By Field Level Media
Nov 13 (Field Level Media) - Houston Astros designated hitter/outfielder Yordan Alvarez and Chicago Cubs center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong were unanimously selected as the American
and National League Most Valuable Players, Major League Baseball revealed Thursday.
Alvarez challenged for the Triple Crown in the American League with 42 home runs and 106 RBIs and claimed the batting title with a .316 average. He was second in home runs and runs batted in while leading the league in several offensive categories: total bases (341), walks (109), extra-base hits (77), on-base percentage (.432), slugging percentage (.601), OPS (1.033).
Numbers backed up the historic nature of the 2026 season for Alvarez.
Alvarez joined Aaron Judge in 2025 and Miguel Cabrera in 2012 as the only players since 1970 to win an AL batting title with at least 40 home runs.
Junior Caminero of the Tampa Bay Rays was second and Bobby Witt Jr. of the Kansas City Royals finished third in American League balloting. AL Cy Young Award winner Cam Schlittler of the New York Yankees was close behind in fourth, with one second-place nod. Caminero netted 27 of the 30 second-place votes.
Crow-Armstrong led the league with 119 runs scored, shared the MLB lead with 45 home runs with Phillies designated hitter Kyle Schwarber and had 41 stolen bases to become the seventh player in MLB history to turn in a 40-40 season.
His Platinum Glove defense was difficult to quantify, even with advanced metrics that point to him saving the Cubs between 26 and 32 runs with a wins above replacement (WAR) of 10.6, per FanGraphs.
By midsummer at Wrigley Field, Crow-Armstrong was already being showered with the MVP chorus. He had 14 home runs, scored 29 runs and delivered 28 RBIs in August to push the Cubs closer to the wild-card spot in the National League.
Crow-Armstrong is the ninth member of the Cubs selected MVP and first since third baseman Kris Bryant in 2016. Javier Baez was runner-up to Christian Yelich in 2018.
Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani was named NL MVP each of the last two seasons (and AL MVP in 2023). He finished second this time around, with 26 of the 30 second-place votes.
While Ohtani battled knee and biceps injuries he still posted MVP-caliber numbers and returned to the mound as a starter before the collection of physical ailments caused the Dodgers to reconsider.
He was 8-2 with a 1.79 ERA and 95 strikeouts in 85 2/3 innings over 14 starts. He also hit a team-leading 30 home runs, totaled 60 extra-base hits and scored 89 runs in 139 games.
(--Field Level Media)
