What is a baseball season, if not a series of cascading stories, unfurling one after another? October is its own grand beast, but the marathon regular season is a stage all its own. The singular length of the MLB calendar allows for narrative arc, for character development in a way other sports do not. This is the lens through which we’ll attempt to preview the upcoming campaign.

Who are the figures most likely to define, influence and dictate the 2026 season? When the dust settles in November, what and whom will we remember? That is the admittedly vague framework for this list of the top 50 people who will impact the MLB season. But this is not a science, so lighten up and enjoy the ball, why don’t ya?

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Read more: Top 50 people who will impact the MLB season, Nos. 50-26

25. Kevin McGonigle, Tigers infielder
24. Konnor Griffin, Pirates shortstop

Oh, to be young and full of promise.

Widely considered the two best prospects in baseball, McGonigle and Griffin are both expected to be major contributors this season. McGonigle’s impact should start right away; the 21-year-old made Detroit’s Opening Day roster. Skipper A.J. Hinch said McGonigle will go back and forth between third base and shortstop, but his magic is in the batter’s box, where he projects as a special, special hitter. It’s a short, compact move with legit juice and elite swing decisions. McGonigle immediately becomes one of the Tigers’ best bats and represents the club’s only major offensive addition from a year ago. How quickly he hits the ground running will play a big role in determining how good Detroit’s lineup is in what is likely the final year of the Tarik Skubal Era.

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Griffin, almost two years younger than McGonigle, did not make Pittsburgh’s roster. That decision, despite all the hype, was likely more about legitimate player development concerns than service time tomfoolery. The 19-year-old Mississippian clocked some big homers in spring training but didn’t otherwise blow the lid off the joint. Besides, Griffin has yet to take a Triple-A at-bat. He’ll be up in Pittsburgh soon enough, and when that happens, he’ll be the most hyped Pirates rookie position player since Andrew McCutchen.

23. Emmanuel Clase, former (?) Guardians pitcher & alleged gambler

A word to the wise: If you’re a major-league ballplayer, you probably shouldn’t be wagering on Major League Baseball.

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Clase, once the most dominant closer of his generation, has become the face of something much more sinister. His direct involvement in a gambling scandal was made public just before last year’s trade deadline and has since become one of the most important stories in the sport. Allegedly, Clase was intentionally throwing balls outside the strike zone in predetermined moments while an off-site accomplice was placing prop bets on the outcomes. He also roped teammate Luis Ortiz into the scheme, though Clase appears to have been the ringleader.

The trial won’t commence until after the World Series, but this entire story will most certainly cast a shadow on the 2026 season. MLB’s embrace of the online betting world is equal parts understandable and unsettling. All the other leagues are doing it, the money is there to be had, and partnering with gambling sites, in theory, allows for better monitoring practices. But with Pandora’s box completely ajar, scandals such as Clase’s will keep happening as long as stupid ballplayers are around to do stupid stuff.

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22. Elly De La Cruz, Reds shortstop
21. Gunnar Henderson, Orioles shortstop

Here we have two of the game’s most talented young players coming off down years. Health, for both, was a huge factor in 2025, even though Henderson played 154 games and De La Cruz played all 162. A left shoulder issue limited the O’s shortstop’s offensive output, though he finished the season with 17 long balls and 5.3 bWAR. De La Cruz battled through a partial strain of his left quadriceps, an issue that significantly restricted his trademark athleticism. Before the injury, he was having the most consistent season of his career.

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Clean bills of health should propel both unicorn shortstops to bounce back, and that will only raise the volume on their futures. Henderson is a free agent after 2028, De La Cruz after 2029. Both are represented by agent Scott Boras, renowned for his aversion to contract extensions. Perhaps a new economic model brought about by the future collective bargaining agreement alters that calculus, but it’s fair to begin thinking about whether and how the Reds and Orioles can keep their cornerstones around for the long haul.

20. Tony Vitello, Giants manager
19. Rafael Devers, Giants infielder

The San Francisco Giants, under new president of baseball operations Buster Posey, took two massive swings in 2025. First, they pulled off a shocking blockbuster with the Red Sox that brought Devers to the Bay. Then, after the season, they tabbed University of Tennsseee head coach Tony Vitello to be their new manager. Both have to be considered high-risk, high-reward moves.

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Vitello was a superstar in the college ranks, a polarizing but undeniably effective leader who turned Volunteer Baseball into a national brand. He is the first figure in the modern era to make the leap directly from college head coach to big-league manager. Vitello might need an adjustment period — he’s liable to say and/or do a ton of newsworthy things this year — but the ball coach can really coach ball. This was a fascinating hire and a reminder that Posey is willing to color outside the lines.

