My 2026 NL All-Star team features Wood

Each year at this time I select my National League All-Star team and reveal which Nationals player(s) make the team. To avoid subjectivity and bias, my selections for the team are based on entirely statistics, in particular wins above replace (WAR), and I rely on the Fangraphs version.

In contrast to most writers posting their All-Star selections, I do not focus exclusively on statistics for the first half of the current season. We know that statistics from a three-month period have a lot of noise, and some of the worst historical All-Star picks have been based on an otherwise mediocre player getting hot for a couple of months. So, my formula gives weight to both 2025 and 2026 statistics, with a heavier weight applied to the current season, and also gives a small weight to career statistics. Consequently, my All-Star team sometimes recognizes players who have good but not great 2026 numbers but had a great season in 2025. For example, Geraldo Perdomo has “only” 1.5 fWAR in 2026, but last season he was a legitimate MVP contender, finishing fourth in the MVP vote with 7.1 fWAR, but he was snubbed for last year’s All-Star team. I think that makes him a great selection as the starting shortstop.

For pitchers, my formula uses a weighted average of two WAR measures—one focused on run prevention (RA9-WAR) and the other based on fielding independent pitching (fWAR). For my full methodology, see my 2022 article along with an adjustment to the weights that I reported in my 2024 article.

My formulas selected one Nationals player for the team—James Wood. With 3.2 fWAR in 2026, Wood ranks 5th among NL position players behind only one other corner outfielder (Corbin Carroll, who ranks 2nd). After taking account of 2025 numbers, his point total has him ranked fourth among all NL corner outfielders according to my system.

The other Nats player who came close to making the team was CJ Abrams. Abrams leads NL shortstops in quite a few offensive categories such as home runs, slugging, OPS, and wRC+, but WAR includes defense, where Abrams doesn’t do as well. Still, with 2.6 fWAR in 2026, he ranks second among NL shortstops (behind Otto Lopez with 3.2), barely ahead of Elly De La Cruz in 2.5. But adding in the 2025 statistics bumps Perdomo, De La Cruz, Lopez, and Lindor ahead of Abrams, leaving him as the fifth-best NL shortstop according to my formulas. Still, my formulas show Abrams as now ahead of several perennial all-star shortstops such as Trea Turner, Dansby Swanson, and Mookie Betts. The shortstop position is a strong one in the NL right now, so Abrams has his work cut out for him in trying to rise to the top.

Here are my 2026 National League All-Star selections, along with their point totals:

Starters

C – William Contreras – Milwaukee Brewers (18.2)

1B – Matt Olson – Atlanta Braves (24.3)

2B – Brice Turang – Milwaukee Brewers (22.8)

3B – Max Muncy – Los Angeles Dodgers (22.0)

SS – Geraldo Perdomo – Arizona Diamondbacks (22.3)

COF – Corbin Carroll – Arizona Diamondbacks (31.2)

COF – Juan Soto – New York Mets (26.1)

CF – Pete Crow-Armstrong – Chicago Cubs (33.4)

DH – Shohei Ohtani – Los Angeles Dodgers (31.0*) (*this point total doesn’t include an additional 23.0 points he earned as a pitcher)

SP – Christopher Sanchez – Philadelphia Phillies (35.1)

Reserves

C – Will Smith – Los Angeles Dodgers (16.0)

1B – Freddie Freeman – Los Angeles Dodgers (23.5)

2B – JJ Wetherholt – St. Louis Cardinals (22.3)

2B – Luis Arraez – San Francisco Giants (21.5)

3B – Matt Chapman – San Francisco Giants (17.9)

SS – Elly De La Cruz – Cincinnati Reds (21.8)

SS – Otto Lopez – Miami Marlins (21.8)

COF – Fernando Tatis Jr. – San Diego Padres (23.0)

COF – James Wood – Washington Nationals (21.9)

CF – Andy Pages – Los Angeles Dodgers (20.5)

DH – Kyle Schwarber – Philadelphia Phillies (24.4)

SP – Jacob Misiorowski – Milwaukee Brewers (29.5)

SP – Paul Skenes – Pittsburgh Pirates (27.1)

SP – Chris Sale – Atlanta Braves (26.2)

SP – Yoshinobu Yamamoto – Los Angeles Dodgers (25.7)

SP – Zack Wheeler – Philadelphia Phillies (24.9)

SP – Chase Burns – Cincinnati Reds (23.6)

RP – Mason Miller – San Diego Padres (14.1)

RP – Robert Suarez – Atlanta Braves (11.9)

RP – Jhoan Duran – Philadelphia Phillies (11.9)

RP – Dylan Lee – Atlanta Braves (10.7)

RP – Antonio Senzatela – Colorado Rockies (9.3) (*selected so that Colorado would be represented)