Only three days remain in the 2026 MLB regular season and there is still so much to be decided. Postseason battles, awards races, and much more. What we don't have to wait to decide are our superlatives for the season.
Here, via our CBS Sports panel of MLB experts, are 10 superlatives for the year that was. Some serious, some whimsical. Come with us, won't you?
Most surprising team: Rays
On a certain level, nothing's surprising about the Rays' success, but consider the context. Last season, Tampa Bay lost 85 games and finished in fourth place. This season, the Rays added roughly 20 wins to their 2025 total while playing in a pretty tough AL East. You can point to a number of pleasant surprises at the team level this year, but the Rays emerging as the best team in the American League is top among them. -- Dayn Perry
Most disappointing team: Mariners
This one's not a hard call. Seattle made it to Game 7 of the ALCS last year and, on paper, looked like a strong World Series contender coming into the current season. That, however, hasn't come close to happening. The Mariners will finish below .500 despite having played one of the easiest schedules in all of MLB. It's the kind of season that should lead to firings in the dugout and at the top of the front office. -- Dayn Perry
Most improved player: Jordan Walker, Cardinals
Competitive category, but Walker gets the nod for his breakout campaign. In 2024 and 2025, he was perhaps the worst player in MLB, but he took a major step forward in 2026. Thanks to his improved ability to elevate the ball and the strides he made with plate discipline, Walker went from bust to All-Star in half a season. Now the Home Run Derby champ is looking like a lineup fulcrum for St. Louis for years to come. -- Dayn Perry
Most disappointing player: Cal Raleigh, Mariners
There are a number of viable candidates for this dishonor, but it says here that the Seattle catcher soars under all others. Coming off a 60-homer 2025 campaign in which he finished runner-up to Aaron Judge in the AL MVP vote, Raleigh this season has seen that homer tally more than halved, and he's seen his OPS+ drop by more than 70 points. Raleigh's also watched his defensive metrics and durability decline significantly. It's just been a terrible season for the Mariners backstop. -- Dayn Perry
Best offseason move: Alex Bregman, Cubs
The Cubs rank dead last in pitcher WAR and are still going to the playoffs because they have the best set of position players in baseball, per that same WAR stat. Bregman has been the second-best player of the bunch with 5.4 WAR. Despite struggling at the plate individually in the first half, he was credited with mentoring several Cubs players in the dugout, specifically with their plate discipline and approach. We could even try to connect the dots to National League MVP Pete Crow-Armstrong becoming an utter beast weeks into the season if we wanted. We could also note that Bregman has been one of the best hitters in baseball in the second half, slashing .296/.378/.600 with 17 doubles, 17 home runs and 48 RBI in 59 games. Honorable mentions go to the Red Sox for grabbing both Sonny Gray and Willson Contreras in separate trades, along with the White Sox's cheap signing of Munetaka Murakami. -- Matt Snyder
Best trade deadline move: Tarik Skubal, Dodgers
Look, it's obvious, but that doesn't mean it should be ignored. The two-time defending AL Cy Young winner was put on the trade block in July by the Tigers in a rather cowardly move, so the Dodgers swooped in and took advantage of their organizational depth. Had they not grabbed Skubal, there would've been a hole in the rotation this time around with Shohei Ohtani shut down from pitching for the season.
As is generally the case with moves of this stature, the added element here is that the Dodgers prevented other teams from getting Skubal. Everyone could've used him, but two glaring examples are the team with the best record in baseball (the Brewers have questions behind Jacob Misiorowski and Logan Henderson in their rotation) and the best record in the AL (the Rays grabbed Freddy Peralta, but Skubal is much better, obviously). Now, it's possible those teams have to face Skubal instead of having him on their side.
If we want an under-the-radar move, how about the Braves grabbing Tyler Mahle? The Braves' rotation looked like Chris Sale and then a bunch of questions. The addition of Mahle looked relatively boring at the time. After all, he had a 5.13 ERA with the Giants, who play their home games in a pitchers' haven. But in eight starts with the Braves, Mahle has a 1.28 ERA and 2.1 WAR. -- Matt Snyder
Best individual game: Jo Adell, Angels
There is some awfully stiff competition here. Dansby Swanson's 11-RBI doubleheader on June 24 (technically two games, but humor me). Ryan O'Hearn's three-homer, 10-RBI game on July 7. Pete Crow-Armstrong's four-hit, two-homer, one-steal game on Aug. 17. In the end, though, we have to go with Adell's three-homer robbery game, don't we? He took home runs away from JP Crawford, Josh Naylor, and Cal Raleigh on April 4 against the Mariners.
All three were legit home run robberies, too. Sometimes you can't quite tell if the ball was going to make it over the fence, but no, those were all going out. The Angels won the game 1-0, too! These weren't robberies in a blowout or garbage time. It's hard to have a more impactful game in the field than Adell did that day, and he had a hit at the plate, too. That's a great night in the big leagues. -- Mike Axisa
Most ridiculous walk-off: Angels vs. Orioles
This Logan O'Hoppe walk-off single on June 24 is the epitome of a line drive in the box score. Statcast says this ball traveled 15 feet with an exit velocity of 18.9 mph. Hey, put the ball in play and good things can happen.
Home plate umpire James Hoye's casual safe call cracks me up every single time. This capped a great comeback for the Angels, too. They were down 5-2 early, scored three in the eighth to tie it, fell behind in the top of the tenth, then scored two in the bottom half to win the game. O'Hoppe's absolute rocket gave the Halos the W. -- Mike Axisa
Most wholesome trend: Tarps off
Credit the Stephen F. Austin baseball team for this one. While in St. Louis in May, the team attended a Cardinals game at Busch Stadium, where they decided to take off their shirts and cheer. Very quickly, it spread across the league, and shirtless youths could be found in the upper deck every night in just about every game.
Bad day to be a shirt!
— St. Louis Cardinals (@Cardinals) May 16, 2026
Oli invited the Tarp Crew down to meet the team! pic.twitter.com/7ZSIVLfLHQ
No pressure to join in, obscenities were kept to a minimum (supposedly) and a good time was had by all. -- Mike Axisa
Stupidest storyline: Early ABS consternation
Any time something this big is implemented, there's going to be a chorus of naysayers. That's just how sports -- well, life in general -- are. If it were only fans, especially if it's a small segment of the fan base, that wouldn't be all that big of a deal. We heard from big-name players (such as Max Scherzer) and former umpires, though, which just seems so off-the-wall ridiculous to me that I'm not even sure how to put it into words. Sports officials' lives have been ruined by high-profile misses, and we're giving them the opportunity to be bailed out of human error. Yes, they are humans who make mistakes. The ABS system has been an overwhelming success because it gives players the ability to rectify possibly game-changing missed calls. The dumbest quote? "I think it's embarrassing, embarrassing to the umpires that are calling the game. Nobody likes to be humiliated in front of 30,000, 40,000 people," said former umpire Richie Garcia. I agree that nobody likes to be humiliated in front of the masses. That's exactly why the system is good. It spares them that humiliation. Thinking anything otherwise is absurd. -- Matt Snyder
