We are now just over 50 games into the season. The summer is right around the corner. Before we know it, the Midsummer Classic will be here, which makes it a good time to assess some early National League MVP candidates. It is a historically strong NL with a whopping 11 of the 15 teams currently over .500! The Miami Marlins are currently 12th at 26-31, just 3.5 games behind the Philadelphia Phillies. The entire NL Central is at least two games over .500! That’s with the third-place 30-26 Chicago Cubs, enduring a stretch in which they have lost 10 of their last 11 games.
This could be the deepest NL in quite some time, and there are great players in the NL who deserve to be recognized. Without further ado, here are four first half NL MVP candidates.
First Half NL MVP Candidates:
Andy Pages – CF, Los Angeles Dodgers
Ok, yes, Shohei Ohtani, the four-time MVP and winner of three consecutive NL MVP awards, will not be on this list. To be clear, he should be the favorite yet again. He has a 0.82 ERA in 55 innings pitched! As long as Ohtani continues to excel at both offense and defense, it will be very hard to give the award to anyone else. But this is more of an article to showcase some players having stellar first halves with their respective clubs. It’s not to rank four players ahead of Ohtani for the NL MVP. Ok, now to Andy Pages, who is having a special season in LA.
55 games in, Pages leads the Dodgers in numerous offensive categories. Including batting average (.299), RBI (49, first in MLB), hits (61), steals (seven), and a significant lead in WAR (3.7, third in MLB, first among position players). Pages is also tied for the team lead with 12 home runs. For all of Ohtani’s undisputed greatness, his somewhat slow start on offense currently has him with an offensive WAR of 1.7. Although when you combine that with his 2.4 WAR on the pitching side, he overtakes Pages. So the win goes to Ohtani, but Pages has still been far and away the best offensive player on yet another great Dodgers team.
Even though he gets outshone by Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman, this is the second consecutive great year for Pages. In just his second season in the Majors last year, Pages achieved a 3.8 WAR. Good for third on the Dodgers behind only Betts (4.8) and Ohtani (6.6). Well on pace to surpass his 3.8 WAR from last year, Pages has been a true five-tool centerfielder for the Dodgers this season.
Per Statcast, he ranks in the top three percent league-wide with six outs above average, two arm value, and a 93.8 mph arm strength. Resulting in a stellar seven fielding run value. Putting him in a strong early position to get his first career Gold Glove.
Additionally, his well-above-average sprint speed of 28.2 ft/s makes him a threat on the bases and excellent defensively as a CF. He has covered all the facets of the game besides pitching for the Dodgers this season. If there weren’t so many big names already on the Dodgers, Pages would be getting plenty of attention as one of the biggest producers league-wide this season. There is plenty of talk about the Dodgers spending big every offseason, but their player development deserves plenty of attention as well.
Pages was an international free agent signed out of Cuba in 2017 for $300K. Now he’s one of the best players on a loaded back-to-back World Series champion roster. Of the Dodgers $267 million payroll this season, Pages is making a whopping $800K. Their reign is not going away anytime soon, and the 25-year-old centerfielder is just entering his prime.
Matt Olson- 1B- Atlanta Braves
Now to the player leading the Atlanta Braves with the league’s best record at 37-18. Matt Olson leads the Braves with a 2.5 WAR, 15 home runs, and 44 RBI (tied for third in MLB). His stellar .888 OPS is right behind the Braves’ young phenom, Drake Baldwin (.931). Olson, 32, is a three-time All-Star and finished as high as fourth in the MVP voting in 2023. He is also on pace to play his fifth straight full season! An absurd streak and something the injury-riddled Braves definitely can use.
There was plenty of concern in Atlanta when franchise stalwart Freeman signed with LA. But Olson, since coming over from the Athletics, has more than filled in adequately. In his All-Star seasons in 2023,25 with Atlanta, he finished with a combined 13.5 WAR. Setting a high bar for himself during his Atlanta career.
Not just offensively either. Olson earned the second Gold Glove of his career last season. He is on pace to get his third this season. Currently, he leads all first basemen by a healthy margin with seven outs above average, per Statcast. Which is also good for eighth in the MLB overall.
Olson is well on pace to surpass 29 home runs this season, his total each of the last two seasons. He will be hard-pressed to surpass his career-high totals of 54 home runs and 139 RBI in 2023. But Olson is still on pace for a special season in Atlanta on the best team record-wise in baseball.
