In time, legitimate candidates for the American and National league MVPs not named Shohei Ohtani will reveal themselves. After all, most any player can have a good month, and a team a good half.
Perhaps you’ve heard of the word sustainability?
But the most valuable player for a given team can make his most significant contribution at any time – even the first half. And perhaps that comes not in the form of traditional counting or rate statistics, but in an area his club needs the most.
With a majority of Major League Baseball teams reaching or exceeding the season’s midpoint point, USA TODAY Sports bestows a most valuable player award for each team:
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Follow the money: MLB player salaries and payrolls for every major league team
American League
Baltimore Orioles: SP Tyler Wells. This award could go to Adley Rutschman in perpetuity, but it is Wells, a 6-8 right-hander, pitching deep into games and posting a 0.89 WHIP that’s galvanized the Orioles’ pitching staff and enabled their consistent performance.
Boston Red Sox: OF Alex Verdugo. At 27, he’s having a career year with a .302/.374/.471 line and a team-best 129 adjusted OPS.
Chicago White Sox: CF Luis Robert. At long last, he’s healthy and hammering the ball, with 23 home runs and soon to double his previous season high of 13.
Cleveland Guardians: 3B Jose Ramirez. Still that dude you don’t want to beat you: His 11 intentional walks leads the major leagues. Ramirez’s .366 OBP would be his best in a full season since 2018.
Detroit Tigers: CF Riley Greene. The lineup is still mostly putrid, and Greene has missed all of June with a stress fracture in his fibula. But he should return before the break and in 52 games produced an .805 OPS, proving to be the least of the Tigers’ worries.
Houston Astros: DH Yordan Alvarez. Remember him? Alvarez’s boffo production – 17 homers, a .978 OPS, 166 adjusted OPS in 57 games – camouflaged the fact five lineup regulars have OBPs ranging from .283 to .307. No relief in sight as Alvarez is shelved with an oblique injury.
Kansas City Royals: SP Zack Greinke. Three Royals pitchers have made at least 16 starts and Greinke has proven least incompetent – posting a 5.31 ERA and averaging a bit more than five innings. That makes the pain of a 22-58 season pass just that much more efficiently.
Los Angeles Angels: SP/DH Shohei Ohtani. Let’s not overcomplicate things.
Minnesota Twins: RP Brock Stewart. The starting trio of Sonny Gray, Joe Ryan and Bailey Ober have been stellar, but Stewart’s 25 2/3 mostly high-leverage relief innings have helped a 40-42 club stay – gulp – in first place. Alas, Stewart’s efforts landed him on the injured list with elbow soreness.
New York Yankees: SP Gerrit Cole. Good luck finding a more consistently reliable part in this misfiring team – Anthony Rizzo, maybe – than Cole, every fifth day, striking out 9.8 batters per nine innings and restoring order to an arrhythmic pitching staff.
Oakland Athletics: 1B Ryan Noda. A truly miraculous story – Rule 5 draft pick bats in middle of lineup, rips 23 extra-base hits, produces .790 OPS. But A’s fans in Las Vegas shouldn’t get too attached: If Noda keeps this up, he’ll be arbitration-eligible in 2026, two years before the A’s stadium opens there, greatly enhancing the chances he’ll get traded before a pitch is thrown on the Strip.
Seattle Mariners: RP Paul Sewald. Throw a dart among this underwhelming bunch. Sewald has converted 14 of 17 save chances and, if he keeps this up as the Mariners’ playoff hopes stay under 10%, should fetch a disproportionate haul at the reliever-mad trade deadline.
Tampa Bay Rays: 1B Yandy Diaz. It’s the Rays offense that separates them from previous teams, with Diaz (.407 OBP) and Randy Arozarena (.401 OBP) keeping constant pressure on opponents. Give the nod to Diaz, who leads in batting average (.322), OPS (.928) and adjusted OPS (156).
Texas Rangers: 2B Marcus Semien. Leads them in many tangibles (96 hits, 157 total bases) and also intangibles, setting the tone as a leadoff hitter and with his work ethic. Honorable mention to Nate Eovaldi, pitching like he’s the one guaranteed $185 million.
Toronto Blue Jays: SP Kevin Gausman. Imagine where they’d be if Alek Manoah pitched his way to Class A and Gausman was anything less than the 139-strikeout, innings-consuming menace he’s been.
National League
Arizona Diamondbacks: OF Corbin Carroll. Go ahead and engrave the Rookie of the Year trophy. And his combo of speed (23 steals), power (17 homers, .938 OPS) and defense should make him a real threat to…
Atlanta Braves: OF Ronald Acuña Jr. Should see his name on the real trophy come November, unless a .330 average and .990 OPS for a team running away with the division isn’t enough to sway voters.
Chicago Cubs: SP Marcus Stroman. His 2.47 ERA ranks second in the NL and he’s gone at least six innings and allowed two or fewer runs in 14 of 17 starts.
Cincinnati Reds: RP Alexis Diaz. With so many outstanding rookies and second-year men making key contributions, it is Diaz holding the pitching staff together with his back-end dominance, posting a 1.80 ERA and 22 saves, second in the NL.
Colorado Rockies: 3B Ryan McMahon. It all comes together at 28 for a player set for career highs in almost every major statistical category, most notably OPS (.824, up from a career high .779).
Los Angeles Dodgers: SP Clayton Kershaw. At 35, the team’s leader in ERA (2.55), innings pitched (95 1/3), strikeouts (105) and adjusted ERA (173). His brilliance hasn’t been so crucial in a while.
Miami Marlins: 1B Luis Arraez. When Tony Gwynn flirted with .400, his .394 batting average was 124 points above league average. Arraez’s .396 mark is 148 points above it.
Milwaukee Brewers: RP Devin Williams. Looking mighty comfortable in his first full year as closer, with a 94% save percentage and a 256 adjusted ERA.
New York Mets: OF Brandon Nimmo. Does it really matter? A miserable summer beckons without a collective turnaround.
Philadelphia Phillies: OF Nick Castellanos. What a line – .314/.359/.498 – on a team with uneven performances throughout the roster.
Pittsburgh Pirates: CF Jack Suwinski. Has twice as many homers as any teammate and an .823 OPS while playing a premium position.
San Diego Padres: OF Juan Soto. Somewhat appropriately, the nod goes to a supremely talented player whose fantastic numbers (.421 OBP, .912 OPS) seem strangely empty in a first half that, team-wise, was an abject failure.
San Francisco Giants: RP Camilo Doval. With apologies to Thairo Estrada, Doval has been nails for a club that plays a ton of close games, converting 23 of 25 save chances and finishing a majors-high 34 games.
St. Louis Cardinals: SP Jordan Montgomery. When almost the entire pitching staff goes haywire, a 3.52 ERA and 3.50 FIP – loosely, the definition of competence – is greatly appreciated.
Washington Nationals: 3B Jeimar Candelario. He catches the ball and hits doubles (26) and perhaps nothing more epitomizes these relatively watchable Nationals.
