Wild Card Series MVPs: Picking the most impactful player from each of MLB's first-round playoff matchups

MLB doesn't officially hand out hardware for Wild Card Series (or LDS) MVPs, so we're taking matters into our own hands Oct 2, 2026 at 8:43 am ET • 5 min read The first round of the 2026 MLB postseason is complete and three of the four Wild Card Series were sweeps without a single lead change in the two games. That doesn't mean the games weren't exciting, though. The best-of-five Division Series begins Saturday. Here are the matchups:AMERICAN LEAGUE ALDS1: Yankees at Rays ALDS2: White Sox at GuardiansNATIONAL LEAGUE NLDS1: Padres at Brewers NLDS2: Braves at DodgersI think we all have Padres vs. Brewers circled. The Brewers were the best team in baseball during the regular season, and the Padres were one of the best teams in baseball the last three months or so. Too bad it's a best-of-five rather than a best-of-seven. I'll take as much Brewers vs. Padres as I can get. They might be the two best teams in the league right now.Anyway, MLB hands out two (really three) awards each postseason: World Series MVP plus 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. Here are our hypothetical Wild Card Series MVPs now that the round is complete. Braves vs. Phillies: Austin RileyChris Sale's four-out relief appearance to close out Game 3 made him a strong contender, but Sale was just OK in Game 1 (three runs in 6 ⅓ innings), and I'm not sure that's MVP worthy. Michael Harris II had a terrific series and his three-run home run in Game 3 set the tone. But Austin Riley's go-ahead three-run homer in Game 1 was not just the biggest swing of this series, it was the biggest swing of the four Wild Card Series. Jhoan Duran's fastball clocked in at 99.9 mph. During the regular season, Riley hit .211 and slugged .368 against pitches at 99 mph or better, and he missed with one-third of his swings. That makes the home run even more remarkable. Riley turned around the kind of fastball he had trouble with all summer."Man, it felt good, no doubt," Riley said about the home run. "... Everybody knows kind of how my season went. Not the way I wanted it to. But that's the beauty of the postseason. You kind of get a clean slate and go out there and try to do something for the boys and for this city. It's definitely a good start."With a championship probability added of 3.97% -- that means it boosted Atlanta's World Series odds 3.97% -- Riley's homer was the single biggest hit of the season to date, and it's not close either. No other hit has cleared even 2.5%. That will change as we get deeper into the postseason, but, for now, Riley owns the biggest swing of 2026. Astros vs. White Sox: Grant TaylorI came into this exercise expecting to give Wild Card Series MVP to Chase Meidroth, who went 4 for 7 in the series and hit the three-run home run that put Game 2 to bed. But, the more I thought about it, the more I warmed up to Grant Taylor. His heroic seven-out, 54-pitch outing nailed down Game 1 and gave the White Sox the crucial Game 1 win in the best-of-three series.Those 54 pitches were 14 more than Taylor's previous season high, and considering the White Sox had already blown through four pitchers, it was pretty much Taylor's ballgame. He was staying in until it ended one way or the other."I'm trying to empty the tank with him," White Sox manager Will Venable said about Taylor's outing. "He's a guy that we trust to bring him in there in the seventh to clean up that inning and make sure that we're in a good spot there, and kind of shut things down with a runner at second base ... Really good stuff from Grant. He's been our guy all year and came through today." Taylor inherited a runner on base in the seventh, escaped the inning, navigated a difficult eighth, then slammed the door in the ninth. If he couldn't finish Game 1, the White Sox are down 1-0 in the series and likely short even more pitching in Game 2 because another reliever would have had to bail Taylor out. He went above and beyond in his lone Wild Card Series appearance. Yankees vs. Red Sox: Ben RiceYou know you had a big series when you beat out a guy who struck out 10 in 6 ⅓ scoreless innings for our hypothetical Wild Card Series MVP award. Ben Rice is our pick over Cam Schlittler because, well, he went 4 for 5 with two home runs in Game 1, and 5 for 6 with 6 RBI in the series. Rice had 12 total bases in the two games, or only three fewer than the Red Sox.Here is Rice's Game 1 grand slam, which gave him a franchise-record-tying six RBI in the game: "I'll remember getting a W versus the Red Sox," Rice said when asked about his Game 1 performance. "There's nothing better than that. I'll remember Cam going out there and just being lights out, like he always is. I'll remember the atmosphere. It was just an awesome night. Great way to kick off the series."Schlittler and Max Fried have Rice beat in win probability added and championship probability added, but we don't strictly adhere to the stats here. Rice was the main character of this Wild Card Series, and that an MVP to me. Cubs vs. Padres: Michael KingCan we give Wild Card Series MVP to the Padres as a team? Just about everyone they put on the field was dynamite. Fernando Tatis Jr. hit a leadoff homer to start the series. Xander Bogaerts, Ty France, and Jackson Merrill each had four hits. San Diego's bullpen threw 11 scoreless innings, including one by Joe Musgrove in his first MLB appearance in two years. Ultimately, Wild Card Series MVP has to be Michael King, who took a no-hitter into the seventh inning of Game 1. He struck out eight and finished with just the one hit allowed in seven scoreless innings."I always feel like I like the adrenaline, I like the pressure," King said after Game 1. "It gives me confidence knowing that the team has confidence in me to pitch in these games. But then when you have our superstars show out like that in the bottom of the first, it makes it a lot easier."King led all players in the series in championship probability added, and not by a little. Also, his performance took on added weight because the Padres are not blessed with a great rotation. King's starts have to be Win Day. The Padres need to win his starts and he needs to eat innings, and King did exactly that in Game 1.