Friday, November 13, 2026 — award week closes with two more unanimous winners.
The Cubs’ Pete Crow-Armstrong and the Astros’ Yordan Alvarez were named Most Valuable Players on Thursday night. Both received all 30 first-place votes.
PCA Ends Ohtani’s Run
Crow-Armstrong finished with 420 points, ahead of Shohei Ohtani (264) and Milwaukee’s Brice Turang (190). It is the Cubs’ first MVP since Kris Bryant in 2016 — exactly a decade ago.
His season was historic. Playing all 162 games, he hit .280/.372/.570 with 45 home runs, 41 stolen bases, 107 RBIs and 119 runs, becoming only the seventh player in MLB history to reach the 40-40 club. He led the majors in WAR (9.8), runs, home runs and total bases, and paired it with elite defense in center field.
The result is a big change from spring, when Ohtani was the overwhelming favorite and remained the favorite through the All-Star break. Ohtani still put together a remarkable two-way season — 30 homers at the plate and a 1.79 ERA in 85⅔ innings on the mound — but injuries and Crow-Armstrong’s surge changed the race.
Alvarez’s First MVP
In the American League, Alvarez beat out Tampa Bay’s Junior Caminero and Kansas City’s Bobby Witt Jr. After an injury-wrecked 2025 in which he played only 48 games, he stayed healthy for 158 games and hit .316/.432/.601 with 42 home runs and 106 RBIs. He won the batting title and led the AL in on-base percentage, slugging and OPS, missing the Triple Crown by one homer and seven RBIs.
He is the third Astros player to win MVP, after Jeff Bagwell (1994) and José Altuve (2017). “It’s incredible,” Alvarez said.
What It Means for the Cubs
For Chicago, the award arrives at an important moment. The Cubs have been linked to Tarik Skubal and are focused on pitching this winter, and they now have an MVP center fielder in his mid-20s anchoring the lineup. That makes the offseason’s decisions about building around him all the more pressing.
The Read
Every major award this year was decided decisively, and the two MVPs were no exception. Crow-Armstrong’s season will be remembered as one of the best all-around campaigns in Cubs history, and Alvarez finally has the trophy his bat has long deserved.
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