Major League Baseball announced on Monday evening that Junior Caminero, Bryan Baker, and Kevin Cash have each earned nominations for prestigious league awards. Every finalist stands as a genuinely deserving candidate, and each carries a strong chance of claiming the honor when winners are revealed next week.
**AL MVP: Junior Caminero, Yordan Alvarez (Astros), Bobby Witt, Jr. (Royals)**
Alvarez mounted a serious late-season challenge for the Triple Crown. Ultimately, he secured the batting title with a .316 average, while Plant High product and Orioles first baseman Pete Alonso led the league in home runs with 43 and RBI with 113.
The case for Caminero is straightforward and compelling. He finished tied for second in home runs with 42, alongside Alvarez, and placed third in RBI with 101, just five behind Alvarez. Throughout the season, he demonstrated noticeable improvement in his fielding at third base, delivering genuinely impressive performances while starting all 162 games at the position.
Caminero batted .286, ranked fourth in OPS at .885, and tied for sixth in runs scored with 100. These numbers carry considerable weight coming from a young star playing only his second full season for the American League champions , one who did not turn 23 until July.
Witt is an exceptional player; however, he did not produce an MVP-caliber season. He batted .281 and posted career lows in home runs with 18 and RBI with 54 for a Kansas City team that finished with 93 losses. He stole 45 bases, finishing just one behind Chandler Simpson for the league lead, and his defensive work remained outstanding as always.
The winner will be announced on November 12.
**AL Reliever of the Year: Bryan Baker (Rays), Cade Smith (Guardians), Louis Varland (Blue Jays)**
The Rays entered the 2026 season without a designated closer, though they possessed a capable collection of late-inning arms, Baker among them. The organization adopted a flexible, mix-and-match approach , until Baker stepped forward and assumed command. He recorded 41 saves, sharing MLB leadership with Smith, and converted 32 consecutive save opportunities during a season in which he posted a 1.44 ERA and a 0.91 WHIP.
Smith matched Baker with 41 saves while recording a 1.95 ERA and a 0.96 WHIP. He struck out 13 batters per nine innings, compared to Baker’s rate of 9.1. Varland contributed 35 saves, a 1.27 ERA, a 1.00 WHIP, and an 11.2 strikeouts-per-nine-innings rate for the Blue Jays, a club that never managed to contend despite appearing in the World Series the previous year.
The winner will be announced on November 11.
**AL Manager of the Year: Kevin Cash (Rays), Chad Tracy (Red Sox), Will Venable (White Sox)**
Cash has built his career on the ability to manage lineups with precision and identify the right combinations on both sides of the ball, particularly within the constraints of a low-payroll organization. The 2026 season exemplified that skill at its highest level. His club won 98 games and captured the AL East by 4.5 games, despite widespread preseason projections placing Tampa Bay at no better than .500. That achievement became even more remarkable when Ryan Pepiot suffered a season-ending injury late in the Grapefruit League schedule.
Tracy guided the Red Sox along a path many analysts anticipated, though the manner in which it unfolded proved particularly noteworthy. He took over from the fired Alex Cora just one month into the season and steered Boston to a wild card berth. Venable’s White Sox delivered a compelling story in his second season as manager. Chicago won 84 games after losing more than 100 in each of the three preceding seasons, then defeated the Astros in a wild-card series before falling to Cleveland in the ALDS.
The winner will be announced on November 10.
Leave a Reply