Pete Crow-Armstrong had a majestic all-around season for the Chicago Cubs. Yordan Alvarez was an offensive force for the Houston Astros.
When it comes to the 2026 MVP awards, two players cleared the field.
Crow-Armstrong won the NL honor on Thursday, and Alvarez slugged his way to the AL prize. The winners were unanimous selections in each league in the same year for the third time, joining 2023 (Shohei Ohtani and Ronald Acuña Jr.) and 2024 (Aaron Judge and Ohtani).
“It seems like everybody else had a good feeling that I was going to win this besides me, really,” Alvarez said through an interpreter. “So when I heard the name, again that’s when the emotion came out and the feeling was amazing.”
Crow-Armstrong set career highs by batting .280 with 45 homers, 107 RBIs and 41 steals in 162 games. He tied Kyle Schwarber for the major league lead in home runs, and he led the NL in runs (119), slugging percentage (.570) and OPS (.942).
The center fielder also was one of the majors’ premier defensive players. The Southern California native won his second Gold Glove, and he led the majors with 26 Outs Above Average and 23 Runs Prevented, according to Baseball Savant.
“I still don’t feel satisfied with what I put out, with the product that I put on the field this year,” Crow-Armstrong said. “And it sounds so melancholy, but I’m so happy being able to say this because I really just, I know there’s more. I've decided there's more. That’s how I got here.”
Crow-Armstrong, 24, played in the postseason each of the past two years, but the Cubs were eliminated each time.
“Success in my eyes is being called a winner,” he said, “and I’m not necessarily there yet.”
Crow-Armstrong received all 30 first-place votes in balloting from the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. Ohtani was second after the four-time MVP was hampered by injuries this year with the Los Angeles Dodgers, and Milwaukee Brewers second baseman Brice Turang was third.
Alvarez returned at full strength from injuries in 2025
Alvarez led the majors in batting average and finished in a tie for second in the AL in homers and second by himself in RBIs, trailing Pete Alonso’s 43 homers and 113 RBIs for Baltimore.
The four-time All-Star played in just 48 games last year because of injuries.
“Everybody knows what happened last year,” Alvarez said. “So yes, that was on my mind. I was anxious to get back to this season and now we see where that ended up here with an MVP award.”
Alvarez was Houston’s primary designated hitter, but his offensive brilliance was enough to overcome his limited contributions on defense. The four-time All-Star also led the majors in walks (109), on-base percentage (.432) and slugging percentage (.601).
The 29-year-old Alvarez became the first AL MVP from Houston since Jose Altuve in 2017. Tampa Bay third baseman Junior Caminero was second in the AL balloting, and Kansas City shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. finished third.
Caminero batted .276 with 42 homers and 101 RBIs for the Rays, becoming the highest finisher in the MVP race in franchise history.
“Obviously, this time it was my opportunity to win it, my time to win,” Alvarez said, “but I wouldn’t be surprised if he very soon, that the award’s going to him.”
Alvarez broke into the majors with Houston in 2019. He hit .313 with 27 homers and 78 RBIs in just 87 games, earning the AL Rookie of the Year award.
Alvarez was the ALCS MVP in 2021 and helped the Astros to the 2022 World Series championship. He is a .300 hitter with 212 homers and 599 RBIs in eight big league seasons.
After a breakout 2025, Crow-Armstrong found ways to improve
Crow-Armstrong, who agreed to a $115 million, six-year contract in March, is the first NL MVP from the Cubs since Kris Bryant in 2016.
Crow-Armstrong was selected by the New York Mets in the first round of the 2020 amateur draft. He was traded to Chicago in the Javier Báez deal in July 2021.
He had a breakout season last year, helping the Cubs qualify for the playoffs for the first time since 2020 and batting .247 with 31 homers, 95 RBIs and 35 steals in 157 games.
The left-handed batter made significant strides at the plate in his fourth season, namely against lefties. He hit .280 against southpaws in 2026 after that number was .188 last year.
“It’s funny that everybody seems to be talking about the offense,” Crow-Armstrong said. “That wasn’t always the case. I feel like I’ve spent the last five years of professional baseball trying to prove to people that I was more than a glove-first player.”
___