for the pick here to be the same as the pick for the Blue Jays' Cy Young candidate, but here's the kicker: Somebody has had to carry an offense that is third from the bottom of MLB in runs scored.
To this end, Okamoto's 30 home runs are more than twice as many as the next-best slugger on the Blue Jays. He's also driven in 83 runs, nearly 30 more than the next guy on that particular list.
Has he had a great season by the usual standards of greatness? Well, not really. Yet it's all relative. In this case, saving Toronto's offense from total ruin amid Vladimir Guerrero Jr.'s latest disappointment is a great feat.
Cy Young: Dylan Cease
Obviously, I tipped my hand as to my AL Cy Young Award preference a couple slides ago. Cease is definitely in the mix, though, and he has things that even Schlittler doesn't.
Namely, AL-best marks with a 2.47 FIP and his rates for hits (5.6), home runs (0.6) and strikeouts (12.7) per nine innings. Were it not for the innings gap between Schlittler and Cease, the scales would arguably have to tip in Cease's favor.
As it is, Cease is just the fourth Blue Jays righty to ever top 220 strikeouts in a season. The other three: Roger Clemens, A.J. Burnett and Kevin Gausman.
Rookie of the Year: Kazuma Okamoto
Yeah, it's hard to pick a guy for a team's MVP and not also pick that same guy for Rookie of the Year. Okamoto is the no-brainer here.
It is nonetheless worth giving Spencer Miles his due credit. He has appeared in 45 games for the Blue Jays this year, making six starts and finishing nine. His 2.77 ERA and 1.059 WHIP across 87.2 innings reflect how effectively he has handled that versatile role.
Stats courtesy of Baseball Reference, FanGraphs and Baseball Savant.
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