What happens when you get 10 very sharp MLB minds together in one place? You get the 2026 VSiN MLB Futures Draft. If you’ll recall, we took 10 of our VSiN hosts and did an NFL Futures Draft during the football season. For this one, we went outside the company to bring in some different perspectives, including former MLB GM and MLB Network Radio host Steve Phillips, former MLB starting pitcher and Foul Territory host Lance Lynn, Fantasy Alarm Head of Content and SiriusXM Fantasy Sports Radio host Howard Bender, and MLB modeler and simulator Mark Borchard.
In terms of our own people, we had VSiN hosts Gill Alexander, Matt Brown, Matt Youmans, Jensen Lewis, and Jeff Erickson, as well as yours truly, VSiN Managing Editor Adam Burke.
The rules of the draft were pretty simple. Contestants had to pick from 11 different categories and fill each one of them over the 11 rounds. Those categories were: Division Winner, Pennant Winner (AL or NL), World Series Winner, Win Total Over, Win Total Under, AL MVP, NL MVP, AL Cy Young, NL Cy Young, Rookie of the Year (AL or NL), and Manager of the Year (AL or NL).
There were some long shots, some favorites, and a whole lot of different perspectives over the course of roughly 100 minutes as the picks were being made.
Here are the selections by round, with accompanying graphics to package everything up all neat and tidy.
Steve Phillips
Phillips had the first pick in the snake draft format, which means he got to make his first selection and then had to wait a while for the next one. A very early run on player awards might have come as a shock to some, but with a small number of players who actually have the chance to win each award, Steve started with the NL Cy Young and others followed suit with the game’s biggest stars in those respective betting markets.
Round 1: Paul Skenes NL Cy Young (+225)
Round 2: Jose Ramirez AL MVP (+1500)
Round 3: Dylan Cease AL Cy Young (+3500)
Round 4: Cubs NL Central (+115)
Round 5: Blue Jays AL Pennant (+650)
Round 6: Kyle Schwarber NL MVP (+3000)
Round 7: Konnor Griffin Rookie of the Year (+280)
Round 8: Braves World Series (+1500)
Round 9: Walt Weiss (ATL) Manager of the Year (+700)
Round 10: Royals Over 81.5 Wins (-120)
Round 11: Cardinals Under 69.5 Wins (-110)
Adam Burke
Like Phillips, it was an early pick and then a long wait for Burke, who took the second favorite in the NL MVP market to begin his selections and then started a few correlated plays throughout the draft, including some heavy exposure on the Tigers and Rangers.
Round 1: Juan Soto NL MVP (+750)
Round 2: Cristopher Sanchez NL Cy Young (+1000)
Round 3: Tigers AL Pennant (+900)
Round 4: Tigers AL Central (+110)
Round 5: Logan Gilbert AL Cy Young (+2000)
Round 6: Skip Schumaker (TEX) Manager of the Year (+1300)
Round 7: Tigers World Series (+2000)
Round 8: Rangers Over 83.5 Wins (-110)
Round 9: Phillies Under 89.5 Wins (-110)
Round 10: Owen Caissie Rookie of the Year (+2000)
Round 11: Gunnar Henderson AL MVP (+1600)
Lance Lynn
One of two former MLB pitchers in the field, Lynn spread his plays around, taking Yankees for the AL player award hardware, but the Blue Jays for team success. The Giants were also a popular pick for Lynn.
Round 1: Aaron Judge AL MVP (+225)
Round 2: Yoshinobu Yamamoto NL Cy Young (+500)
Round 3: Blue Jays World Series (+1500)
Round 4: Blue Jays AL East (+250)
Round 5: Phillies NL Pennant (+800)
Round 6: Max Fried AL Cy Young (+1700)
Round 7: Tony Vitello (SF) Manager of the Year (+1400)
Round 8: Bryce Eldridge Rookie of the Year (+1800)
Round 9: Giants Over 80.5 Wins (-110)
Round 10: Brewers Under 84.5 Wins (+100)
Round 11: Mookie Betts NL MVP (+4500)
Gill Alexander
Like so many others, Alexander attacked the player award markets first and then took a big long shot late in the draft with his World Series winner. There were actually a few big swings in Gill’s portfolio.
Round 1: Tarik Skubal AL Cy Young (+350)
Round 2: Julio Rodríguez AL MVP (+1300)
Round 3: Rangers AL Pennant (+1300)
Round 4: Orioles AL East (+425)
Round 5: Jackson Merrill NL MVP (+5500)
Round 6: Kevin McGonigle Rookie of the Year (+900)
Round 7: Mark Kotsay (ATH) Manager of the Year (+1300)
Round 8: Zack Wheeler NL Cy Young (+2000)
Round 9: Guardians Under 79.5 Wins (-110)
Round 10: Rangers World Series (+3000)
Round 11: White Sox Over 66.5 Wins (-110)
Howard Bender
The second favorite for AL MVP went off the board with Bender’s first pick and then we saw some correlation speckled throughout, pairing NL Cy Young with Manager of the Year, the Yankees, and the Mariners in the Division Winner and Cy Young markets.