Devers’ is a more familiar story. The Giants took on his entire, bulky contract to make him the face of their franchise, and now they expect him to hit. The baby-faced slugger was great, though not spectacular, after his midseason changing of clothes, with his OPS 100 points lower as a Giant. Some of that is attributable to the poor hitting environment at Oracle Park, but that’s not changing anytime soon. After being the center of so much drama in Boston in 2025, the Giants just want Devers to focus on hitting in 2026. Good thing that’s his job.

18. Garrett Crochet, Red Sox starting pitcher
17. Roman Anthony, Red Sox outfielder

Can Garrett Crochet do that — 205 1/3 innings, 2.59 ERA, 255 strikeouts — again? Can Anthony, who doesn’t turn 22 until May, live up to the hype and carry an entire offense on his shoulders? Therein lies the 2026 Red Sox’s season.

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Craig Breslow, Boston’s chief baseball officer, has made an abundance of transactions since taking over as head honcho in October 2023. No move has proven more immediately fruitful than the trade he swung for Crochet last winter. The swashbuckling southpaw made The Leap in 2025, finishing second in AL Cy Young voting and solidifying himself as one of the game’s true aces. It’s a lot to ask, but Boston needs Crochet to do that again, even with offseason rotation reinforcements Ranger Suárez and Sonny Gray now in the fold.

Anthony, who debuted in June, is expected to lead the line for Boston’s lineup. The Red Sox have a lot of nice hitters, but Anthony is the likeliest to evolve into a game-changing monster. Every World Series champion since the 2015 Royals has had a truly elite hitter in the middle of the order. Everyone around baseball believes Anthony can become that type of player, but whether he can do it right away will likely dictate how Boston’s season pans out.

16. C.B. Bucknor, MLB umpire

Statistically, Bucknor is a bad umpire. He’s not the absolute worst at calling balls and strikes, but he’s darn close. Believe it or not, that still matters, perhaps more than ever, with MLB’s implementation of an automated ball-strike (ABS) challenge system.

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Instead of full-blown robo-umps, starting this season, teams will have two challenges to potentially overturn bad calls. If they fail the challenge, they lose the challenge. But all things considered, they’d rather not even use the challenge. It all means that umpires will be under the microscope more than ever this year.

During each challenge, the home plate umpire will remove their mask and announce the challenge to the crowd. Rather than relegating them to the shadows behind a veil of technologies, umps are about to become main characters. We will see their faces and hear their voices. Some will become appreciated, even beloved, as they nail challenge after challenge. Others, like Bucknor, will have to up their game or risk the bad kind of notoriety.

15. Kyle Tucker, Dodgers outfielder
14. Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Dodgers starting pitcher

Is the Dodgers’ dominance boring? Yes and no.

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Tucker’s decision to join up with the Los Angeles juggernaut was one of the stories of the offseason. Considered the market’s top free agent, many prognosticators expected the 29-year-old to sign a long-term deal somewhere. Instead, he ended up with the Dodgers on a four-year, $240 million contract. Tucker is a sensational hitter who rocked an adjusted OPS 43% better than league average in a so-called down year with the Cubs in 2025. But as a character, there’s not much exhilarating about Tucker. He’s a subdued cat, happy to stay out of sight until he needs to skulk into the batter’s box. That will, in some ways, make him a perfect new villain on a Dodgers club that has already irked so many fans around the country.

Yamamoto, on the other hand, is an utter delight even when he’s carving your team into shreds. His World Series heroics made even the troll-iest of haters tip their caps. Armed with an aesthetically diverse arsenal and top-shelf athleticism, Yamamoto is a joy to watch pitch. He’s also damn good. If he can work a bit deeper into games and get his inning total up, the 27-year-old can give Paul Skenes a run for his NL Cy Young money.

13. Cal Raleigh, Mariners catcher
12. Julio Rodriguez, Mariners outfielder

Cal Raleigh probably isn’t hitting 60 homers again. Such is the humbling pendulum of baseball. That’s not an indictment of Seattle’s Large Caboose — he’s still one of the best backstops in MLB — it’s just that the only players ever to go 60-piece in back-to-back seasons were Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa in 1998 and 1999. Give me the under, your honor!

