After one of the great seasons in baseball history -- a season we’ll be talking about for the rest of our lives -- Major League Baseball has a tough act to follow in 2026. Fortunately, it has a deep cast of stars and compelling figures, all main characters in a plotline we’ll be obsessed with all season, to keep the excitement going.
The new year will bring with it countless surprises. But here are the 10 players who we expect to define it.
Elly De La Cruz, SS, Reds
We’ve all been predicting that De La Cruz will be an MVP since he entered the league in June 2023 -- really, since we all first looked at him, for crying out loud. But while De La Cruz has made the All-Star Game and received down-ballot MVP votes in both of his two full seasons, he hasn’t quite elevated his game to that truly top-tier level … yet.
His OPS was actually down 34 points from 2024 to ‘25, and he led the Majors in errors for the second season in a row. (To be fair, he apparently was dealing with a nagging quad injury throughout the season.) There were still signs of improvement -- the strikeout rate was down and the walk rate was up -- but the Reds need Elly to take that next big step forward. The good news is that he will only be 24 years old on Jan. 11. There are many, many steps left to be made.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr., 1B, Blue Jays
The 2025 season essentially began in the best possible way, with Guerrero signing a contract extension that kicked off the Blue Jays’ best season in more than 30 years, one that culminated in a World Series that might just have been the best one this century. Unfortunately, that historic Series ended in historic heartbreak for Toronto.
The team clearly is pushing even harder to return to the Fall Classic, as evidenced by its Hot Stove activity. But whoever is added to the roster, the leader here remains, as ever, Vladdy. He’s the emotional heart of the team as well as, of course, a guy with thunder in his bat. Is he going to return to near-MVP form? After that World Series, this would be a wonderful time for it.
Bryce Harper, 1B, Phillies
It has been a tumultuous offseason for Harper. Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski made some public comments about Harper’s 2025 season and status as an elite player in the game -- comments that sparked some unfounded trade rumors -- before clearing the air with the team’s longtime star.
Harper is 33 now and still has seven years left on his contract, and although he’s still Bryce Harper, if you did happen to point out that his numbers were lower across the board last year than they have been in a decade, you would not be wrong. Of all the veterans on the Phillies, Harper is the one in most desperate need of a title to finally complete his eventual Hall of Fame plaque. But Philadelphia needs him to look like the old Harper … rather than an old Harper. There are reasons for both optimism and concern here, but no matter what, this will be a story that bears watching.
Aaron Judge, RF, Yankees
Is he the best right-handed hitter of all time? Maybe. Probably! But he is also a Yankee, which means that if he ends up not winning a ring in the Bronx, that fact will be right there atop his résumé with all those homers.
The Yankees have implied that they might not be up for adding as much this offseason as they have in the past, which may put even more burden on Judge to carry this offense, again. Fortunately, he’s Aaron Judge: If anyone can carry an entire offense, it is rather obviously him. But time is running out. He is, after all, even older than Harper.
Shohei Ohtani, DH/RHP, Dodgers
I’m not sure this one requires all that much explanation. Ohtani will be at the center of every conversation in 2026, and 2027, and for as long as he is a Major Leaguer. There won’t be one of us who dares look away.
Julio Rodríguez, CF, Mariners
Rodríguez had an outstanding year in 2025, an improvement on his disappointing 2024 and, of course, one that ended with a division title and a trip to the ALCS. But the signature star of the Mariners’ resurgence since he won the AL Rookie of the Year Award in 2022 was, in fact, not the signature star of the Mariners this year: That would be Cal Raleigh, the Big Dumper.
Rodríguez still feels like the future of this franchise, though, and it would help if the things he still struggles with (plate discipline, strikeouts) moved a little bit more in the right direction. And don’t forget his last at-bat of the season -- a chased strike three to end the ALCS -- which was what still frustrates about Julio in microcosm. We all thought he’d win an MVP someday. Is he closer to that than he was in 2022, or further away? A huge step forward could make him the signature star again … even with the Big Dumper around.
Paul Skenes, RHP, Pirates
Everything Skenes has done in his career has been ahead of schedule. He was dominant from his very first second in the league, and last year, in his second season, he was even better, winning his first of presumably many Cy Youngs. Two years in, he somehow still has a career ERA under 2.00, which is just about the most absurd thing imaginable. The major questions:
1. Can he get even better?
2. Are the Pirates going to be able to take advantage of having the best pitcher in baseball?
That last question may be the key one, at least for what drives the conversation about Skenes. Will we be talking about what he’s doing … or where he will be doing it next?
Tarik Skubal, LHP, Tigers
Only four pitchers have won three Cy Young Awards and are not in the Hall of Fame: Roger Clemens (who has seven and is not there for reasons separate from his career stats) and Max Scherzer, Clayton Kershaw and Justin Verlander, who all figure to be there as soon as they’re eligible.
Skubal will go for his third in a row in 2026 and, ERA fluctuations aside, essentially had the same season in 2025 as he did in 2024. If he does it again, he’ll win that third Cy. That is … if he’s still in American League. Yep, one of the major questions about Skubal remains: Is he going to be a Tiger on Opening Day? After the Trade Deadline? This time next year?
Juan Soto, RF, Mets
Soto’s first season in Flushing ended in disappointment, but you sure can’t blame him for it. He was all the Mets had paid for and more, hitting a career-high 43 homers and, amazingly, tied for the NL lead in stolen bases, with 38. (Less surprisingly, he led the Majors in walks as well, for the fourth time in the past five years.)
For all the justified love for Francisco Lindor, this is going to become more and more Soto’s team as the years go along. With that, Soto can hope to put the team’s fraught late-season history behind it and lead a transition to the next era of Mets baseball. He’s a future Hall of Famer already. Now it’s time to become, to steal a moniker, Mr. Met.
Kyle Tucker, OF, free agent
The consensus top free agent of the offseason remains available, and where he decides to go could shift the entire balance of power in either league. But wherever he ends up, the biggest question will be if he can remain a little bit healthier than he was in Chicago in 2025, or in his final year in Houston in 2024. If so, he’s a potential MVP-level addition to a lineup and will make his new fanbase very, very happy.