The fantasy baseball season is over, and the MLB Playoffs have begun. Yet, before we fully close the book on the 2026 MLB regular season, we got all the Rotoworld MLB writers together to vote for their fantasy MVP, Cy Young, Rookie of the Year, and so much more.
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Fantasy Baseball MVP
We all chose Pete Crow-Armstrong. After struggling in the second half last year, people wrote him off as a volatile fantasy asset, and he responded by putting together a 40/40 season with a .280 average, 107 RBI, and 119 runs. He was clearly the top player in fantasy, and you probably didn’t use a first- or second-round pick on him.
Fantasy Baseball Cy Young
“Cam Schlittler was outstanding in his first taste of MLB in 2025, but was even better in his first full season with the Yankees this year. The runaway favorite for the AL Cy Young award, he was the third overall player in the Razzball player rater in standard 12-team leagues.” – Nick Shlain
Everybody else chose Jacob Misiorowski. “This was the easiest call to make during this exercise. Especially considering the ADP (outside the top 100), his season was even more remarkable for fantasy managers. Misiorowski led the majors in ERA (1.80), strikeouts (252) and WHIP (0.80), nearly sweeping all the standard fantasy categories. Only two pitchers topped his 16 wins, so the young fireballer was plenty helpful there as well. The only downside was an abbreviated start during the fantasy playoffs, but that’s a mere nitpick. It was an emphatic and historic season, with every reason to think it will continue if health cooperates.” – D.J. Short
Fantasy Baseball Rookie of the Year
“Kevin McGonigle‘s power and speed didn’t produce gaudy totals, but he played 156 games with solid production across the board. Scoring 97 runs on an otherwise pedestrian Tigers offense is nothing to sneeze at. He also gave fantasy managers something to dream on with 10 home runs in 63 games in the second half.” – Nick Shlain
“Outfield somehow feeling the shallowest spot in fantasy led me to Carson Benge here; he went 20-20 and hit .282 despite starting in a very, very rough funk in April, finishing inside the top 60 in 5×5 value.” – Rivers McCown
“Sal Stewart was going outside the top 150 picks and still earned almost $28 of value. He was the 13th overall hitter on FanGraphs’ Player Rater, and hit .263 with 32 home runs and 111 RBI. He looks like a locked-in stud moving forward.” – Eric Samulski
“I think it’s just so hard to find elite pitching options late in fantasy drafts or on the waiver wire, so for Parker Messick to put together the type of season that he did from an ADP of pick 275 in NFBC Main Event leagues is pretty remarkable. He was absolutely elite with a 2.56 ERA, 1.06 WHIP, and 193 strikeouts over 186 1/3 innings while chipping in a solid 12 victories as well. That made him not just one of the most valuable rookies in the fantasy space this season, but one of the most valuable pitchers overall.” – Dave Shovein
Fantasy Baseball’s Most Disappointing Pick (top 50 overall pick)
“If you remove the guys who failed to produce value because they got hurt (Aaron Judge, Garrett Crochet, Edwin Diaz), then the clear answer is Vladimir Guerrero Jr. He was taken on the 1-2 turn and managed to earn just $4 of value in a full season of 600 plate appearances. The power was nonexistent, the team around him didn’t help, and he probably should have been cut in a lot more fantasy leagues.” – Eric Samulski
“Kyle Tucker was drafted as a first-round pick in NFBC Main Event leagues at pick 14 overall and was a tremendous disappointment from that lofty draft spot. He was supposed to see a major increase in his counting stats moving to the vaunted Dodgers’ lineup and being sandwiched around superstars, but instead he had the worst offensive season of his career in his age-29 season – slashing .233/.330/.385 with just 17 homers, 70 RBI, 12 stolen bases and 90 runs scored while staying healthy and playing in 154 games. Just a brutal effort overall given the draft cost and the situation that he was stepping into.” – Dave Shovein
“This one is obvious, right? Edwin Díaz was never right from the moment he put on a Dodgers uniform. He was justifiably viewed as an elite closing option with a proven track record of sustained success joining a superstar-laden roster pursuing their third straight World Series title. The fact that he was a complete non-factor fantasy-wise was one of the more unexpected developments of the entire season.” – George Bissell
“Paying the price for Cal Raleigh this spring after his enormous 2025 campaign always seemed like a bad idea, but there was no reason to think it’d work out that poorly. Raleigh hit .226 and averaged 32 homers and 88 RBI in the two years leading up to his record-breaking season. This year, though, he came in at .182 with 23 homers and 69 RBI. His .664 OPS was 134 points lower than his previous career mark. He was actually at .556 through Aug. 15 before rebounding nicely to hit .250 with 11 homers and a .946 OPS in his final 36 games. Of course, most who selected him were focusing on their fantasy football drafts by that time.” – Matthew Pouliot
