The baseball offseason has felt pretty normal so far if you can put the overhanging labor negotiations out of your mind. Some of that normalcy comes from the gradual easing into the initial phases of the hot stove season — contract options, roster maneuvering, free agency filing — that point toward next season.
That’s administrative stuff, though, and not as fun as the parade in Milwaukee — or this week, when MLB is handing out its major awards in what closes the books on the 2026 season.
This year’s awards week added a new honor being handed out by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America: the Reliever of the Year Award, which recognizes the top bullpen maestro from each league.
Here’s how the rest of this week’s schedule lays out:
Thursday: MVP (7 p.m. ET, MLB Network)
Below, we break down the major award winners so far — and preview Thursday’s grand finale.
Jump to an award:
MVP | Cy Young | Reliever of the Year
Rookie of the Year | Manager of the Year
Cy Young
American League
Winner: Cam Schlittler, New York Yankees
Final tally: Schlittler 210 (30 first-place votes, unanimous), Dylan Cease 110, Parker Messick 84, Drew Rasmussen 72, Sonny Gray 21, Reid Detmers 9, Cade Smith 2, Bryan Baker 1, Michael Wacha 1
Doolittle’s pick: Schlittler
Takeaway: Schlittler is so implacable in his demeanor and so consistently elite with his results that it’s really easy to forget that four years ago, he was an unheralded seventh-round draft pick out of Northeastern. Now he’s a Cy Young winner and was a unanimous selection at that.
Schlittler’s 7.0 bWAR as a second-year pitcher was historically significant, and not just in the context of the Yankees’ celebrated annals. But contemporary usage limits make it hard to put that into eye-popping context, so I keep coming back to his 215 ERA+ — the best in Yankees history. I’ve written that stat several times now but, come on, that’s incredible.
Schlittler has never come close to failing at any point since he arrived in the majors. He has a 2.23 regular-season ERA, including a league-leading 1.95 mark this season. And he has been even better in the playoffs, with a 1.44 mark in four outings. He’s the seventh Yankee to win the honor. The first six won it a single time as a Yankee. Schlittler has a great chance to become the first pinstriped pitcher to win it more than once.
National League
Winner: Jacob Misiorowski, Milwaukee Brewers
Final tally: Misiorowski 210 (30 first-place votes, unanimous), Cristopher Sanchez 99, Chris Sale 98, Yoshinobu Yamamoto 63, Jesus Luzardo 34, Mason Miller 4, Eduardo Rodriguez 2
Doolittle’s pick: Misiorowski
Takeaway: I don’t know what’s going to become of Jacob Misiorowski’s career, but he’s a gift to the game in so many ways. And as much as I try to sidestep the slobbering over his velocity readings, I get why they attract so much attention. No starter has lit up the pitch trackers quite like he has.
But velocity by itself won’t win you a Cy Young. One of the things that sets Misiorowski apart is that if he topped out at 97 mph, he’d still be a good pitcher. That might not have been the case a year ago, but his improvement in the finer points of command and consistency has flipped that in a stunning fashion. Misiorowski has become the full package, and he can become even better.
The other thing that sets Misiorowski apart is that he’s a genuine character. He’s that kid who comes over after school and plays video games with your son. He’s Nuke LaLoosh from “Bull Durham” except he’s really good. And he’s the best pitcher on baseball’s newest World Series championship club.
Will Misiorowski be throwing 105 mph in three years? I don’t know. But what I strongly suspect is that as we try to recalibrate our standards as to what an elite starting pitcher looks like in the 2020s, we can start with what Misiorowski, Paul Skenes, Tarik Skubal, Schlittler and a handful of others are doing. And The Miz very much belongs in that group.
Reliever of the Year
American League
Winner: Louis Varland, Toronto Blue Jays
Final tally: Varland 146 (16 first-place votes), Cade Smith 133 (7), Bryan Baker 111 (6), Aroldis Chapman 36, Josh Hader 22 (1), David Bednar 20, Jacob Latz 17, Brent Headrick 12, Garrett Whitlock 6, Grant Taylor 3, Spencer Miles 2, Tyler Rogers 2
Doolittle’s pick: Smith
Takeaway: This feels like minds were made up early in September, because while I had Varland as the winner for a big chunk of the season, I very much feel like Smith overtook him by season’s end. Varland had that sparkling 1.27 ERA, but both pitchers gave up 20 runs this season. Smith had fewer that were unearned. Meanwhile, Smith led handily in win probability added and did so as a key cog on a playoff team. This was a miss by the voters, of which I was one, casting one in favor of Smith.
