MLB's 8 Biggest Winners and Losers of 2026 Regular Season

Sunday is the final day of the 2026 MLB season, which means before the postseason begins, it's time for some reflection on the last six months.

2026 will likely feature first-time winners for NL and AL MVP, along with NL and AL Cy Young. Still, there were plenty of usual suspects who had excellent seasons as well.

Before we turn the page on the 2026 regular season, here's a look at the eight biggest winners and losers of the campaign.

Winner: Pete Crow-Armstrong

JC Ruiz/Getty Images

There was no question entering the season whether Pete Crow-Armstrong was one of the best defenders in baseball. However, he posted just a .634 OPS after the All-Star Game a year ago, leading to questions about just how good he was offensively, particularly when he wasn't hitting the ball out of the park.

Well, Crow-Armstrong has answered those questions by hitting 45 homers, driving in 107 runs and posting a .941 OPS in 2026. Add in his 41 stolen bases and 119 runs scored, and he's been one of the best offensive players in baseball in 2026. When you consider his continued greatness in center field, it's not surprising that he leads all hitters with a 10.7 WAR. According to FanGraphs, the next closest player in terms of WAR is Bobby Witt Jr., who is at 6.9.

Not only will PCA win his second Gold Glove, but he'll have a case for the Platinum Glove as the best defender in the National League. And, 10 years after Kris Bryant won NL MVP for the Cubs, Crow-Armstrong is going to dethrone Shohei Ohtani and win the honor.

Winner: Jacob Misiorowski

Joe Sargent/Major League Baseball via Getty Images

Jacob Misiorowski was arguably the biggest story of the 2026 season, as he turned in one of the most dominant campaigns in modern history. He did so while averaging over 100 mph on his fastball, something we haven't really ever seen from a starter over a full season.

In many years, this would have been an incredible NL Cy Young Award race considering how well Cristopher Sánchez, Chris Sale, Jesús Luzardo and Yoshinobu Yamamoto pitched. In this year, though, the Cy Young race was pretty much over by August.

Misiorowski will ultimately finish the season as the MLB leader in ERA, ERA+, FIP, WHIP, K/9 and WAR, per FanGraphs. It's hard to be much more dominant than that.

Loser: Cal Raleigh

Jack Compton/Getty Images

Even if he had to settle for runner-up in AL MVP voting to Aaron Judge in 2025, Cal Raleigh put together arguably the greatest season we've ever seen from a catcher, as he launched 60 home runs and drove in 125 runs.

"The Big Dumper" definitely had a hangover in 2026, hitting .169 with just nine home runs and a .581 OPS in the first half. By just about any metric, he was one of the worst everyday players in baseball.

He's rebounded to some degree since the All-Star Break, as he has a .761 OPS since the Midsummer Classic. Still, Raleigh checked in at No. 8 on B/R's countdown of the top 25 players in baseball entering the season. He won't even really be in consideration for it in 2027 based on how he performed for most of 2026.

Loser: David Stearns

Jim McIsaac/Getty Images

If for nothing more than the Mets having a top-five payroll and missing the playoffs for the second consecutive season, New York president of baseball operations David Stearns is one of the biggest losers of the 2026 MLB season.

Following a second-half collapse, Stearns drastically remade the roster in his image. The early results weren't promising:

• Stearns traded Brandon Nimmo to the Texas Rangers for Marcus Semien. Granted, part of the calculation here was that Nimmo is signed through 2030, while Semien's deal is up after 2028. But at 36 years old, Semien seems to have almost nothing left offensively. Nimmo wasn't great, either, but still has a 112 OPS+, as opposed to 74 from Semien.
• The Mets let closer Edwin Díaz walk in free agency, and judging off of the results of his first season on a three-year, $60.03 million deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers, that might have been wise choice. The problem is Stearns gave Devin Williams a three-year, $41.38 million pact to be New York's closer, only for him to post a 4.54 ERA across 43 appearances in his first year in Flushing.
• The worst one of them all was letting Pete Alonso leave for a five-year, $155 million contract with the Baltimore Orioles. While Alonso topped 40 homers for the fourth time in his career, his replacement, Jorge Polanco, hit .148 in just 37 games.

The Mets did play better after the All-Star Break, earning interim manager Andy Green the job on a full-time basis. Owner Steve Cohen has stood by Stearns, who did put together a team that reached the NLCS just two years ago. However, the addition of former Minnesota Twins president of baseball operations Derek Falvey to the front office as a senior advisor is a sign that Cohen is growing impatient.

Winner: Cam Schlittler

Cam Schlittler emerged on the national scene in Game 3 of the ALWCS a year ago, when he struck out 12 Boston Red Sox over eight shutout innings in an elimination game.

He proved to have staying power this year, a season he'll end as the junior circuit's leader in WAR, ERA, ERA+ and WHIP. Dylan Cease gave him a good run for his money, but Schlittler is going to win the AL Cy Young Award.

Based off of what he did in his first career postseason appearance a year ago, Schlittler's magical 2026 might still have another chapter in store as the Yankees try to emerge from a wide-open AL playoff field.

Loser: Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

Icon Sportswire/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. didn't have a great week in the public relations department:

But the truth is, Guerrero would have been on this list even before the comments.

Last October, Guerrero looked like the best hitter in the planet, batting .397 with eight home runs and a 1.289 OPS for a Blue Jays team that made it to Game 7 of the World Series. This year, the Blue Jays will be at home in October. There's plenty of blame to go around for that, but Guerrero not hitting a home run at home until mid-September certainly didn't help.

In the end, Guerrero is still going to play next season at 28, so he's still young. There's no reason to think he isn't a great face for their franchise. But the first season of a 14-year, $500 million deal didn't go as planned.

Winner: Yodan Alvarez

Isaiah Vazquez/Getty Images

Yordan Alvarez was limited to just 48 games in 2025 because of a right hand fracture and left ankle sprain. Still, we snuck him on our B/R list of the top 25 MLB players entering the 2026 season on a hunch.

As it turns out, we didn't listen to that hunch enough. Alvarez was No. 20 coming into 2026. He'll probably be in the top five in 2027 after nearly winning the AL Triple Crown in 2026. Alvarez is likely to join Jeff Bagwell and José Altuve as the only players in Astros history to win MVPs.

If you add an MVP to Alvarez's resume—which includes AL Rookie of the Year, four All-Star selections, ALCS MVP and what was essentially a World Series winning homer in 2022—you can start to see a pretty compelling Hall of Fame case coming together for the 29-year-old.

Loser: Kyle Tucker

Colten Strauss/Major League Baseball via Getty Images

Remember when there were people suggesting that the 2026 season wasn't even worth playing because Kyle Tucker signing with the Los Angeles Dodgers made them a shoo-in to win their third consecutive World Series?

Well, the Dodgers could still three-peat, but it hasn't been a very impressive first season in Los Angeles for Tucker. After signing a four-year, $240 million contract that includes a player opt out after the second season, Tucker has produced just a 98 OPS+ in 2026. Mind you, 100 is considered a league average player, and Tucker averaged a 142 OPS+ from 2020-2025.

Tucker is finishing the season on a high note, as he has a .921 OPS in September. If he has a big October, no one will remember how much he struggled during the regular season. But this has definitely been an underwhelming campaign for the four-time All-Star.