2026 MLB MVP Odds: Langford, Merrill Are Top Sleepers

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Spring training is in full swing, the World Baseball Classic looms, and Opening Day will soon follow.

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We're looking ahead toward the various award races, including the American League and National League MVPs. Unsurprisingly, Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani are leading the pack, but there may be value further down the board.

Below, I analyze the AL and NL MVP MLB odds for the 2026 season and explain why Wyatt Langford and Jackson Merrill are excellent sleeper options for your futures predictions.  

Odds to win 2026 AL MVP 

Player Aaron Judge+225 Bobby Witt Jr.+550 Cal Raleigh+850 Vladimir Guerrero Jr.+1300 Julio Rodriguez+1300 Nick Kurtz+1500 Jose Ramirez+1500 Gunnar Henderson +1600 Roman Anthony+1700 Junior Caminero +2200 Pete Alonso+2200 Yordan Alvarez +2500 Jeremy Pena+2500 Cody Bellinger+3000 Corey Seager +3000 Carlos Correa +3000 Zach Neto+4000 Wyatt Langford+4000 Byron Buxton+4000 Alejandro Kirk+4500 Adley Rutschman+4500 Tarik Skubal+5000

Odds from DraftKings, one of our best betting sites. Sign up with our DraftKings promo code, or get one of our other sportsbook promos.

Odds last updated on 3-4.

Odds to win 2026 NL MVP 

Player Shohei Ohtani-125 Juan Soto +750 Ronald Acuña Jr.+1200 Fernando Tatis Jr.+1600 Alex Bregman +1900 Elly De La Cruz+2200 Bryce Harper +2200 Kyle Tucker +3000 Ketel Marte +3000 Kyle Schwarber +3000 Paul Skenes +3500 Rafael Devers +4000 Pete Crow-Armstrong+4000 Mookie Betts+4500 Manny Machado +4500 Jackson Chourio+5000

Odds last updated on 3-4.

MLB MVP futures bets

Before Opening Day, I don't like to focus too much on the chalk picks. There's no real value in betting on Shohei Ohtani at -125 or Aaron Judge at +225. Feel free to disagree, but both players have some injury history, and even if they didn't, I don't want to invest too much before a regular-season pitch is thrown.

And this way, if either Judge or Ohtani comes storming out of the gates, I can abandon the market entirely or invest differently as more information comes in. For now, I like to target a couple of players who are a little further out on the fringes with upside.

Check back as the season progresses for more MVP picks, as I update my analysis as the data flows in.

BetOddsBet dateUnits Wyatt Langford+4000February 250.25 Jackson Merrill+5500February 250.25

The Texas Rangers raced outfielder Wyatt Langford through the minor leagues after selecting him fourth overall out of Florida in 2023. He was a polished college hitter, and while the major-league results are a tad underwhelming so far, he's an appealing option to break through in 2026 and reach the highest plateau.

He is a legitimate five-tool talent, not unlike Boston Red Sox outfielder Roman Anthony. The difference is Anthony is +1700 entering his second season (first full year), while Langford is +4000 entering his third. I expect Langford to take strides in his strikeout rate, which was a high but not catastrophic 26.4% last season. He doesn't have a history of high K%, and we shouldn't expect it to be the norm now.

Langford also rips the shit out of the ball. He ranked in the 87th percentile in barrel rate, 82nd in average exit velocity, 81st in hard-hit rate, and 90th in walk rate. He has patience and makes good, hard contact with consistency. He also plays strong outfield defense and was in the 88th percentile in sprint speed. A 40-40 season isn't the craziest outcome to consider.

On the National League side of things, San Diego Padres outfielder Jackson Merrill was just shy of winning Rookie of the Year in 2024, and expectations were sky-high. But injuries limited him to 115 games, and he stole only one base after swiping 16 as a rookie. He also saw his strikeout rate spike from 17% to 22.4%. As with Langford, we can anticipate positive regression based on past performance in the minors.

He was still an above-average hitter (116 wRC+, 3.0 FanGraphs WAR), but it was a step down. His expected slugging was still in the 86th percentile, and he lifts the ball at an elite level, rarely hitting grounders. If he can push his hard-hit rate and exit velocity back to where they generally sat in 2024, a much better outcome is in the cards.

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Previous MVP winners

Here are the last 10 winners of the AL and NL MVP Award, with Shohei Ohtani leading the way as a four-time winner, with two in the AL and two in the NL. Only Frank Robinson has also won MVP awards in both leagues.

Barry Bonds holds the record for most MVP awards (seven)

The New York Yankees have won the most MVPs in MLB history with 25, while the St. Louis Cardinals are second, leading all NL teams, with 21. No player for the Arizona Diamondbacks, New York Mets, or Tampa Bay Rays has ever won MVP.

Previous AL MVP winners

YearAmerican League Winner2025 Aaron Judge2024 Aaron Judge2023 Shohei Ohtani2022 Aaron Judge2021 Shohei Ohtani2020 Jose Abreu2019 Mike Trout2018 Mookie Betts2017 Jose Altuve2016 Mike Trout

Previous NL MVP winners

YearNational League Winner2025 Shohei Ohtani2024 Shohei Ohtani2023 Ronald Acuna Jr.2022 Paul Goldschmidt2021 Bryce Harper2020 Freddie Freeman2019 Cody Bellinger2018 Christian Yelich2017 Giancarlo Stanton2016 Kris Bryant

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MLB MVP odds explained

Most sportsbooks will display odds in the American format as listed above. When Goldschmidt ran away with the MVP award in 2022 his odds had a minus (-) sign ahead of the number for a large part of the season. 

• Paul Goldschmidt -6000

That means that a bettor in August had to wager $6,000 to win $100 by betting on Goldy to win MVP. Before the season starts, almost every player will have a plus (+) sign ahead of their odds.

• Shohei Ohtani +200

That means a bettor would have profited $200 for a $100 wager on Ohtani before the season started. 

If American odds aren't your thing, simply use a tool like our odds converter to switch the odds to decimal or fractional format. Most online sportsbooks also give you the option to change the odds format that you see.

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