The 2026 MLB home run leader

Jake is in short sleeves. Jimmy, Jake, and Joez returned to the office after a trip to Yankees spring training in Tampa, and Jake was looking fresh-to-death in a baby blue Yankee polo shirt. Things are looking up

Scroll for more on your 2026 home run champion, how we’re covering WBC, and a womp-womp from Pete Alonso. Feedback? As always just mash that reply button.

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Jake and Trev just completed their 2026 home run draft, a tradition where they compete to draft the MLB lineup that will hit the most home runs in the coming season. So let’s look at the home run landscape in 2026.

A familiar two at the top: Shohei Ohtani and Aaron Judge remain the safest power bets. With Shohei pitching again the only theoretical concern is fatigue. Similarly with Judge: if he stays healthy, 50 is the baseline.

Don’t forget Big Dumper: Cal Raleigh just put 60 homers on the board as a catcher. From a position where 30 used to feel like a monster year. If Raleigh gets off to a hot start again, the noise will build fast. And unlike past catching power surges, this one doesn’t feel fluky.

A Sacramento king: In just 117 games last season Nick Kurtz hit 36 homers. And if you isolate his final stretch after a slow start, his pace was absurd. There’s plenty of swing-and-miss in the profile. But there’s also opposite-field power and ballpark context working in his favor. If he can avoid a sophomore slump Kurtz could crash the conversation faster than people expect.

The Bryce is right: On the veteran side, don’t sleep on a refocused Bryce Harper. He hasn’t broken 40 in a decade, but if everything clicks a statement season isn’t hard to imagine.

Juan Gone: Meanwhile, Juan Soto might be entering his true power prime. Back-to-back 40+ homer seasons have quietly reframed expectations. He’s still only 27, which is easy to forget because he’s felt established forever. If he benefits from a revamped Mets lineup, a career power year is sitting right there.

Ballpark effects: As Trev mentioned once or twice or four times, the moved-in fences in Kansas City could push a player like Bobby Witt Jr. from “elite all-around” into legitimate 40-homer territory.

We dig the longball: 2025 was the third time in MLB history that four players had 50 or more home runs. Could this be the first season where five or more players hit 50?

We’re only a few weeks away from the sixth World Baseball Classic, and with Jomboy Media’s partnership with MLB we’ll be covering it like never before. We’ll have our people there at the games, including Talkin’ Baseball at the semifinals and finals, and we’ll be live-streaming key matchups. And most importantly we have a new show devoted to the WBC featuring our own Joez McFly and special guest (and friend of Talkin’ Yanks) The Kid Mero.

Around the world: For the WBC twenty countries have been split into four pools, and there will be round-robin play in four different locations:

Top two advance: The two teams from each pool with the best records will advance to the quarterfinals in Houston and Miami. The US will be a heavy favorite to emerge from their pool, but Joez’s DR will have a trickier path with powerhouse Venezuela in their pool along with a very dangerous Netherlands team featuring big leaguers Jurickson Profar, Xander Bogaerts, Ceddanne Rafaela, Ozzie Albies, and more.

Joez’s torn allegiances: Jimmy put Joez on the spot and asked him who he’d be rooting for if the US played the DR in the finals, with captain Aaron Judge facing off against Yankee rivals like Vladdy and Juan Soto. Joez is all in on the DR, even if it means rooting against Judge, David Bednar, and Paul Goldschmidt. Although the Dominican team will feature Yankees Austin Wells, Camilo Doval, and Amed Rosario. Stay locked on JM Baseball, where Joez’s show Total Baseball: WBC will drop eight episodes throughout the tournament.