Fantasy Baseball’s Best Value Pick (drafted outside the top 150)
“Alec Burleson shockingly led the league in RBI this season. The past four leaders were Kyle Schwarber, Aaron Judge, Matt Olson, and Pete Alonso. Always a fine hitter, a 1 1/2 jump in bat speed helped him find much more power, and a revamped top of the order for the Cardinals put plenty of guys on base to drive in. It was kismet and led to Burleson returning nearly first-round value after being drafted around pick-200.” – James Schiano
“I was a longtime backer of Miguel Vargas, but unfortunately, that pretty much came to a halt this spring. He was adequate but really nothing more than that while getting to play a full season for the White Sox in 2025, and it was hard to see much mixed-league upside in store for 2026. So much for that. Vargas’s average bat speed improved from 70.6 mph to 73.9 mph this year. He overtook nearly half the league in the process, going from being in the 25th percentile to the 70th percentile in the category. He doubled his homer count from 16 to 33 and also went from six steals to 22, turning into a top-20 overall fantasy performer in the process.” – Matthew Pouliot
“There are many answers to this, and I want to give a special shoutout to Jake Bauers, who was not even drafted. However, the answer has to be Jordan Walker. He had an ADP outside of the top 500 in some formats and hit .269 with 29 home runs and 22 steals. Yes, he slowed down at the end of the season, but he was your best pick or waiver add of the year.” – Eric Samulski
OTHERS RECEIVING VOTES: Sal Stewart and Brandon Lowe
Best Fantasy Baseball Waiver Add
“Since we listed Jordan Walker already, this is going to be Bryan Baker. The Rays closer was undrafted in most formats and wound up leading the league with 41 saves. If you drafted any of Jeff Hoffman, Daniel Palencia, Ryan Walker, etc. and wound up picking up Baker on waivers, it could have saved you your season.” – Eric Samulski
“Louis Varland became baseball’s best undrafted closer by a long shot, finishing with 35 saves and a 1.27 ERA. It wasn’t quite Mason Miller, but it wasn’t far off, either. Along with Jacob Latz and Bryan Baker, Varland headlined an absurd free agent closer crop this year.” – Rivers McCown
OTHERS RECEIVING VOTES: Cade Cavalli, Parker Messick, Jordan Walker, Jake McCarthy
Fantasy Baseball Comeback Player of the Year
“Eduardo Rodriguez was a complete afterthought in fantasy drafts in March, with an ADP in NFBC Main Event leagues well after pick 400 overall. He hadn’t seen any relevance from a fantasy perspective since making 26 strong starts for the Tigers during the 2023 campaign. Over the next two seasons, he compiled a miserable 5.02 ERA and 1.53 WHIP over 204 1/3 innings and looked like his career could be over. Instead, he ramped up early and helped Venezuela to win the World Baseball Classic, then went on to go 16-7 with a 2.89 ERA, 1.24 WHIP and a 143/62 K/BB ratio over 189 2/3 innings in 32 starts for a Diamondbacks’ team that lost out on a playoff spot on the final day of the season. Making that type of comeback in his age-33 season was completely unexpected, and yet he still probably won’t get the type of respect that he should heading into the 2027 campaign.” – Dave Shovein
“Here’s an oversimplification: Jake McCarthy was one of the most impactful power and speed combo outfielders in the fantasy landscape just a few months after the Diamondbacks were willing to trade him within their own division coming off a season where he played just 67 games and spent most of the year in Triple-A purgatory. He showed he could be an impactful fantasy contributor with three consecutive 20-steal seasons from 2022-2024, but McCarthy nearly doubled his previous career-high mark in the home run department, finishing with 15 round-trippers, while also posting a career-best .291 batting average. The fact that he went up a level across the board in his Colorado debut, while also notching a career-high 32 steals, was completely unexpected.” – George Bissell
“Nolan Arenado was left for dead by the fantasy community. The 35-year-old third baseman had hit 28 home runs over his last two seasons combined, but managed to hit 30 home runs for the first time since 2022 this year.” – Nick Shlain
“Although his shoulder led to diminished velocity late and cost him a start at the end of the year, Dylan Cease wound up throwing one more inning and allowing 40 fewer earned runs in 29 starts for the Blue Jays this year than he did in 32 starts for the Padres in 2025. He struck out 239 and allowed a total of 11 homers, and his .180 average against was the sixth-lowest mark of the century for starters with 162 innings pitched. The Blue Jays really couldn’t have asked for anything more in year one of his seven-year, $210 million contract.” – Matthew Pouliot
