The 2026 Major League Baseball season has already delivered a surprising storyline: some of baseball’s biggest stars are struggling to match the impossible standards they created for themselves last year.
For two of the American League’s top MVP finishers, the season has turned into an uphill battle, with Aaron Judge’s slump and Cal Raleigh’s struggles standing out as early defining narratives.
Cal Raleigh’s Nightmare Start Ends With IL Stint
After smashing 60 home runs during his historic 2025 campaign, expectations surrounding Raleigh entered another universe this season.
Instead, the Seattle catcher opened 2026 in a prolonged slump before landing on the injured list on May 15 with a right oblique strain. At the time of the injury, Raleigh was hitting just .161 with seven home runs and 18 RBIs through 41 games — one of the lowest batting averages among qualified hitters in baseball.
The numbers raised a difficult question around the league: was 2025 simply impossible to sustain?
Pitchers clearly adjusted after last season’s power explosion. Raleigh saw fewer hittable pitches, more breaking balls in disadvantaged counts, and constant defensive game plans centered around avoiding damage. The oblique injury may also help explain part of the drop-off. Oblique issues are especially dangerous for power hitters because they directly impact rotational force and bat speed. Even a minor strain can sap power and timing.
Still, there’s reason for optimism. Before going on the IL, Raleigh had started showing signs of life offensively, including a brief stretch where his swing looked closer to last season’s version.
Aaron Judge Slump Deepens as Cold Stretch Reaches Historic Territory
Successful catcher’s challenge means Aaron Judge strikes out for the seventh straight at bat pic.twitter.com/dXZXF9Udnz
— Talkin’ Yanks (@TalkinYanks) May 21, 2026
While Raleigh’s struggles have been season-long, Judge has experienced the opposite arc.
Judge opened the year looking like an MVP favorite yet again before suddenly falling into one of the worst stretches of his career.
The Yankees captain is currently 1-for-his-last-17 and hitting just .203 over his last 16 games. Even more shocking, Judge recently reached a 10-game RBI drought — the longest such stretch of his career. For most players, a slump like this would barely register. For Judge, it becomes national conversation material. Several possible explanations exist for the downturn.
First, opposing pitchers appear committed to refusing him anything over the heart of the plate. Judge continues to draw attention from every scouting report in baseball, and with portions of the Yankees lineup struggling behind him, pitchers have little reason to challenge him consistently. Mechanically, Judge also appears slightly out of sync. His timing has looked late against velocity, while off-speed pitches below the zone have generated an unusual number of swing-and-miss results.
Fatigue may also play a role. Judge’s offensive burden is enormous, and stretches like this can happen when players carry both lineup pressure and everyday defensive responsibilities deep into the season. But history strongly suggests recovery is coming. Even during this cold stretch, Yankees manager Aaron Boone pointed out that Judge continues to produce hard contact despite the results.
That matters.
Elite hitters rarely stay quiet for long when the underlying contact quality remains strong. Baseball slumps can spiral quickly statistically, but they can disappear just as fast with one explosive series. And Judge has spent most of his career proving that betting against him is usually a mistake.
Shohei Ohtani Already Looks Back to MVP Form
While Judge and Raleigh continue trying to rediscover their rhythm, Shohei Ohtani may already have shown what a turnaround can look like for an elite player.
Earlier this season, Ohtani’s offensive numbers looked shockingly ordinary by his standards. Through early May, he was batting just .233 with a .404 slugging percentage and a 114 wRC+, far below the absurd MVP-level production fans have come to expect. The slump became impossible to ignore during a brutal stretch in which Ohtani went hitless in 51 consecutive plate appearances spread across 13 games, while slashing just .163/.294/.209 during that span. His last home run before the drought had come back on April 26.
At one point, Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts even discussed giving Ohtani a partial mental reset from hitting duties as the two-way superstar tried to balance everyday offense with a full return to pitching responsibilities for the first time since 2023. But even while the bat cooled off, Ohtani’s dominance on the mound never disappeared.
By mid-May, he owned a microscopic 0.82 ERA with 50 strikeouts across 44 innings, establishing himself as an early Cy Young frontrunner while still searching for his offensive timing. And now, the bat appears to be waking up.
Ohtani recently reminded baseball exactly who he is during a dominant performance against the San Diego Padres, homering on the game’s first pitch while also throwing five scoreless innings in a Dodgers win. Baseball slumps can feel permanent in the moment, especially when they involve superstars carrying impossible expectations. But Ohtani’s turnaround is proof that elite talent usually finds its level eventually.
And if history is any indication, Judge may be the next superstar due for that correction.
Main Photo Credit: John Jones-Imagn Images