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That means a different Mariner will have to step up in 2026. Enter J-Rod. Still only 25 years old, Rodriguez has delivered a stellar four-season opening salvo to his big-league career, with three All-Star Games, three top-10 MVP finishes, an average of 31 homers per 162 games and spectacular defense in center. Yet the charismatic Dominican has yet to reach his offensive ceiling. Rodriguez could continue to be what he has been. and nobody in navy and teal would complain. But if it fully clicks? Watch out.

The Mariners fell one game short of a first World Series appearance in 2025, then doubled down over the winter, re-signing Josh Naylor and trading for Brendan Donovan. Even so, their season will likely be defined by how much worse Raleigh is than last year and how much Rodriguez is able to fill that gap.

11. Bobby Witt Jr., Royals shortstop

At this point, everybody more or less agrees that Bobby Witt Jr. is the third-best baseball player on Earth. In this era, there’s no shame in bronze. Aaron Judge might be the greatest right-handed hitter who has ever lived. Shohei Ohtani pitches and hits! And so Witt is forced to settle for the title of “best all-around player.”

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His numbers actually took a step back in 2025, which mostly speaks to just how outrageous his 2024 season was (9.6 bWAR, 174 OPS+, 32 homers, 31 steals, .977 OPS, Gold Glove defense at shortstop). Still only 25, Witt enters this season looking to carry the Royals back to the postseason. Kansas City won a playoff round in 2024, but Witt was generally underwhelming during that run, going just 5-for-26 with one walk and no extra-base hits. October glory seems like a birthright for the preternatural Texan, but as Mike Trout learned the hard way, it gets late early around here. Witt is currently at the peak of his powers. That means the clock has begun to tick.

10. Vlad Guerrero Jr., Blue Jays first baseman

Do you know where Vladdy finished in AL MVP voting last season? I bet you didn’t guess 13th.

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That’s not too shabby, but for a player of Guerrero’s immense talent, it’s too low. The landmark contract extension in April and epic postseason performance in October somewhat overshadowed the fact that Toronto’s franchise man was simply great and not otherworldly in 2025. Guerrero went yard just 23 times, and his OPS was only .848.

Yes, he made good in the playoffs, clobbering eight homers in 18 games and winning ALCS MVP. But there’s much, much more in the tank here as far as regular-season output is concerned. And with former sidekick Bo Bichette now in Queens, Guerrero needs to reemerge as one of the absolute best bats in the sport if the Jays want to win another AL East crown.

9. Bryce Harper, Phillies first baseman

Is Bryce Harper still elite? Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski certainly has his doubts. “He didn’t have an elite season like he has had in the past,” the veteran exec proclaimed during his postmortem presser for the 2025 season. “And I guess we only find out if he becomes elite or if he continues to be good.”

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While it was questionable and shocking to hear Dombrowski critique his superstar publicly, Harper’s season stats reinforce that claim. An .844 OPS with 27 home runs is very much not elite. Harper clearly took his boss’ comments to heart, sporting a black T-Shirt with the words “not elite” on it in an offseason workout video.

For team and player, this bizarre storyline only raises the stakes as Philly seeks to keep its window of contention propped open. Harper, the face of this franchise, isn’t getting any younger. He turns 34 in October. There is still no championship ring on his finger. Whether he’s elite or not in 2026 will go a long way in determining if that continues to be the case.

8. Paul Skenes, Pirates starting pitcher

It all happened very fast for Skenes, who was pitching against the Louisville Bats at this time two years ago. His brilliance, at this point, is inarguable. Skenes is a unicorn, an athletic marvel, a finesse pitcher with an array of offerings who also happens to throw 99. There’s nothing like him, and barring injury, he will post ERAs under 3.00 for the foreseeable future.

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For the Pirates, things are much hazier. Pittsburgh enters this season with legitimate playoff aspirations for the first time in a while. They at least attempted to rehabilitate an offense that finished dead last in homers last year, adding Ryan O’Hearn, Brandon Lowe and Marcell Ozuna. Griffin will show up at some point. The other arms behind Skenes are legitimately good. There’s a world in which the Pirates play October baseball this season. Wouldn’t that be something? Skenes, who won a national championship with LSU, is clearly thirsting for meaningful games. Getting to witness him truly unleashed on a grand stage would be a win for us all.

7. Bruce Meyer, MLB Players Association interim executive director
6. Rob Manfred, MLB commissioner

There’s a labor tsunami coming, a runaway freight train of exhausting discourse and no baseball. With the collective bargaining agreement set to expire on Dec. 1, the entire baseball world is preparing for a messy, acrimonious battle. A league-initiated lockout is almost definitely happening. Owners want a salary cap. The union does not. Missing games is a real possibility.