“Multiple years off a major league mound couldn’t stop Cade Cavalli from being a top-20 starting pitcher in earned value this season. When he returned late in 2025, his knuckle-curve carried too significant of a weight in his arsenal, and when it wasn’t right, he struggled to put hitters away. This summer, he found a new feel for a cutter and became more confident in his sweeper as a whiff pitch against right-handed batters. Finding these adjustments on the fly after his collection of injuries and the layoff they caused was wildly impressive, and he’s set to fly up draft boards next spring.” – James Schiano
“The only reason Oneil Cruz doesn’t feel like more of a bounceback is that he missed major time with injuries. He hit .280, stole 30 bases in just 97 games, and hit 20 homers. After barely hitting .200 last year, Cruz became sort of a draft enigma. This season should have him in the top-50 mix for 2027.” – Rivers McCown
Biggest Fantasy Baseball Lesson Learned in 2026
“To be a judicious roster churner on pitchers. I got better at reading the underlying stats and moving on when they looked bad.” – Rivers McCown
“Stop getting overly excited about spring training velocity gainers.” – Matthew Pouliot
“Hitters with elevated strikeout rates (over 30 percent) are getting more opportunities than ever before. An exorbitantly high strikeout rate isn’t automatically disqualifying anymore.” – George Bissell
“I had too much confidence in pitchers who were coming off injury but returned for some of last season. Instead of just being in on guys like Kyle Bradish and Eury Perez because they flashed upside when they returned in 2025, I bought them in 2026 as if they were LOCKED INTO returning to their peak. That was bad business.” – Eric Samulski
Fantasy Baseball Player to Avoid for 2027
“Ronald Acuña is a generational talent just a few years removed from one of the greatest fantasy seasons ever. That’s part of the problem. He’s a massive name, and there will probably be at least one manager in every redraft league paying up for the possibility that he stays remotely healthy and delivers first-round value. He’s the type of outlier that could defy the odds, but he’s played more than 120 games only once in the last six seasons since 2021. Someone will inevitably pay for the upside, but I’m not willing to pay the early-round freight entering his age-29 season with his omnipresent health concerns hanging overhead.” – George Bissell
“Piggybacking off of my lesson from this season, you’re not going to find me taking lots of shares of Justin Steele, Nick Pivetta, or even Garrett Crochet if we’re still pricing him as a top 5-8 starting pitcher.” – Eric Samulski
“Michael King was effectively the Padres’ ace this season, staying healthy for 32 starts while posting a 3.21 ERA. He gets to pitch in San Diego again in 2027, so it’s a great situation, but his underlying numbers provide reasons for caution. King’s strikeout rate collapsed to 21 percent this year, down from 24.7 percent in 2025 and 27.7 percent in 2024. 59 pitchers with at least 120 innings surpassed him in strikeout rate. King also posted his highest walk rate since moving into the starting rotation. Put it all together, and you can see why his xERA was 4.42 for the year. It’s great that he stayed healthy, but that’s no sure thing going forward, either. King looks like an easy fade if there’s an aggressive ADP in 2027.” – D.J. Short
“Pitchers in the first two rounds; you simply can’t make up the production if you lose them.” – Rivers McCown
Fantasy Baseball Player to Target for 2027
“Bryce Eldridge’s season came to an unfortunate end due to concussion symptoms, but his strong finish puts him on the radar for a full-fledged breakout in 2027. The 21-year-old rebounded from a midseason slump by slashing .330/.423/.541 with five home runs and 28 RBI over his final 29 games. For the season as a whole, he struck out 26.6 percent of the time. Fantasy managers can live with that moving forward. Eldridge also showed plenty of patience, increasing his appeal in OBP leagues. Most encouraging is the quality of contact, as Eldridge was in the 96th percentile in hard-hit percentage and the 95th percentile in average exit velocity. Oracle Park isn’t an ideal place for offense, so that will impact his counting stats, but Eldridge could be a 30-homer candidate if he adds more loft next year.” – D.J. Short
“Healthy Konnor Griffin and second-year Kevin McGonigle will feed families.” – Rivers McCown
“I wouldn’t be surprised if Carter Jensen is next year’s Drake Baldwin, but the real answer for me is Henry Bolte. He changed his approach in the minors, making more contact and lifting the ball more. It took a while for that change to carry over when he got promoted, but it started to. He plays in a great home park. Has elite raw tools and an emerging approach. He’ll be a key target of mine.” – Eric Samulski
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