Baseball’s awards week opens on Monday, November 9 with the Rookie of the Year announcement, and it closes on Thursday, November 12 with the Most Valuable Player awards, where Pete Crow-Armstrong of the Chicago Cubs leads the National League finalists. The Baseball Writers’ Association of America named its top three vote getters for each major award on November 2, and the week ahead settles every race.
The full schedule, as listed in NBC Sports’ rundown of the 2026 BBWAA finalists, runs Rookie of the Year on November 9, Manager of the Year on November 10, the Cy Young Award and the new Reliever of the Year Award on November 11, and MVP on November 12. For the first time, BBWAA writers are also voting for a Reliever of the Year, which gives this week one more race than it used to carry. This is a storyline preview of the week, written before any winner has been announced.
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The National League Race Has A 40-40 Favourite
Crow-Armstrong’s case is the loudest line on either ballot. He hit .280 with a .372 on-base percentage and a .570 slugging percentage, with 45 home runs, 107 runs batted in, 41 stolen bases and a 10.6 fWAR that towers over the rest of the finalist field. Power and speed at that level, in centre field, for a full season, is the profile MVP voters have rewarded for a century, and he did it as the centrepiece of the Cubs lineup.
His competition is the sport’s most unusual case and its most complete contender story. Shohei Ohtani hit .275 with 30 home runs and 81 runs batted in while also posting a 1.79 earned run average across 14 starts for the Los Angeles Dodgers, a two-way season shortened on the mound but still without a real comparison. Brice Turang hit .268 with 21 home runs, 100 runs batted in and 102 runs scored for Milwaukee, the club with the best record in baseball at 103-59, and his value case rests on doing everything for the team that won the most games.
The American League Race Is Power Against All-Round Value
Yordan Alvarez owns the best batting line in the American League race. The Houston designated hitter hit .316 with a .432 on-base percentage and a .601 slugging percentage, with 42 home runs, 106 runs batted in and 105 runs scored. Junior Caminero matched the power for Tampa Bay, hitting .276 with 42 home runs, 101 runs batted in and 100 runs scored while playing all 162 games at third base for a Rays team that reached the World Series.
Bobby Witt Jr. is the counter-argument. The Kansas City shortstop hit .281 with 18 home runs, 54 runs batted in, 45 stolen bases and 94 runs scored in 143 games, and his 7.0 fWAR is the highest mark among the American League finalists, built on premium defence at the hardest infield position plus the running game. The race asks voters a clean question: the best pure hitter, the durable power bat on a pennant winner, or the shortstop who affects every part of the game.
Toronto Watches Wednesday Night
The Toronto angle in awards week lands on Wednesday, November 11, when two Blue Jays finalists hear their results on the same night. Dylan Cease is an American League Cy Young finalist after posting a 2.40 earned run average with 239 strikeouts in 169 innings in his first season in Toronto. His competition is steep: New York’s Cam Schlittler posted a 1.95 earned run average with 239 strikeouts, and Cleveland rookie Parker Messick put up a 2.56 earned run average across 32 starts, which also makes Messick a Rookie of the Year finalist on Monday.
Louis Varland is a finalist for the first American League Reliever of the Year award, after saving 35 games with a 1.27 earned run average and 97 strikeouts in 78 innings as a first-time closer. Tampa Bay’s Bryan Baker and Cleveland’s Cade Smith each saved 41 games, Baker with a 1.44 earned run average and Smith with a 1.95 mark, so Varland’s case rests on run prevention: the lowest earned run average of the three, in the most innings. Win or lose, Toronto having a finalist in two separate races is the clearest marker of a pitching staff that carried its season.
The Full Week, Day By Day
Monday’s Rookie of the Year races pair Messick with Detroit infielder Kevin McGonigle and Boston left-hander Payton Tolle in the American League, and Cincinnati’s Sal Stewart, who hit 32 home runs with 111 runs batted in, with New York Mets outfielder Carson Benge and St. Louis shortstop JJ Wetherholt in the National League. Tuesday’s Manager of the Year finalists include Tampa Bay’s Kevin Cash, who produced a 21-win improvement to win the American League East, and Milwaukee’s Pat Murphy, who is chasing a third straight National League award with the best record in baseball behind him.
By Thursday night, every race is settled and the offseason takes over, with free agency and roster deadlines waiting on the other side of the MVP announcement. Awards week is the last set-piece of the 2026 season, and it starts Monday. The first name called will be a rookie. The last one, on November 12, will be an MVP, and Crow-Armstrong’s 45 home runs and 41 stolen bases make him the man to beat.
