Maple City's Ethan Bumgardner Wins 2026 American League MVP Award

Awards week concludes as we announce the 2026 Most Valuable Player Award winners. All 6 Awards were voted on by the 14 Managers as 3 points were awarded for a 1st place vote, 2 points for a 2nd place vote, and 1 point for a 3rd place vote.

Congratulations to the American League MVP, Ethan Bumgardner of the Maple City Magic who took home the most votes en route to winning his first MVP Award. Bumgardner won a competitive vote over Jared Jonkman, Brandon Terry, and Walter Griffin III as he appeared on 13 of the 14 ballots.

It was a true breakout season for Bumgardner who finished with the highest Batting Average in all of ORWBL as he finished with a .608 AVG. He led ORWBL in Runs Scored with 95 while finishing 2nd in HR with 71 and 4th in RBI with 88.

After finishing 2nd in the American League Rookie of the Year vote in his 1st season a few years back, Bumgardner has only gotten better with each passing year as "The Kid" takes home his 1st Most Valuable Player Award at the age of 20. Bumgardner becomes the 4th Maple City player to take home MVP honors as he joins Zach Liberatore, Caleb Jonkman, and Jared Jonkman.

It was a memorable season for Maple City who made their first trip back to the World Series since getting swept by the Granger Panthers in the 2021 late summer classic. While the Magic were not able to close out the season with a title, the future is bright for Maple City as Bumgardner will look to continue what has been one of the more impressive starts to a Career that we have seen. After winning his first MVP and helping lead Maple City back to the World Series, "The Kid" will look to have an even better 2027 season in hopes of getting the Magic back on top.