The 2026 postseason MVP race has narrowed to a handful of names as the Dodgers meet the Brewers in the NLCS and the Guardians face the Rays in the ALCS. No award has been decided, since both series are still being played out, but the body of October work already separates a few candidates from the pack. The clearest case right now belongs to Tampa Bay right-hander Drew Rasmussen, who has turned in one of the most consistent stretches of pitching in this postseason and whose team has not lost when he takes the mound in his recent run.
Rasmussen’s case is built on a simple number: in his past 13 starts, he has allowed no runs or one run in 10 of them, and the Rays have won all 13 of those games. That stretch includes eight shutout innings against the Yankees in the ALDS. ESPN experts picked Junior Caminero as the top ALCS MVP candidate if Tampa Bay wins the pennant, with eight votes, but Rasmussen drew four votes of his own, trailing only Caminero among Rays players.
Drew Rasmussen’s Case For The 2026 Postseason MVP Race
At 31, Rasmussen is not a name national audiences have followed closely. He was never regarded as a top prospect, and arm issues shadowed him for much of his career before this season. That history makes his 2026 output stand out. He posted a 2.67 ERA with 5.0 WAR over 172 innings in the regular season, numbers that set up his current postseason run rather than explain it on their own.
An ESPN panelist summed up the sentiment around his recent work: “We’re going to hear ‘Drew Rasmussen’ and ‘underrated’ in the same sentence about 5,368 times over the next week. He IS underrated though and enters this series on a hot streak, having allowed more than two runs just once in his past 13 starts,” according to ESPN. That streak, spanning nearly half a season of starts, is the kind of sustained production voters tend to reward once a series ends.
Junior Caminero And The Rays’ Offensive Threat
Caminero’s standing as the top vote-getter for ALCS MVP, ahead of Rasmussen, reflects how much weight experts are putting on the bat that has carried Tampa Bay’s lineup through October. The gap between the two Rays, eight votes to four, shows Caminero is viewed as the more likely overall postseason story if Tampa Bay advances, even with Rasmussen’s run of nearly spotless starts fresh in voters’ minds.
Jackson Chourio And The Brewers’ Pitching Depth
On the National League side, Jackson Chourio drew six votes as the top NLCS MVP candidate if Milwaukee wins the pennant, with Jacob Misiorowski picking up three. Misiorowski’s presence in that group lines up with how the Brewers have built their rotation around him and fellow starter Logan Henderson, a pairing experts have pointed to as the foundation of Milwaukee’s run.
Milwaukee is looking to avoid a repeat of last year’s NLCS, when the Dodgers swept the Brewers and outscored them 15-4. That history adds weight to any Brewers postseason MVP case this time around, since advancing past Los Angeles would mark a turnaround from the previous meeting between the two clubs.
The Counterpoint: Los Angeles’ Deep Roster Of Candidates
The strongest challenge to any single-player narrative comes from the Dodgers’ roster depth. Max Muncy has 19 postseason home runs, tying him for seventh on the all-time career leaderboard, a mark built over multiple playoff runs rather than this October alone. Andy Pages delivered a game-winning single that stood as Los Angeles’ only hit with runners in scoring position in an entire series, after going 1-for-16 in those situations overall, a reminder that single swings can define a series without producing gaudy season-long numbers.
Freddie Freeman’s defensive pick at first base with a runner on third sealed a 3-1 win, and Jack Cronenworth made a significant play in the Brewers-Padres matchup earlier in the postseason. None of those moments carries the sustained volume of Rasmussen’s 13-start run, but postseason MVP voting has historically rewarded a decisive moment as much as a steady stat line, which keeps the Dodgers in the conversation even without one standout statistical leader.
What To Watch As The Championship Series Continue
The MVP picture will keep shifting as the NLCS and ALCS play out. Rasmussen’s next start will test whether his scoreless and one-run stretch can continue against a Guardians lineup, while Caminero’s bat remains the measuring stick for Tampa Bay’s offensive identity. In the NLCS, Chourio and Misiorowski’s performances against the Dodgers will determine whether Milwaukee can avoid last year’s sweep and whether either becomes the clear Brewers choice. Los Angeles enters with no single favorite but several players, from Muncy to Pages to Freeman, capable of tilting the award discussion with one more high-leverage moment.
Additional reporting via MLB.com.
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