MLB MVP 2026 Final Odds and Predictions for AL and NL Awards

The voters have spoken.

Or they're in the process of speaking, rather.

MLB award season is officially upon us, and some coveted hardware has already been handed out. Kevin McGonigle of the Detroit Tigers and Sal Stewart of the Cincinnati Reds claimed Rookie of the Year honors in their respective leagues, while the Chicago White Sox's Will Venable and Pat Murphy of the World Series champion Milwaukee Brewers were named Managers of the Year.

Hats off to the winners so far, but there are still some huge honors to be handed out. The Cy Youngs will be crowned Wednesday night in fact, and then the MVPs will get their turn under the spotlight on Thursday.

These races might lack suspense—more on that in a minute—but let's examine why the favorites are regarded as such and see whether any surprises are in store. With FanDuel having pulled its odds for these awards, we'll use their end-of-season odds from September 19 (h/t Fox Sports).

Cy Young, MVP Odds and Finalists

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AL Cy Young

Cam Schlittler, RHP, New York Yankees -50000 (bet $50,000 to win $100)

Dylan Cease, RHP, Toronto Blue Jays +3300 (bet $100 to win $3,300)

Parker Messick, LHP, Cleveland Guardians

NL Cy Young

Jacob Misiorowski, RHP, Milwaukee Brewers -20000

Chris Sale, LHP, Atlanta Braves +2700

Cristopher Sánchez, LHP, Philadelphia Phillies

AL MVP

Yordan Alvarez, DH, Houston Astros -20000

Junior Caminero, 3B, Tampa Bay Rays +1200

Bobby Witt Jr., SS, Kansas City Royals

NL MVP

Pete Crow-Armstrong, CF, Chicago Cubs -1500

Shohei Ohtani, SP/DH, Los Angeles Dodgers +750

Brice Turang, 2B, Milwaukee Brewers

American League Awards

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There isn't a heavier favorite in the field than Schlittler for AL Cy Young. And that's pretty remarkable given the kind of campaigns just authored by Cease (2.40 ERA with 239 strikeouts in 169 innings) and Messick (2.56 ERA and a 1.06 WHIP across 186.1 innings).

Those players were dominant; Schlittler was otherworldly. He had an AL-leading 1.95 ERA, a none-shall-pass 0.919 WHIP and 239 strikeouts against 49 walks in 193.2 innings. He'll turn overwhelming favorite to runaway winner here shortly.

It's a similar story in the MVP race. Caminero crushed it (42 homers, 101 RBI, 100 runs scored), and Witt was good-to-great in all facets (18 homers, 45 steals, 94 runs and lockdown defense), but Alvarez had the top tier all to himself.

A slugger by trade with the power production to back it up (42 homers, 106 RBI), Alvarez was also this season's best hitter overall. He paced the entire Majors with a .316 average, and he held down the same No. 1 spot—by comfortable margins—in on-base percentage (.432), slugging percentage (.601) and OPS (1.033).

National League Awards

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It's kind of comical to think Misiorowski isn't the strongest favorite among award finalists. Not to take anything away from Sale (2.16 ERA, 11.1 K/9) or Sánchez (18 wins, 2.91 ERA and 231 strikeouts in 207 innings), as each was awesome in his own right.

But Misiorowski and his historic heat might have been the best show in baseball this season. He led the Majors in...well, everything basically: ERA (1.80), strikeouts (252), strikeout rate (37.9 percent) and WHIP (0.80). As MLB.com relayed, Misirowski posted the lowest opponents' average on record for a full season (.157).

If there's a "close" race in this field, by default it has to be the NL MVP. And that's essentially only (relatively) close because of Ohtani's unique two-way talents, which have helped him capture MVP honors in four of the past five seasons (two in each league).

But injuries bothered Ohtani this season, and he wasn't his typical self. He was still ridiculous (30 homers, 170 combined runs and RBI in 135 games; 8-2 with a 1.79 ERA and 95 strikeouts over 85.2 innings pitched), but not quite as productive as he had been. Turang was great, too, pairing Gold Glove defense with 21 homers, 19 steals 202 combined runs and RBI.

Still, neither really measured up to Crow-Armstrong, who was brilliant both at the plate and on the field. He joined the 40/40 club (45 homers, 41 steals), led the Majors with 119 runs, tallied the fourth-most RBI (107) and paced the NL in slugging percentage (.570) and OPS (.943). If that wasn't enough, Crow-Armstrong also earned the NL's Platinum Glove award. He'll soon add MVP to his list of accolades.