Jordan Walker – RF- St. Louis Cardinals
Jordan Walker is one of the best stories in baseball this season. It was put up or shut up time for the 24-year-old this season. There were high expectations for the first-round pick in the 2020 MLB Draft, and he is finally meeting them this season. He is currently tied for eighth league-wide with a batting run value of 17. His career total in three previous seasons? -12! The improvement doesn’t even come close to stopping there. Walker has improved in just about every category offensively.
2025 totals per Statcast:
- xwOBA: .278
- xBA: .207
- xSLG: .363
- Avg Exit Velo: 92.3 mph
- 10.9% Barrel rate
- 35.6% whiff rate
- 31.8% K rate
2026 totals:
- xwOBA: .382
- xBA: .278
- xSLG: .536
- Avg Exit Velo: 94.4 mph
- 16.0% barrel rate
- 31.4% whiff rate
- 25.2% K rate
He has been a totally different player. Finding the barrel way more and striking out significantly less. The results? He leads the Cardinals in batting average (.300, 13th in MLB), (15 home runs, tied for seventh in MLB), (42 RBI, fifth in MLB), (61 hits, tied for ninth in MLB), and (3.2 WAR, seventh in MLB). His previous career high in WAR? 2.6 and he had a career-worst -1.7 WAR last season. He’s already surpassed his 41 RBI and six home runs from last season. He will easily surpass his rookie year totals of 15 home runs and 51 RBI.
It’s always great to see a player with plenty of potential finally break out, and it’s coming at the perfect time for St. Louis as Walker and JJ Wetherholt make up one of the most exciting young tandems in the MLB. The Cardinals were not expected to be good this year and were seen as a team still rebuilding after an offseason of trading away veterans.
No one saw this breakout from Walker coming. He wasn’t even being talked about as one of the top options for the Cardinals heading into the season. But Walker’s stellar play has helped the Cardinals get off to an impressive 29-25 start, good for second in the NL Central. There is still a long way to go, and we will see if the Cardinals can maintain this pace. But Walker isn’t slowing down anytime soon and will continue to wreak havoc on opposing pitching staffs as the Cardinals look to make the postseason for the first time since 2022.
Kyle Schwarber- DH- Philadelphia Phillies
Last but certainly not least is Kyle Schwarber, who has been on an absolute tear recently. It looked like the Phillies were destined for a long season after starting 9-19, leading to manager Rob Thomson’s firing. But under interim manager Don Mattingly, the Phillies have gone 20-8. In those 28 games during that span, per Statmuse, Schwarber has hit .270 with 30 hits, 13 home runs, 23 RBI, and 20 runs scored.
Including an absolutely scorching stretch from May 7 to May 15 in which Schwarber hit .353 with 12 hits, nine homers, 15 RBI, and nine runs scored in eight games. Earning every cent of the massive five-year, $150 million fully guaranteed deal he signed with the Phillies this offseason.
20 SCHWARBOMBS! pic.twitter.com/bYwVcLecbD
— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) May 16, 2026
Schwarber had a career year last season with 56 home runs and 132 RBI! He would’ve finished as the NL MVP if not for the greatness of Ohtani. It would’ve been reasonable to expect that the 33-year-old would not surpass that home run total for the remainder of his career. But Schwarbomb is going to make it interesting, currently leading the MLB with 21 home runs. If he gets that home run total up to 65-70 this season, there will be quite the debate between Schwarber and Ohtani for NL MVP. The Phillies lineup was already deep and scary at its best. When Schwarber is hitting like this, it is a nightmare for opposing pitchers to face.
The Phillies were way better than their record at 9-19 and are playing up to their standard under Mattingly. Joining a very crowded NL. Right now, the Nationals (11th in NL) are 1.5 games behind the Cardinals for the third and final wild card spot. It will be a very entertaining and hotly contested race as this season progresses.
These NL MVP candidates listed may very well all be playing for second the rest of the season behind Ohtani. But two of them excelling on first-place teams and two players helping their teams get out of their respective ruts are contributing to a very entertaining first half in a highly competitive NL.
Honorable Mention:
Mason Miller – Closer, San Diego Padres
CJ Abrams – Shortstop, Washington Nationals
Main Photo Credit: David Butler II-Imagn Images