Round 1: Bobby Witt Jr. AL MVP (+550)
Round 2: Yankees AL Pennant (+450)
Round 3: Yankees World Series (+1100)
Round 4: Mariners AL West (+100)
Round 5: Freddy Peralta NL Cy Young (+3000)
Round 6: Bryan Woo AL Cy Young (+2000)
Round 7: Carter Jensen Rookie of the Year (+600)
Round 8: Astros Under 86.5 Wins (-110)
Round 9: Pirates Over 78.5 Wins (-110)
Round 10: Carlos Mendoza (NYM) Manager of the Year (+1400)
Round 11: Fernando Tatis Jr. NL MVP (+1600)
Matt Brown
Brown declared himself 2-0 after his first two selections and there were quite a few more gambles from that point forward, as he gambled on health with three of his four player awards.
Round 1: Shohei Ohtani NL MVP (-125)
Round 2: Dodgers NL Pennant (+125)
Round 3: Vladimir Guerrero Jr. AL MVP (+1300)
Round 4: Hunter Greene NL Cy Young (+1400)
Round 5: Cole Ragans AL Cy Young (+1300)
Round 6: Red Sox AL East (+320)
Round 7: Red Sox World Series (+1600)
Round 8: Don Kelly (PIT) Manager of the Year (+1000)
Round 9: Yankees Under 90.5 Wins (-110)
Round 10: Orioles Over 85.5 Wins (-110)
Round 11: Chase DeLauter Rookie of the Year (+2000)
Matt Youmans
Youmans, whose Over/Under was set at Round 4.5 to make a comment about the pace of the proceedings, cashed the Under easily on that one, but he took some calculated shots with his awards picks and did not do any double-dipping on one team like others did.
Round 1: Cal Raleigh AL MVP (+850)
Round 2: Brewers NL Central (+275)
Round 3: Nationals Under 65.5 Wins (-110)
Round 4: Ronald Acuna Jr. NL MVP (+1200)
Round 5: JJ Wetherholt Rookie of the Year (+425)
Round 6: Matt Quatraro (KC) Manager of the Year (+2200)
Round 7: Cam Schlittler AL Cy Young (+5000)
Round 8: Nolan McLean NL Cy Young (+3500)
Round 9: Orioles AL Pennant (+1000)
Round 10: Athletics Over 75.5 Wins (-105)
Round 11: Cubs World Series (+1800)
Jeff Erickson
With Prop Points co-host Nick Whalen hosting the MLB Futures Draft, Erickson represented the show by taking part in the draft. As one of Rotowire’s resident MLB experts, Erickson had the biggest snipe that drew the most groans from the draftees when he took Logan Webb for the NL Cy Young.
Round 1: Dodgers World Series (+230)
Round 2: Red Sox AL Pennant (+700)
Round 3: Logan Webb NL Cy Young (+2000)
Round 4: Hunter Brown AL Cy Young (+1300)
Round 5: Brewers Over 84.5 Wins (-120)
Round 6: Kyle Tucker NL MVP (+3000)
Round 7: Kazuma Okamoto Rookie of the Year (+600)
Round 8: Terry Francona (CIN) Manager of the Year (+1000)
Round 9: Padres Under 83.5 Wins (-105)
Round 10: Roman Anthony AL MVP (+1700)
Round 11: Reds NL Central (+425)
Mark Borchard
Borchard, probably better known as @BaseWinner and a regular guest on A Numbers Game with Gill Alexander, frequently referred to his simulations and his implied probabilities to make some value bets over the course of the draft. He also took the biggest first-round swing of anybody with a guy who takes plenty of big swings. And he took the biggest long shot in the field.
Round 1: Nick Kurtz AL MVP (+1500)
Round 2: Garrett Crochet AL Cy Young (+425)
Round 3: Mets NL East (+165)
Round 4: Mets NL Pennant (+700)
Round 5: Mariners World Series (+1200)
Round 6: Chris Sale NL Cy Young (+1400)
Round 7: Torey Lovullo (ARI) Manager of the Year (+2200)
Round 8: Samuel Basallo Rookie of the Year (+1000)
Round 9: Diamondbacks Over 79.5 Wins (-110)
Round 10: Pirates Under 78.5 Wins (-110)
Round 11: Willy Adames NL MVP (+12000)
Jensen Lewis
It seems somewhat fitting that the only closer in the draft got the 10th and final pick and also made the final pick with his 110th selection. It was a long wait between rounds for Lewis, but he did get to make back-to-back picks on the turn every time.
Round 1: Royals AL Central (+225)
Round 2: Mariners AL Pennant (+500)
Round 3: Pete Alonso AL MVP (+2200)
Round 4: Jacob deGrom AL Cy Young (+1300)
Round 5: Mets World Series (+1400)
Round 6: Elly De La Cruz NL MVP (+2200)
Round 7: Munetaka Murakami Rookie of the Year (+600)
Round 8: Dodgers Under 102.5 Wins (-105)
Round 9: Craig Albernaz (BAL) Manager of the Year (+700)
Round 10: Cade Horton NL Cy Young (+7500)
Round 11: Rockies Over 54.5 Wins (-105)
We’ll keep an eye over the course of the season on how things look and we’ll be doing a ton of baseball coverage from now through the final out of the World Series, so keep it locked in right here.
Here’s the replay of the 2026 VSiN MLB Futures Draft:
