Wins above replacementWAR
WAR stands for wins above replacement. Wins above replacement: how many more wins a player was worth to his team than a freely available minor-leaguer would have been in the same playing time.
How WAR is calculated
Batting, baserunning and fielding runs, plus an adjustment for the position played, converted to wins at roughly ten runs per win and measured against a replacement-level baseline.
It is an estimate, not a count: Baseball-Reference and FanGraphs publish different versions that can disagree by a win or more for the same season. As a scale, 2 is a solid regular, 5 an All-Star season and 8 an MVP one. A pitcher’s WAR is filed separately — ask for “pitching WAR”.
What counts as a good WAR?
Half of the 422 qualified MLB players in 2026 were at or below 1.1. Clearing 3.7 put a season in the top tenth of the league.
- Median
- 1.1
- Top 10%
- 3.7
- Leader
- 9.6
By position, the median was 1.6 for SS, 1.6 for 1B, 1.3 for 2B, 1.2 for CF, 1.1 for 3B and 0.9 for LF.
Qualified: 40+ games, non-zero, 2026 regular season.