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Because negotiations will begin during this upcoming season, Manfred and Meyer will find themselves making headlines quite often. Manfred, as the most powerful person in the sport, is on this list every year. His inclusion needs little explanation. Meyer, however, is new to this particular stage. The veteran labor lawyer was named interim executive director in mid-February after it was revealed that former director Tony Clark was engaged in an inappropriate relationship with a coworker (who also happened to be his sister-in-law).

Meyer was previously the No. 2 at the MLBPA, an influential figure tasked with developing the union’s bargaining strategy. That part won’t change. Now he just has to deal with media floogies like me.

5. Francisco Lindor, Mets shortstop
4. Juan Soto, Mets outfielder

The 2025 Mets were not a trainwreck because Lindor and Soto didn’t become besties. The shambolic starting pitching and disorganized defense were much, much bigger problems. However, things definitely weren’t all peaches and cream between these two superstars. Both are on the team for the long haul, so it would behoove everyone in Queens if Soto and Lindor could get on the same page. Again, they don’t need to have scrapbooking sleepovers or anything, but there’s room for them to establish a more productive working environment.

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Separately, too, these two are crucial characters for the season. Lindor is working back from a hamate injury, an issue that can sap a hitter’s power for a little while. When will he return to full strength? Soto’s first year with the Mets, statistically speaking, lived up to the hype. He hit 43 homers, stole 38 bases, had a .921 OPS and finished third in NL MVP voting. His defense in right field, unfortunately, was horrendous. The Mets have moved him to left, where the responsibilities are somewhat lighter, but Soto making any sort of significant improvement defensively would be a massive development.

If the Mets and their rejuvenated roster don’t make the playoffs, next winter is going to be a hot-take snowball fight for the New York press, with Lindor and Soto at the center of it.

3. Aaron Judge, Yankees outfielder

Judge is the greatest Yankee ever without a World Series ring. From now until the day he retires or raises a trophy, that reality will define Judge’s professional life. Such are the stakes in the Bronx. Still, it’s difficult to pin New York’s 17-year title drought on Judge, who has established himself as one of the most productive right-handed hitters in MLB history. He has won the AL MVP award in three of the past four seasons and enters 2026 as the favorite to win a fourth. Most importantly, his preposterous 13-for-24 performance in the postseason quieted some of the “Judge can’t handle October” gobbledegook.

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Fair or not, Judge’s legacy won’t be secure without a ring. That’s true even in the most team-oriented sport there is. Whether Judge reaches the promised land depends largely on whether the 25 other souls on the Yankees show up when the weather gets cold. That’s the whole thing. The regular season is just a preamble, a home run derby exhibition for the best to ever do it.

2. Tarik Skubal, Tigers starting pitcher

Barring an unforeseen contract extension, the two-time reigning Cy Young will reach free agency for the first time at season’s end. What happens between now and then is anybody’s guess.

The likeliest scenario is probably the most boring one: Skubal is excellent again, the Tigers make the playoffs but don’t win the World Series, a richer ballclub pays Skubal to leave. But all of that is far from a given. If the Tigers struggle and find themselves out of contention at the trade deadline, Skubal could become the best hurler to hit the midseason trade block since … Randy Johnson in the late 1990s?

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Painful though it would be to deal away Skubal, the alternative is even scarier. The Angels learned this the hard way, when they clung to Shohei Ohtani at the 2023 deadline before missing the playoffs, a decision that set their entire franchise back. No matter how things play out this season, each Skubal outing will feel like a referendum on his future and his team’s future. It’s a fascinating dynamic.

1. Shohei Ohtani, Dodgers two-way player

Who else? There are a gazillion interesting things about Ohtani, like there are stars in the sky. Such is life as the game’s most transcendent figure. This year, the Ohtani storyline is all about the two-way superstar’s full-time return to pitching. Elbow surgery in September 2023 left the four-time MVP sidelined from the mound for all of 2024 and much of 2025. When he came back halfway through last season, he did so very gradually, very carefully. Los Angeles loosened its grip a bit during October, but Ohtani was clearly limited to some extent.

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So here we go: The most famous player in baseball is once again trying to do the thing for which he is famous. It has been three years since Ohtani did his two-way schtick without limits. How differently things look in Dodger blue compared to Angel red will be interesting to follow. Anaheim let Ohtani do whatever he wanted; Los Angeles has already been much more hands-on. How will the Dodgers limit his workload? Will his offensive output decline now that he’s working two jobs? Can he continue to do both at such a high level now that he’s a few years older? Who knows, but I can’t wait to find out.