Chicago Cubs center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong and Houston Astros slugger Yordan Alvarez were named Major League Baseball’s Most Valuable Players on Thursday, November 12, 2026. Both men received all 30 first-place votes from the Baseball Writers’ Association of America, making 2026 only the third season in history with two unanimous MVPs.
What We Know
Crow-Armstrong, 24, took the National League award ahead of Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani, who finished second after an injury-hampered year, and Milwaukee Brewers second baseman Brice Turang, who placed third. In the American League, Alvarez finished ahead of Tampa Bay’s Junior Caminero and Kansas City’s Bobby Witt Jr.
The numbers explain the clean sweep. Crow-Armstrong hit .280 with 45 home runs, 107 RBIs and 41 stolen bases over all 162 games, career highs across the board. His 45 homers tied Kyle Schwarber for the major league lead, and he topped the NL in runs (119), slugging percentage (.570) and OPS (.942). He also added a second Gold Glove, leading the majors in Outs Above Average. According to ESPN, his 10.6 fWAR was the best in either league.
Alvarez nearly won the Triple Crown. He claimed the AL batting title at .316, hit 42 home runs and drove in 106 runs, finishing second in the league in both categories behind Baltimore’s Pete Alonso. He led the majors with 109 walks, a .432 on-base percentage and a .601 slugging percentage while appearing in 158 games, mostly as Houston’s designated hitter. A day earlier, he had been named AL Comeback Player of the Year.
Background
Crow-Armstrong’s rise has been steady. Drafted by the New York Mets in the first round in 2020, he was traded to Chicago in the July 2021 deal that sent Javier Báez to New York. In 2025 he hit .247 with 31 homers and helped the Cubs return to the playoffs, and in March 2026 he signed a six-year, $115 million contract. The biggest change this season came against left-handed pitchers: he hit .280 against them, up from .188 a year earlier. He is the first Cub to win NL MVP since Kris Bryant in 2016.
For Alvarez, the award caps a remarkable turnaround. Wrist and ankle injuries limited him to just 48 games in 2025. The 29-year-old Cuban, a four-time All-Star, was the 2019 AL Rookie of the Year and the 2021 ALCS MVP, and he helped Houston win the 2022 World Series. He becomes the third Astros player to win MVP, after Jeff Bagwell in 1994 and Jose Altuve in 2017, and the 31st player in MLB history to win both Rookie of the Year and MVP.
The only other seasons with two unanimous MVPs came recently: 2023 (Ohtani and Ronald Acuña Jr.) and 2024 (Aaron Judge and Ohtani).
Reactions
Asked through an interpreter what was different this year, Alvarez kept it simple: “I was healthy.” He also admitted the moment got to him: “When I heard my name, that’s when the emotion came out,” he said, as reported by ESPN. Speaking to the Associated Press, he added that “everybody else had a good feeling that I was going to win this besides me, really.”
Crow-Armstrong sounded more hungry than satisfied. “I still don’t feel satisfied with what I put out, with the product that I put on the field this year,” he told the AP, explaining that he had been “trying to prove to people that I was more than a glove-first player.” He went 0-for-7 in the 2026 playoffs, and told ESPN: “I’m capable but haven’t gotten to the point of impacting games when it really matters.”
What’s Next
The MVP announcements closed out MLB’s awards week, which also saw the Yankees’ Cam Schlittler and the Brewers’ Jacob Misiorowski win the Cy Young awards unanimously. With Crow-Armstrong locked up long term in Chicago and Alvarez healthy again in Houston, both clubs head into the offseason built around a reigning MVP. For more October baseball, read how William Contreras was named World Series MVP as the Brewers won the title.
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