National League
Winner: Mason Miller, San Diego Padres
Final tally: Miller 210 (30 first-place votes), Jhoan Duran 110, Trevor Megill 66, Adrian Morejon 64, Raisel Iglesias 17, Mason Montgomery 11, Didier Fuentes 10, Tanner Scott 8, Aaron Ashby 6, Dylan Lee 3, Brandyn Garcia 2, Abner Uribe 2, Emilio Pagan 1
Doolittle’s pick: Miller
Takeaway: An easy selection. There are a lot of ways to look at relief pitcher value, but Miller checks off every box. He’s the best in the game and one of those rare closers who gives you a little tingle of excitement as soon as he’s summoned from the bullpen. You want to know why Jackson Chourio’s game-winning single against the Padres in the NLDS was one of the signature moments of the playoffs? Well, it was a really big hit, of course. But what made it transcendent is that he did against Miller. That tells you all you need to know.
Manager of the Year
American League
Winner: Will Venable, Chicago White Sox
Final tally: Venable 111 (15 first-place votes), Kevin Cash 98 (12), Chad Tracy 47 (3), Stephen Vogt 9, Aaron Boone 4, Joe Espada 1
Doolittle’s pick: Venable
Takeaway: This is an award I’d never want to vote on. Sure, I have a system that rates managers, or rather, as I try to be transparent about, a system that seeks to measure factors that tend to correlate with Manager of the Year voting. Separately, I do think you can get a good feel for how a manager is impacting a specific team if you’re around it a lot. But I’m able to reach that criteria with only a handful of managers in a given year. There is so much beyond data you need to know before you can really judge how a manager is doing.
I was exposed to Venable often this year, tracing back to spring training. It’s always impossible to know how your judgment is impacted by results. A team going well invariably leaves a strong impression. One that isn’t does not. That’s natural.
With Venable, despite a couple of X’s and O’s mistakes, his connection to what was going on with a shockingly good White Sox team was apparent every step along the way. For a team that reached the playoffs, the White Sox turned over key roster spots consistently through the season, as an emerging ballclub should if it has the talent base to make it work. Through it all, the team and the roster always seemed like a cohesive continuation of what had already occurred.
Then came early August, roughly speaking, when it became apparent that Chicago did not have enough resources to run a starting rotation in a typical manner through the rest of the season. The acquisition of Luis Castillo not only did not fix that problem, it made it worse. The White Sox, with Venable leading the way, went into improv mode, appropriate for the city that gave the world Second City. Craft a pitching plan today and worry about tomorrow when it arrives. Venable and his collaborators made it work.
This year’s White Sox had no business coming within one win of an ALCS appearance. It was too much, too soon. Yet that’s exactly what happened. My metrics like Cash better, and he came close in the balloting. I love Cash as one of the two best managers in the game along with Pat Murphy. But anyone guiding a team that provided as much historical shock as did this year’s White Sox demands recognition. Venable more than deserves this honor.
National League
Winner: Pat Murphy, Milwaukee Brewers
Final tally: Murphy 124 (20 first-place votes), Walt Weiss 86 (7), Don Mattingly 25 (1), Craig Stammen 24 (2), Dave Roberts 7, Craig Counsell 3, Don Kelly 1
Doolittle’s pick: Murphy
Takeaway: It almost feels like Craig Counsell has become a villain in Murphy’s story, which isn’t at all fair. Yes, Counsell bolted, leaving his hometown team for a record contract with that club’s chief rival. But come on, Counsell just became manager of the Cubs. It’s not like he tied Bernie Brewer to some train tracks.
Still, for Wisconsinites who feed off schadenfreude, this is a sweet time, even better than a stop at Mars Cheese Castle just off I-94 south of Milwaukee. The manager in which you believed betrayed you for the one team you wouldn’t want him to go to. His replacement, his mentor, the amiable but overlooked bench coach who is like a contemporary embodiment of Red Blow — the bench coach for Pop Fisher in “The Natural” — takes over. And in the first three seasons after that happens, he is named NL Manager of the Year. Also, lest we forget, in the third of those years, this grizzled coach gifts you the first World Series in franchise history.
The Brewers’ title did not factor into the voting, but everything Pat Murphy did to put Milwaukee in position to achieve that title was already in place when the ballots were cast. Not the least of which was the 103 wins, a franchise record and far above where preseason forecasts had predicted the Brewers to be.
My metrics have loved Murphy all through his tenure, though it has to be acknowledged that part of the perception around the Brewers overachieving stems from the fact that they are chronically underrated. Still, come on. Has any team in recent times been more explained or defined by the personality of its manager and the standards that he demands his club meet?
One thing I loved about this season’s great World Series matchup is that it was a clash between two managers who really mattered. And Murphy and Cash are very, very different in the way they go about it. That in itself says something positive about where the game of baseball is given this point in time and a testament to how managers, as much as ever, really matter.
