2026 MLB awards watch: Ohtani and Alvarez lead at July midpoint
If you are tuning in for the brewers game today, the July awards picture is clear: Shohei Ohtani and Yordan Alvarez lead runaway MVP races in MLB.com's third poll, while Jacob Misiorowski keeps Milwaukee at the center of the NL Cy Young chase. ESPN's July awards watch and CBS Sports' midseason expert picks show most races tightening only outside those two superstars.
Key Takeaways
- Shohei Ohtani (161 poll points) and Yordan Alvarez (148) hold commanding MVP leads through the 2026 midpoint.
- Jacob Misiorowski is CBS Sports' NL Cy Young pick; ESPN's AXE metric currently favors Cristopher Sanchez in a tight NL race.
- Pete Crow-Armstrong's June surge makes him Ohtani's top NL challenger; Bobby Witt Jr. still leads AL AXE but faces Alvarez in polls.
- 2026 is the first BBWAA season with a Reliever of the Year award; Kevin McGonigle and JJ Wetherholt lead rookie races.
- Every club has passed 81 games, so second-half performances will decide trophies from MVP to Comeback Player.
Who leads the 2026 MVP races at the midpoint?
MLB.com's third 2026 MVP poll, surveying 33 experts on a 5-4-3-2-1 scale, shows both leagues turning into runaways. Yordan Alvarez tops the American League with 148 points and 21 first-place votes, building on a league-best 1.039 OPS, 185 total bases and a .426 on-base percentage. Aaron Judge's rib injury has helped widen Alvarez's gap, though 30 players still earned at least one vote across both leagues.
In the National League, Shohei Ohtani collected 161 points and 30 first-place votes. He entered Monday with a .412 OBP, a .950 OPS and a 1.58 ERA across 79⅔ innings — numbers that translate to a MLB-leading 5.4 bWAR. ESPN lists Ohtani at 157.9 AXE, on track to exceed 5.0 WAR as both a hitter and pitcher in the same season for the first time.
Challengers remain loud. Pete Crow-Armstrong hit .367/.451/.734 with 13 homers and nine steals over 34 games since ESPN's last update, posting the best position-player AXE in baseball. Bobby Witt Jr. still leads AL AXE at 142.2, though CBS Sports tabbed Alvarez for MVP and noted Witt's offensive numbers rank sixth among AL hitters in runs created.
Which pitchers are front-runners for Cy Young in July?
The NL race is the awards derby's most dynamic fight. ESPN's July watch gives Cristopher Sanchez a 159.6 AXE edge thanks to an NL-best 5.8 pitching bWAR, but calls Jacob Misiorowski the real-world favorite at 153.1 AXE. CBS Sports also picks Misiorowski, the Brewers ace whose velocity has dominated headlines this summer.
For fans following the brewers game today, Misiorowski's form is the local Cy Young storyline. In the American League, Cam Schlittler leads ESPN's AXE board at 136.9 and is CBS Sports' pick, though a rough June finale against Boston — six earned runs and four homers — has loosened his grip on the top spot.
Shohei Ohtani also ranks fifth in NL Cy Young AXE at 134.0, underscoring how his two-way production reshapes every leaderboard. For viewing plans and daily matchup alerts, bookmark our Streaming & TV Alerts hub.
What other 2026 awards are taking shape?
CBS Sports' midseason picks extend beyond MVP and Cy Young now that every team has cleared 81 games. Kevin McGonigle leads AL Rookie of the Year and JJ Wetherholt tops the NL class. Will Venable is the AL Manager of the Year choice after guiding the White Sox, while Louis Varland (Blue Jays) and Mason Miller (Padres) lead the inaugural BBWAA Reliever of the Year races.
Comeback Player honors skew toward stars returning from injury: Alvarez in the AL after missing most of 2025, and Zack Wheeler in the NL. ESPN's July tracker also lists McGonigle and Wetherholt as rookie AXE front-runners, with Brice Turang among NL MVP also-rans at 128.9 AXE.
For full leaderboard context, see MLB.com's third MVP poll and ESPN's July awards watch. Health — especially Ohtani's two-way workload — remains the one variable that could still rewrite a mostly settled summer script.