Caminero's Iron Man Season Sets Him Apart in MVP Race

Junior Caminero crossed 100 RBIs on Saturday night with a two-run homer off Aaron Nola in the Rays' 12-1 rout of Philadelphia, reaching 101 RBIs and 42 home runs in what is already his second consecutive 40-homer, 100-RBI season. One game remains in the regular season, and if Caminero starts Sunday's finale at third base—the position he has occupied every day this year—he will join Vinny Castilla (1998 Rockies), Cal Ripken Jr. (1997 Orioles), and Sal Bando (1969 A's) as the only third basemen to post a full 162-game start at the hot corner since the divisional era began.

The feat underscore a deliberate recovery from a nagging back issue that slowed Caminero in September last year. Manager Kevin Cash credited an aggressive offseason conditioning program and the establishment of a rigid daily routine—pre-game work on hitting and defense—as the foundation for Caminero's durability this season. In his first two full campaigns, Caminero has recorded multiple 40-homer, 100-RBI seasons, a distinction shared by only eight other players since RBIs became an official statistic in 1920: Ralph Kiner, Eddie Mathews, Chuck Klein, Troy Glaus, Albert Pujols, Ryan Howard, Nolan Arenado, and Pete Alonso. The Rays have produced exactly three 40-homer, 100-RBI seasons in franchise history—all belonging to either Carlos Peña (2007) or Caminero.

What separates Caminero's candidacy from a crowded MVP field is not just the offensive output, but the positional premium and the absence. Playing third base at a star level and appearing in every single game sets a cultural tone across a roster that has logged 98 wins and sits atop the AL standings. Veteran starter Nick Martinez explicitly framed Caminero's daily presence as the template for a championship-caliber team, noting that other Rays have gutted through injuries this season partly because the franchise's best player has never asked for a day off. That durability—staying healthy and staying accountable—is harder to monetize than home runs, yet it is precisely what separates contenders from pretenders down the stretch.

From a betting lens, Caminero's availability and consistency matter acutely for any market pricing his offensive output over the remaining postseason run. His plate discipline and exit velocity have remained stable throughout the season, indicating no mechanical fatigue or statistical variance that would suggest a September fade. The over on his regular-season HR total is already secure at 42, but any playoff prop—strikeout rate, extra-base-hit frequency, or team run-production angles tied to his presence in the lineup—benefits from the knowledge that Caminero has conditioned himself specifically to avoid the decline he experienced last fall. A player with that level of intentionality around his physical state is less likely to regress sharply in October than a peer who stumbled into health by accident.