The first monthly look at 2026 award races finds Shohei Ohtani squarely in the National League Cy Young conversation after declaring a Cy Young goal during spring training. On a per-162-game basis entering the season Ohtani had averaged a 13-7 record, a 3.00 ERA, a 143 ERA+, 228 strikeouts and 5.5 bWAR. He had qualified for an ERA title just once and splits his value with elite hitting, but his role in 2026 has tilted toward being a full-time rotation ace while his offensive workload has been reduced.
If Ohtani captures his first NL Cy Young, there is a strong chance he would also claim a fourth consecutive Most Valuable Player award, underscoring how intertwined the two races could become. Still, the NL pitching race figures to be competitive as monthly check-ins begin to take shape.
On the American League MVP front, Bobby Witt Jr. of the Kansas City Royals tops the early list with a 140.5 AXE score. The next nine in the AL early pecking order are: 2. Nick Kurtz, Oakland Athletics (135.0); 3. Shea Langeliers, Athletics (131.2); 4. Cody Bellinger, New York Yankees (129.3); 5. Kevin McGonigle, Detroit Tigers (128.1); 6. Aaron Judge, Yankees (127.4); 7. Miguel Vargas, Chicago White Sox (127.3); 8. Mike Trout, Los Angeles Angels (127.1); 9. Yordan Alvarez, Houston Astros (124.5); 10. Willson Contreras, Boston Red Sox (122.6).
Witt’s standing owes as much to defense and all-around value as to offense. According to FanGraphs’ DEF metric, Witt has been the most valuable defender in the majors, and he ranks seventh in BSR, the site’s baserunning metric. Playing shortstop adds positional value; his 31.9 runs above replacement translate to a 3.3 fWAR, more than a half-win clear of any other AL player. Of those 31.9 runs, just 8.2 come from batting, and his batting metrics have started pedestrian with isolated power down compared with past seasons.
The biggest mover on the early AL board is Nick Kurtz, whose AXE jumped from 117.3 at the end of April to 135.0 and whose MLB rank rose from 51st to sixth. Kurtz has long been an on-base performer, posting a .510 OBP over three years at Wake Forest and .440 in limited minor-league action. In the majors this season he is at .404 overall and leads the AL with a .448 OBP, while hitting .290. He has sacrificed some power for more line drives at the expense of fly balls, leaving homers down even as exit velocities have ticked higher. After spending much of the season leading off, Kurtz has recently hit second or third, a move that places him in more run-producing spots.
