The 2026 MLB regular season is actually here! It all starts with the MLB Opening Night game between the Yankees and Giants on Netflix at 8:05 p.m. ET on Wednesday. That leads directly into Opening Day on Thursday.
AL East baseball will not be for the faint of heart this year; it has the look of the most competitive division in the Majors. But ultimately, our voters expect Toronto to hang on to its division crown following its worst-to-first turnaround in 2025. The Blue Jays were oh-so-close to capturing a World Series title last year, but instead of wallowing in what could have been, they went out this winter and added marquee free agents such as right-handed ace Dylan Cease and Japanese infielder Kazuma Okamoto.
Replacing Bo Bichette won’t be easy, and the Blue Jays’ rotation will be shorthanded on Opening Day as Trey Yesavage, José BerrÃos and Shane Bieber will all open the year on the injured list. But when it’s at full strength, Toronto should have one of the best and deepest staffs in the league. Even with those losses, Toronto is flush with talent and a picture of stability in MLB. An AL East title would make them back-to-back division champions for the first time since 1991-93.
The 2025 season was still a pretty successful one for the Tigers, even after they squandered a 6 1/2-game lead in the AL Central over the regular season’s final two weeks and limped into the playoffs as a Wild Card. They rebounded in the postseason to eliminate the division-winning Guardians and came within one win of the ALCS.
Defending two-time AL Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal is obviously the star of the show, but the addition of Framber Valdez and the feel-good return of Justin Verlander give Detroit arguably its strongest rotation since 2014, when it last claimed the Central.
Detroit’s offense is largely unchanged from last season, but there is one name to remember: Kevin McGonigle. The No. 2 prospect in MLB, McGonigle owns a .308/.410/.512 slash line through 183 Minor League games and is set to be on the Opening Day roster. He could provide a huge upgrade at shortstop, a position where Detroit logged a .288 on-base percentage and an 89 wRC+ last year.
Is it finally Seattle’s time? The Mariners were nine outs away from their first pennant last season before everything went awry in ALCS Game 7 against the Blue Jays. But this might be the best roster they have fielded since their record-setting 2001 team, which won 116 games. Who knows how many victories this squad will rack up, but it was the runaway favorite to win the West again, according to our voters.
Seattle boasts two legitimate MVP threats in 60-homer catcher Cal Raleigh and superstar center fielder Julio RodrÃguez. It re-signed first baseman Josh Naylor and replaced slugging third baseman Eugenio Suárez with Brendan Donovan, who was the headliner in a three-team swap this winter after earning his first All-Star nod in 2025. The Mariners’ well-rounded offense will back what is possibly the best pitching staff in the AL.
Offensively, the Yankees are essentially running it back with much of last year’s 94-win group. That’s headlined by the re-signing of Cody Bellinger and the return of Trent Grisham via the qualifying offer. But considering that the Bronx Bombers led the big leagues last year in homers (274) and runs (849), why try to mess with a good thing? The biggest