Pete Crow-Armstrong and Yordan Alvarez Win 2026 MLB MVP Awards
Crow-Armstrong earned a unanimous vote after the first 40–40 season in Cubs history. Alvarez swept the AL ballot after leading MLB in batting average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage.
Pete Crow-Armstrong and Yordan Alvarez won their first MVP awards Thursday night, both by unanimous vote. Crow-Armstrong became the fourth straight unanimous National League MVP, while Alvarez became the first primary designated hitter to win the American League award without pitching.
A complete breakdown of the results can be found on the BBWAA website.
Pete Crow-Armstrong Wins NL MVP
Crow-Armstrong received all 30 first-place votes, becoming the first Cub to win MVP since Kris Bryant in 2016. PCA’s10.6 fWAR led MLB by 3.6 wins and tied for the 11th-highest single-season total by a position player since 1950.
The 24-year-old played all 162 games, led the NL with 41 stolen bases and tied for the league lead with 45 home runs. He also recorded 26 Outs Above Average in centre field, 2 more than he had in 2025. The Cubs already had an elite defender and baserunner in Crow-Armstrong. This year, they also had the NL’s most productive hitter by OPS (.942).
How Crow-Armstrong Changed His Approach
After breaking out in the first half of 2025, Crow-Armstrong fell to a 72 wRC+ in the second half, raising questions about how much the Cubs could count on his bat. Those questions lingered through his first 28 games of 2026, when he hit one home run and posted a .613 OPS. He ended a drought of 77 plate appearances without a home run on April 28 and put up a 1.009 OPS from that game through the end of the season.
As MLB.com’s Jordan Bastian reported, Crow-Armstrong talked with teammate Alex Bregman about looking for one specific pitch in each at-bat. He chased fewer pitches outside the zone, more than doubled his walk rate and got on base far more often.
| Stat | 2025 | 2026 |
| Chase Rate | 41.7% | 34.2% |
| Walk Rate | 4.5% | 11.4% |
| On-base Percentage | .287 | .372 |
One of those walks set up his biggest milestone. In the first inning of Chicago’s playoff-clinching win at Wrigley Field, Crow-Armstrong drew a leadoff walk and stole second on the next pitch, becoming the seventh player in MLB history to join the 40–40 club.
Crow-Armstrong Pulled Away in August
Shohei Ohtani entered the second half as the MVP favourite after posting a 157 wRC+ at the plate and a 1.79 ERA over 85⅔ innings in the first half. Left knee inflammation and right biceps tightness cut short his season on the mound, and his offensive production dipped in the second half.
A year after fading down the stretch, Crow-Armstrong pulled ahead in the MVP race with 14 home runs, 28 RBIs and a .703 slugging percentage in August. On August 17, he hit both a leadoff and a walk-off home run. He homered three times and drove in six on August 29, then went deep twice more the next day.
Ohtani finished second in NL MVP voting, receiving 26 of the 30 second-place votes. Brice Turang finished third after hitting 21 home runs, driving in 100 and winning a Gold Glove at second base for the 103-win Milwaukee Brewers.
Yordan Alvarez Wins AL MVP
Yordan Alvarez received all 30 first-place votes, joining Jeff Bagwell and Jose Altuve as the only Astros to win an MVP. Alvarez made 134 of his 158 starts at designated hitter.
The menacing slugger led the AL with a 1.033 OPS, with Boston’s Willson Contreras a distant second at .901. He won the batting title and came close to the Triple Crown, setting career highs with 42 home runs and 106 RBIs but finishing one homer and seven RBIs behind Pete Alonso, who led the AL in both categories.
Alvarez joins Miguel Cabrera and Aaron Judge as the only players since 1970 to win an AL batting title while hitting at least 40 home runs.
What a Full Season of Alvarez Looked Like
Alvarez had shown he could hit at an MVP level. The question was whether he could stay healthy long enough to do it over a full season. A fractured right hand and a sprained left ankle limited him to 48 games in 2025, but he returned to play a career-high 158 in 2026.
When Alvarez finished third in AL MVP voting in 2022, he posted a 188 OPS+ in 561 plate appearances. This year, he put up a 190 OPS+ in 692 plate appearances, giving Houston the same elite production over 131 more trips to the plate. That 190 OPS+ topped the 187 Ohtani posted as a full-time designated hitter during his 50–50 season in 2024.
Alvarez drew 109 walks against 120 strikeouts, and his 15.8% walk rate was a career high. And if pitchers dared to give him a pitch to hit, he made them pay, barreling 16.0% of his batted balls.
How Alvarez Separated Himself From the Field
| AL MVP FINish | Player | OPS | fwar | Voting Points |
| First | Yordan Alvarez | 1.033 | 6.8 | 420 |
| Second | Junior Caminero | .884 | 5.3 | 267 |
| Third | Bobby Witt Jr. | .800 | 7.0 | 188 |
Caminero matched Alvarez’s 42 home runs and played all 162 games for a 98-win Rays team. Witt built his case with 45 stolen bases and 24 Outs Above Average at shortstop, helping him finish with the most fWAR of the three finalists.
Alvarez’s 6.8 fWAR was the lowest by an AL MVP in a full-length season since Justin Verlander in 2011. A weaker field than in recent years may have helped a player whose case rested almost entirely on his bat. Still, every voter put Alvarez first after a season in which he led MLB in batting average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage.
Become a Member of Just Baseball
Subscribe and upgrade to go ad-free!
* Save 25% by subscribing annually.
Written by
Will Houslander is from Toronto and studies at Ivey Business School. He covers all things MLB for Just Baseball and writes about the Toronto Blue Jays…