BASEBALL LENS
The Lens · Award Races

The Award Boards, and Where They're Really Close

SEPTEMBER 24, 2026

Our MVP, Cy Young and Rookie Scores — who leads each race, and by how much.

The season's award races are down to a handful of names, and our 0-100 Scores have opinions. Two of the six leaders are runaways; the other four are close enough to sweat. Here's who's out front today.

MVP watch

Our MVP Score (0–100) — each hitter’s OPS, on-base, power, run production and playing time graded against the league average, then blended. Higher is better.

Yordan Alvarez owns the AL race at 84.1, a .316 average and 41 homers backing a 1.035 OPS that no one else in the league is touching. The NL is Pete Crow-Armstrong's at 81.0, and the story is a center fielder blowing past what the Cubs used to get from the spot; his 45 homers, .950 OPS and a scorching 1.040 last-30 hold off Kyle Schwarber (75.3) and Rafael Devers (75.2), who are all but tied for second.

American League
National League

Cy Young watch

Our Cy Young Score (0–100) — ERA, WHIP, strikeout and walk rates, workload and quality starts, each graded against the league average, then blended. Higher is better.

Jacob Misiorowski leads the NL at 86.6 on a 1.86 ERA, an 0.80 WHIP and 247 strikeouts, with Chris Sale (83.3, 2.16 ERA) close enough to keep it interesting. In the AL, Cam Schlittler runs first at 82.7 behind a 1.94 ERA and a 0.83 mark over his last 32.2 innings, comfortably ahead of Drew Rasmussen (75.8).

American League
National League

Rookie of the Year watch

Our Rookie Score (0–100) — the MVP and Cy Young engines applied to first-year players, hitters and pitchers ranked on one scale. Higher is better.

The rookie races are the tightest boards we have. In the AL, Parker Messick (70.5, 2.55 ERA) noses out slugger Munetaka Murakami (70.3) by two-tenths of a point. The NL front-runner is Sal Stewart at 69.5, whose 110 RBI and 32 homers dwarf what the Reds' first basemen managed the last four years, with Nolan McLean (62.9) the next arm up.

American League
National League

Stats via the MLB Stats API. Colors, form scores and power rankings are Baseball Lens's own.