Brett Dobson has an MVP case in 2026. He had one in 2025, too.

I love to play the “Player A vs Player B” game. Two stat lines, side by side, try and guess who is who, and then be surprised and delighted to learn the result. Removes the bias of players being on your favorite (or least favorite) team, maybe recency bias, and anything else that might tilt you towards saying one is better than the other. Just the numbers, and the opportunity to be wrong, be surprised, or have your mind changed. For example:

Player A: 59.1% save percentage, 146 saves, 11.1 SAA, 46 clean saves. Five games at 60% or better, seven games with 15+ saves

Player B: 59% save percentage, 131 saves, 9.7 SAA, 54 clean saves. Four games at 60% or better, three games with 15+ saves.

A bit of a trick question. Both players are Brett Dobson. Player A is 2025 Dobson, Player B is 2026 Dobson.

In both seasons, Dobson didn’t have a single game under 50% in goal. In 2025, Dobson led the PLL in games with 15+ saves and in 60+% save percentage games in goal. He led the league in save percentage, and he was third in the league in total saves. In 2026, he is once again leading the league in save percentage among regular starters. He is not leading the league in games with 15+ saves, he’s 4th in the league in total saves. He is tied for the league lead in 60+% games, but has three fewer than he did a year ago.  Even if you point to the fact that he missed two starts while finishing the NLL season, Dobson doesn’t lead these metrics on a per game basis either. 

And to that, I add the metric that seems to change minds the most.  Player A played on a team that won four games and missed the playoffs. Player B played on a team that won seven games and won the one seed in the west. 

I suppose what I’m really doing here is asking the “how can the MVP be on the last place team” question. But just consider how much wins and losses impact the above. Dobson’s 2026 season is not significantly statistically better than his 2025. In some categories, he took a step back. There’s a case to be made that, strictly as an individual talent and putting aside team performance, he had more games as a truly dominant goalie last year.  And yet, in 2025, Dobson wasn’t even a finalist for Goalie of the Year, let alone MVP. This year, Dobson is widely considered to be a lock for finalist for GOTY, even with a strong case to win it. PLL writers currently are making the case that one of Dobson, CJ Kirst, or Michael Sowers should be the league MVP. Dobson currently has the third best odds for the award on DraftKings.

I am not disparaging 2026 Dobson, or trying to throw cold water on what has been an incredible season. Quite the opposite. I am making the case that 2025 Dobson should have been up for these awards, and the fact that he wasn’t tells me that entirely too much weight is being put on team performance, particularly wins and losses, when considering how we honor individual achievement. End of season awards honor the individual. Yes, the acceptance speeches will be loaded with up thanks for teammates, coaches, and all the right things the winners are meant to say. But goalie in particular is a lonely position. Stand alone in the cage and step in front of a hard rubber ball traveling 100+ miles per hour, and try to get hit by that ball 10-20 times per game.

If the Archers finished with another four win season and missed the playoffs, would we be talking about 2026 Dobson this way? The answer is pretty proveably no, because that is exactly what happened a year ago. We should have been, but we weren’t. If you really want to get into the weeds, there’s probably a case to say Beau Pederson should have been up for SSDM of the Year a season ago and wasn’t because of the Archers’ lack of success, just like Dobson.

We’ll be asking this question again this year about Atlas players.  Brett Makar currently leads the PLL in caused turnovers, leads all poles in ground balls, has seven points, and has limited his individual matchup to being at or below their per game point average in just about every game this season. Bryan Costabile leads the league in two point goals, he’s shooting nearly 30% and has 28 points this year from the midfield. He is one of if not the best dodging midfield threat in the league. The Atlas also have the worst team defense in the league and finished in last place. Makar and Costabile’s award candidacy likely gets impacted by that. But it shouldn’t, just like Dobson’s shouldn’t have been a year ago. 

When deciding who should win these awards, and who should be up for them, I’d love to just return to the Player A vs Player B game.  A ballot with just individual stats, no names, and no mention of wins and losses. Let the players campaign from this year speak to their worthiness. I bet we’d see some interesting results.