The first two rounds of the 2026 MLB postseason are complete and the four Championship Series teams have been decided. The Los Angeles Dodgers and Milwaukee Brewers will again meet in the NLCS. In the ALCS, the Tampa Bay Rays will host the Cleveland Guardians. The final four includes baseball's biggest spenders and three of its smallest payrolls.
MLB hands out two (really three) awards each postseason: World Series MVP and one MVP for each of the two Championship Series. There is nothing to recognize the best player in the Wild Card Series or Division Series though, and we're here to right that wrong. We already handed out our hypothetical Wild Card Series MVPs, so now here are our four Division Series MVPs.
Guardians vs. White Sox: José Ramírez
I reckon it is not often a player wins series MVP after going hitless in Games 1 and 2, but José Ramírez did exactly that here. Cleveland's franchise player erupted after the Guardians fell behind 0-2 in the ALDS, enough to take home our hypothetical ALDS MVP award. He went 5 for 12 with four extra base hits in Games 3-5.
Ramírez hit for the cycle across Games 3 and 4 (double and triple in Game 3, single and homer in Game 4). In Game 4, he clubbed a two-run homer in the fifth inning to flip a 2-1 deficit into a 3-2 lead. In Game 5, Ramírez drove in the game's only runs with a golf shot two-run homer.
"It was José Ramírez being José Ramírez in the playoffs," Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said after Ramírez's Game 4 homer. "... Big moment for him, big moment for us. He doesn't show a lot of emotion, but he was pretty excited tonight."
This was a trying season for Ramírez, who missed about six weeks with a hamate injury and had his worst offensive season (by a lot) since becoming a regular in 2016. He has turned it on of late, though. Ramírez went 12 for 38 (.316) with three doubles and a home run in his last nine regular-season games, and now he turned in an MVP performance in the ALDS.
Rays vs. Yankees: Drew Rasmussen
The Rays swept the Yankees, but the series wasn't really lopsided. Tampa won two one-run games and a three-run game, and they needed New York to kick the ball around like Little Leaguers in Game 2. Three of their five runs that game were unearned. The Rays hit .208/.255/.344 in the three-game sweep. Not exactly a powerhouse offensive showing, you know?
Jonathan Aranda has a strong ALDS MVP case. He went 4 for 12 in the three games and hit the solo homer that gave the Rays a 1-0 win in Game 1. This has to be Drew Rasmussen though, right? Rasmussen made Aranda's solo homer stand up by taking a no-hitter into the eighth inning. He struck out 10 and was simply sensational.
"I think he's pretty special and dialed in most nights," Rays manager Kevin Cash said. "As the game continues to unfold and you keep looking up there, no hits, no hits, no hits, I mean, that tells you right there. That's just a really good lineup, very elite hitting, quality at-bats, hard contact, everything. For him to limit it that way speaks loudest about how good he was tonight."
Rasmussen led all players in this series in both win probability and championship probability added, and not by a little either. He has been a Yankees Killer throughout his career (1.81 ERA in 11 starts vs. New York), and he certainly shut them down in Game 1.
Brewers vs. Padres: Jackson Chourio
It's funny: Jackson Chourio went only 3 for 16 (.188) in the four-game NLDS, but the three hits were so impactful that he is an easy pick for NLDS MVP over William Contreras (6 for 16 with two homers) and Christian Yelich (5 for 14). Aaron Ashby's three no-hit innings of relief in the Game 4 clincher earned him some MVP consideration, too.
How can it not be Chourio, though? He slugged the game-tying two-run homer in Game 1, then flipped a 3-2 deficit into a 4-3 walk-off win with his two-out, two-strike, two-run single against Mason Miller in Game 2. That walk-off single completely changed the NLDS and gave Milwaukee a commanding 2-0 series lead.
"I look back to my first year, my rookie year, it was a game against Seattle. I think I was the last out, punched out against (Andrés) Muñoz. He was on the mound at that time," Chourio explained after Game 2. "At that point, everything turned for me. I told myself I was never going to make the last out. I'd dedicate myself to fighting and doing whatever I could for the team and not having that feeling again from that specific game."
By championship probability added, Chourio's walk-off single is by far the biggest hit of the 2026 season to date at +6.94%. It easily clears Austin Riley's go-ahead three-run homer in Game 1 of the Wild Card Series (+3.97%). Chourio may have only hit .188 in the NLDS, but it's hard to argue any player in the series was more impactful.
Dodgers vs. Braves: Yoshinobu Yamamoto
Andy Pages was a strong consideration here. He had two hits in Games 3 and 4, including what proved to be the series-winning two-run single in the seventh inning in Game 4. It was quite a redemption arc for Pages, who was so bad last postseason that he was not in the starting lineup for Games 6 and 7 of the World Series.
In the end, though, Yoshinobu Yamamoto was again the best player in a postseason series. He struck out 10 in seven innings of one-run ball in Game 3, which gave Los Angeles a 2-1 series lead. There is no better big-game pitcher in the game today, and Yamamoto put the Dodgers in position to return to the NLDS with his Game 3 masterpiece.
"Wow. What a performance," Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. "I think it was that fifth inning where they started to get a little bit of stress, but managed the situation, limited damage. And to go out there and give us two more, pretty impressive ... To get through seven innings, our bullpen is in a good spot as far as Game 4. Can't say enough about Yoshinobu."
In three MLB seasons, Yamamoto owns a 2.14 ERA in 63 career postseason innings spanning 10 starts and one very memorable relief appearance. The career postseason stats don't factor into the NLDS MVP decision, but Game 3 was just more of the same from him. Yamamoto was terrific.
