Fantasy Baseball 2026 League Winners

The players below make up My Guys for the 2026 fantasy baseball season. These are some of my favorite players for fantasy baseball, and players that I believe will help fantasy managers win leagues. They are a mix of some no-brainer choices, along with some players who could be bounce-back candidates, and others who are more off-the-radar or against-the-grain. However, your fantasy baseball drafts shake out, try to walk away with at least a few of these players. These are my top league-winning players for 2026.

Fantasy Baseball League Winners

C Shea Langeliers ATH

Shea Langeliers had a major breakout in 2025, launching 31 homers and topping 70 runs and RBI. He also swiped seven bags and finished with a relatively legitimate .277 batting average. Perhaps he has a little regression to his AVG in 2026, but not enough to downgrade him from being a top-five catcher this season.

Langeliers now has several seasons’ worth of excellent trend data. He consistently hits the ball hard, with a barrel rate of 11% or higher in three straight seasons, and a 44% HardHit rate or better in three straight seasons as well. Langeliers has increased his line drive rate three years in a row, while not sacrificing his flyball rate, and has a 44% pull rate or better in each of his four seasons in the majors.

Where he stepped up most last year was with plate discipline. For the third consecutive year, Langeliers improved his strikeout rate, getting it down to 19% last season. Ironically, Langeliers was actually more aggressive at the plate, which worked out well for him as an approach, as he made more contact than ever. This is an area where he could experience regression to his AVG. If his aggressiveness at the plate results in more swings and misses, the strikeout rate will tick up, and even with the excellent batted ball data, his AVG could dip down closer to .250.

Even factoring in some regression, Langeliers profiles as a top-five fantasy catcher who can add a ton of thump to fantasy rosters. He is one of my favorite league winners for 2026.

1B Vinnie Pasquantino KC

Vinnie Pasquantino finally played up to his potential in 2025. He mashed 32 home runs and finished with 72 runs, 113 RBI, a steal, and a .264 AVG. This is entirely repeatable for him in 2026, especially with the fences in Kansas City moving in and being lowered.

The outfield walls in left and right field will both move in, which should benefit Pasquantino, who hits flyballs and line drives a combined 62% of the time. He also pulls the ball 44% of the time, which also bodes well for the adjustments the Royals made to the walls. The Pasquatch also barreled the ball better than ever last season, which will help send those line drives and flies out of the park.

The Italian Beef has a great AVG floor, never striking out more than 15% of the time during any season in the majors. He also averages an 8% BB rate, making him an asset in typical points leagues.

A 35-homer, .270 AVG season is not out of the question for the Italian Nightmare, making him one of your potential league winners for this season.

2B Brandon Lowe PIT

Brandon Lowe finally had a healthy season in 2025, his first time playing more than 130 games since 2021. And he showed what he can do when healthy by hitting 31 dingers, with 79 runs, 83 RBI, three steals, and a .256 AVG.

That stat line made him the sixth-highest rated second baseman by dollar value, according to Fangraphs’ player rater. Yet, he has been drafted outside of the top-10 second basemen in fantasy baseball. Lowe could easily produce well enough to garner more value than his current ADP suggests.

Lowe is an elite hard hitter, averaging a 10% barrel rate and a 44% HardHit rate for his career. He is also an elite line drive and pull hitter, which should give him a boost to his AVG, even with a career 27% K rate. As long as Lowe remains healthy, he should be in line for another season of 30 home runs or more.

Lowe should also see a significant amount of playing time, despite his poor splits against lefty pitchers, simply because the alternative is so much of a drop-off in skill. He is an oft-overlooked fantasy asset because drafters worry about injury, but he could very well be one of your league winners this season.

3B Manny Machado SD

Manny Machado has been drafted behind Jose Ramirez, Junior Caminero, and Jazz Chisholm, but could produce enough to finish as the second-best third baseman in fantasy baseball this year. He is incredibly consistent and is a safe option at a position where some of the other players in the top five possess some concerns.

In terms of consistency, for the last five years, Machado has

• Played in 150 or more games four times
• 600 plate appearances or more each year
• Between 27 and 32 home runs
• Three seasons of 90 or more runs
• 90 or more RBI each year, including three seasons of 100 or more
• Four seasons of a .275 AVG or better

Machado has also improved his barrel rate for four straight years, and his HardHit rate for the last three. These were already elite to begin with, and he continues to get better. Machado drives the ball extremely well, which keeps his AVG so high. He could possibly have hit more homers last year, but experienced some bad HR/FB luck, considering he hit more flies than in 2024, but fewer turned into home runs than his usual rate.