Rookie of the Year
American League
Winner: Kevin McGonigle, Detroit Tigers
Final tally: McGonigle 204 (28 first-place votes), Parker Messick 122 (2), Payton Tolle 54, Munetaka Murakami 39, Carter Jensen 31, Chase DeLauter 23, Kazuma Okamoto 17, Tristan Peters 12, Sam Antonacci 2, Travis Bazzana 2, Walbert Urena 2, Dylan Beavers 1, Henry Bolte 1
Doolittle’s pick: McGonigle
Takeaway: The cases for McGonigle and Guardians starter Messick were close by the numbers, so this seems to have come down to comparing an every-day player versus a starting pitcher. This result makes me wish we had separate rookie awards for hitters and pitchers, but I guess we already have plenty of awards.
McGonigle was a great pick, though, and I’m a little relieved that he didn’t suffer in the voting because of his lack of big-time power numbers — not that 18 homers for a 21-year-old middle infielder is pedestrian. But he added value in so many ways. According to Baseball Reference, McGonigle’s final tally of 7.1 bWAR is the sixth best ever among AL position players.
That kind of performance demands recognition. McGonigle is the first Tiger to win Rookie of the Year since Michael Fulmer in 2016. As for Messick, his week isn’t over: He’s also a Cy Young finalist.
National League
Winner: Sal Stewart, Cincinnati Reds
Final tally: Stewart 170 (20 first-place votes), Carson Benge 107 (7), JJ Wetherholt 99 (3), Nolan McLean 70, TJ Rumfield 49, Logan Henderson 10, Bryce Eldridge 2, Didier Fuentes 2, A.J. Ewing 1
Doolittle’s pick: Wetherholt
Takeaway: I thought we were past this kind of voting, which I hate to write because I don’t like to rain on anybody’s awards parade. Stewart is a fun player and a legit run producer, finishing with 32 homers and 112 RBIs. To be clear, Stewart is not just strictly an RBI compiler — but this is a case where his difference in advanced metrics was just too much to overcome. Or at least it should have been.
Stewart seemed to be aware of this debate as he kind of made his own case during the pre-announcement interview, but it wasn’t necessary. Stewart is the NL Rookie of the Year, and good for him. The last Red to win was Jonathan India in 2021.
Most Valuable Player
American League
Finalists:
Yordan Alvarez, Houston Astros
Junior Caminero, Tampa Bay Rays
Bobby Witt Jr., Kansas City Royals
What to know: Here are the OPS+ figures for the qualifying hitters who ranked second through sixth in the AL: 153, 149, 148, 146 and 144. No. 1? That would be Alvarez … at 190. He dominated the leaderboards for AL hitters at a Wilt Chamberlain-like level, sweeping all the slash categories and falling one homer and seven RBIs shy of a Triple Crown.
Alvarez made that production count, pacing AL hitters in win probability added (6.9), with a figure that was 68% better than the second-place finisher, Pete Alonso. At 81-81, Alvarez’s Astros barely eked out a postseason spot. Without him, they would have been lottery-bound for sure.
Witt should remain a fixture in the finalist group for years to come. He was an easy pick once again this season even though, by his stratospheric standards, it wasn’t his best year. He’s just so good at so many things that the secondary parts of his game add elite value even when his batting line is more good than great.
AXE did not see Caminero as the third finalist, though it’s hard to fault the voters for picking him. From a metrics standpoint, at least the ones that feed AXE, the issue was situational hitting. Caminero ranked fourth in the AL in batting runs above average, but just 12th in the win probability added by all that production.
Doolittle’s pick: Alvarez
National League
Finalists:
Pete Crow-Armstrong, Chicago Cubs
Shohei Ohtani, Los Angeles Dodgers
Brice Turang, Milwaukee Brewers
What to know: AXE and the BBWAA were in lockstep when it came to identifying the finalists. And, really, the drama in this race was more or less over by the time we hit Labor Day. Crow-Armstrong just kept getting better and better while Ohtani struggled with injuries so nagging that he had little impact in October.
The trajectory of the race shows us how much of a tease it was for a few weeks there. After Ohtani built a huge and predictable lead early in the season, Crow-Armstrong took off in June (he posted a 1.249 OPS for the month) and just kept going. By the beginning of August, he had overtaken Ohtani in AXE, and with the Dodgers headed to Wrigley Field on Aug. 3, it felt like we were watching an epic head-to-head race that would be one for the history books.
It was, but only for Crow-Armstrong, who posted one of the best two-way seasons in baseball history. Well, make that three-way. In the subcategories of bWAR, PCA led the NL in both batting runs above average (44) and baserunning runs (9), and ranked third in fielding runs (16). That’s how you end up with 9.8 bWAR — the fourth-best total by a Cubs hitter in the franchise’s 151-year history.
Ohtani’s greatness is hardly diminished by his 2026 season. Look where he is on this leaderboard despite playing injured for much of the second half of the season. As for the often-overlooked Turang, he’ll likely have to content himself with the championship ring he’ll get when next season begins. It’s a trade-off he’ll be happy to make.
Doolittle’s pick: Crow-Armstrong
