This story was excerpted from Mark Bowman’s Braves Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
The Braves have been used to having a potential MVP candidate or two on the roster nearly every season for the past 35 years. But having four legitimate candidates at once? That's much more unusual, but the first month-plus of the 2026 season could be a foreshadow of what's to come for Atlanta.
Through the team's first 35 games, Matt Olson, Drake Baldwin, Ozzie Albies and Michael Harris II have all laid the early groundwork for an MVP candidacy, with each finding himself among the NL leaders in at least one key offensive category while also putting together a well-rounded offensive season.
After Sunday's game in Colorado, Olson leads baseball in doubles (15) and RBIs (31), is tied for the NL lead in homers (11) and is second in OPS (1.030). That puts him on pace for 51 homers, 138 RBIs and 69 doubles.
Baldwin, meanwhile, is batting .315 with eight homers, 29 RBIs and a .908 OPS and is tied for the NL lead in hits (45). His pace: 37 homers, 134 RBIs.
Albies is tied with Baldwin for the lead in hits while also batting .333 with seven homers and a .932 OPS. His pace: 32 homers, 101 RBIs.
Harris, though he doesn't have any black ink on his Baseball Reference page just yet, came into Sunday with seven homers and ranked sixth in the NL in average (.321) and ninth in OPS (.913). His pace: 32 homers, 101 RBIs.
Though at least some regression is bound to come, the starts of Olson, Baldwin, Albies and Harris have been a main ingredient in the Braves jumping out to an MLB-best 25-10 record, a strong 8 1/2-game lead in the NL East and their best 35-game start of the Modern Era (since 1900). If they all keep going at anything close to this pace, it should be a fun summer in Atlanta -- and an interesting MVP vote after the season.
The last team with four players in the top 10 of MVP voting was the 2005 Yankees: Alex Rodriguez (1), Gary Sheffield (8), Mariano Rivera (9) and Derek Jeter (10).
The last team with three? The 2023 Braves: Ronald Acuña Jr. (1), Olson (4) and Austin Riley (7).