Aaron Judge has won two straight AL MVP awards, and there are no signs of him slowing down.
Spring training has begun as players will ramp their bodies and minds up for the grueling 162-game season ahead of them.
Fans will see Judge play in a standalone game on Wednesday, March 25 against the San Francisco Giants in the first game of the 2026 MLB season.
Judge also won the MVP in 2022, bringing his total to three wins in in the last four seasons.
If he wins another one, he would join Barry Bonds (7) and Shohei Ohtani (4) as the only players with 4+ MVP awards.
Judge edged out Cal Raleigh by 20 total voting points last year as he slashed .331/.457/.688, mashed 53 home runs, and drove in 114 RBIs.
The New York Yankees' legend is two months away from being 34-years-old, but he's been healthier than ever the over the past two seasons.
Judge is also looking to join Bonds and Ohtani as the only players in MLB history to win three straight MVPs. Here's a look at the odds for the top-ten favorites for AL MVP on bet365:
2026 AL MVP Odds - Pre-Season
Aaron Judge (New York Yankees) | +200 |
Bobby Witt Jr. (Kansas City Royals) | +500 |
Cal Raleigh (Seattle Mariners) | +750 |
Julio Rodriguez (Seattle Mariners) | +1400 |
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (Toronto Blue Jays) | +1400 |
Gunnar Henderson (Baltimore Orioles) | +1500 |
Jose Ramirez (Cleveland Guardians) | +1500 |
Nick Kurtz (Athletics) | +1500 |
Roman Anthony (Boston Red Sox) | +1800 |
Junior Caminero (Tampa Bay Rays) | +2000 |
Judge's top competitors in oddsmakers eyes are the Kansas City Royals' shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. (+500) and the aforementioned Seattle Mariners' catcher Raleigh (+750).
Witt Jr. is perhaps the best five-tool player in the league as he racks up hits, home runs, stolen bases, and has won two straight Gold Glove awards.
He's had an OPS+ at 136 or better in the past two years, and with the Kauffmann Stadium walls moving in this year, his home run total could skyrocket.
Raleigh had one of the best offensive seasons for a switch-hitter and a catcher last year as his 60 home runs were the most single-season homers any switch-hitter or catcher has hit in MLB history.
Raleigh had a good season defensively behind the plate as well, but it's hard to win this award when competing against of the best all-around hitters the league has ever seen.
Julio Rodriguez and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. are each +1400.
Rodriguez is an outstanding centerfielder and makes tons of hard contact, and he'll need to replicate his insane second-half numbers from last year (.290/.341/.560, 18 homers in 65 games) over the course of the full year to have a chance.
Guerrero Jr. also hits the ball extremely hard seemingly every at-bat, but the next step for him will be to lift the ball with more consistency. The slugger hit 23 home runs in 156 games last year before hitting eight in 18 games in the playoffs.
A couple other five-toolers, Gunnar Henderson and Jose Ramirez, are each +1500 and they could both certainly have monster seasons.
After a phenomenal 2024 season for Henderson when he hit 37 homers and had an OPS+ of 155, he took a slight step back in 2025, hitting 17 homers and having an OPS+ of 121.
Regardless, he was one of the best baserunners in the league last year and still finished in the 89th percentile in average exit velocity, showing that he might've been a bit unlucky with the bat.
Ramirez is the mark of true consistency, carrying an OPS+ of 140 or more in four of his last six seasons.
He collects plenty of hits, mashes around 30 homers a year, plays outstanding defense at third base, and somehow finished with a career-high 44 stolen bases last year in his 13th season in the league.
Closing out the top-ten favorites are three players who are the future of this league.
Nick Kurtz (+1500), Roman Anthony (+1800), and Junior Caminero (+2000) all torched the league in their first full seasons last year, and they'll look to carry that momentum and experience into year two.
Kurtz hit 36 homers in just 117 games last year, including having a four-home run game against Houston that made jaws drop.
The 22-year-old A's first baseman finished the season with a 1.002 OPS, becoming just the fifth rookie in history to finish with a 1.000+ OPS.
Anthony was baseball's top prospect for a while and he didn't disappoint in his rookie year.
The 21-year-old showed off a terrific eye, walking 40 times in 71 games. When he did swing, he would hit the ball hard and is capable of spraying hits and homers all over the field.
The Rays' Caminero hit 45 home runs last year, and even though he played in the extremely friendly hitting confines of the temporary George Steinbrenner Field, he actually hit more homers on the road (23 away, 22 at home).
Some analysts are concerned about his peripheral stats (low walk rate, high chase rate, negative outs above average), but he mashes the ball with a ridiculous 78.5 MPH bat speed which was in the 100th percentile of all hitters last year.
Find the rest of the hitters on bet365's sportsbook under MLB -> Futures -> Regular Season Awards.
Discover more from bet365
Read the odds for the NL MVP on site.
Read the latest MLB news on site.
Read about all you need to know about 2026 Spring Training on site.
WBC Team USA Potential Roster.
All odds featured in this article were correct at the time of writing and are subject to change.