Machado’s plate discipline is also remarkably consistent. His 19.3% K rate last season was identical to 2024. His O-contact% was also identical for the last two seasons, and his chase rates were separated by .1%.

If you miss out on the other top four third basemen, you should feel blessed to be able to draft Machado. You can lord it over your league mates when you draft one of my favorite league winners this season.

SS Trevor Story BOS

First of all, 33 is not old! Trevor Story had his first fully healthy season since 2021 and looked solid. According to the dollar values on Fangraphs’ player rater, Story put together the sixth-best season for a shortstop in 2025, and could very well repeat a similar stat line in 2026 – as long as he continues to maintain his health. The veteran finished with 25 home runs, 91 runs, 95 RBI, 31 steals, and a .263 AVG.

Story can repeat the home run total. His 10% barrel rate and 47% HardHit rate last season were well above league average. That was his best barrel rate since 2023 and his best HH rate ever, likely because he was healthy. Story should also be able to maintain a .250 AVG or better with continued improvements to his K% and contact%.

Story’s home field of Fenway Park works great for righty hitters. It was the ninth-best park for RHB, and should continue to play in his favor in 2026. Last season was his first with a sub-40% flyball rate and a groundball rate above 40%. He also had a HR/FB% below his career norm, but still ended up hitting 25 home runs.

Even with a slight uptick in fly balls and line drives, we could be looking at close to a 30/30 season from Story this year. That would make him an easy candidate as one of the top league winners for 2026.

OF Wilyer Abreu BOS

Wilyer Abreu had an impressive breakout last season, hitting 22 home runs, with 53 runs, 69 RBI, six steals, and a .247 AVG. He made some clear improvements to his approach at the plate that led to success, and if those trends continue, we could see an even better season for him in 2026.

Abreu improved his discipline at the plate last year, lowering his K% and improving his contact%. But his AVG decreased from 2024, in part due to a dip in his BABIP. That was likely brought on by a lower LD%, which could be traced to a high launch angle. That resulted in more fly balls and, in turn, more home runs in what amounted to fewer PAs than 2024. But line drives result in hits more than any other type of batted ball, and sacrificing his LD% for his FB% certainly played a factor in lowering his AVG. An easy fix to this would be lowering his LA a few degrees while still maintaining his power.

Another area where Abreu improved last season was his hard contact. His barrel rate improved to a career best 12%, and he maintained an elite 45% HH rate. He pulls the ball extremely well, which works great in Fenway, the fifth-best park for lefty hitters last year. Driving the ball and pulling it there would actually help him significantly, especially with continued improvements to contact, discipline, and batted balls.

Abreu is an excellent draft target going close to pick 200. He should return much more value, making him one of my favorite potential league winners for this season.

SP Nick Lodolo CIN

Nick Lodolo’s current ADP puts him at SP35, despite last season’s performance, finishing as SP26 in Fangraphs’ dollar value system for rating players. He finished with a career best 156.2 IP and a 3.33 ERA, while also striking out a career high 156 batters.

The key for Lodolo last season was health. In the past, he dealt with multiple injuries, including a back strain and calf tendonitis in 2022, then a stress reaction in his tibia in 2023. He then hit the IL four times in 2024 with a calf strain, a groin injury, a blister, and a finger sprain. Lodolo also dealt with a blister late in 2025, but seems to be past the major injury issues that plagued him early in his career.

In a mostly healthy 2025 season, Lodolo shone. His fastball, sinker, and changeup were all above average in Out%, a stat that measures how often a pitcher’s pitch type results in an out, graded against league average. Lodolo has the stuff to get batters out on both sides of the plate.

In addition to his excellent stuff, Lodolo also improved his walk rate last season. His 19% K-BB rate would have been top-15 in baseball if he qualified, and his 32% chase rate would have been top-25. Lodolo owns a career 44% GB rate, which is important in a hitter-friendly park like Great American in Cincinnati.

Another healthy year for Lodolo could result in a special season for the 28-year-old and turn him into a bona fide ace. He should be considered among your league winners for the year.

Hopefully, you can roster a handful of these players in 2026, and hopefully they help you win your leagues.