# 2026 MLB MVP: Crow-Armstrong, Alvarez win unanimously

> Pete Crow-Armstrong (Cubs) and Yordan Alvarez (Astros) each took all 30 first-place votes. Here are the numbers, the Ohtani result and what is still unsettled.

By Subhajit | 2026-11-13 | Sports | Savvy VibeZ
Web page: https://savvyvibez.com/post/2026-mlb-mvp-crow-armstrong-alvarez-win-unanimously

## Key takeaways

- Pete Crow-Armstrong (Cubs, NL) and Yordan Alvarez (Astros, AL) were named unanimous 2026 MVPs on Nov. 12, each with 30 of 30 first-place votes.
- Crow-Armstrong hit 45 home runs with 41 steals; Ohtani finished second in the NL, per MLB.com.
- Alvarez hit .316 with 42 home runs and 106 RBIs and won the AL batting title.
- Sources differ on how often both leagues have had unanimous MVPs, so we do not state a count.

Pete Crow-Armstrong of the Chicago Cubs and Yordan Alvarez of the Houston Astros were both named unanimous Most Valuable Players on Thursday, Nov. 12, according to MLB.com, ESPN, Reuters and Yahoo Sports. The Baseball Writers' Association of America gave each of them all 30 first-place votes. It is the first MVP for both players.

## Who won the 2026 MLB MVP awards?

Crow-Armstrong won the National League award, finishing ahead of runner-up Shohei Ohtani of the Dodgers, who had taken three straight MVP trophies. MLB.com reports he is the first unanimous MVP in Cubs history, ahead of past winners such as Kris Bryant, Sammy Sosa and Ernie Banks. Alvarez won the American League award and joins Jeff Bagwell and Jose Altuve as the only Astros to be named MVP.

Both men had already picked up hardware earlier in the week. MLB.com says they were named the 2026 Hank Aaron Award winners on Wednesday, dethroning Aaron Judge and Ohtani, and Alvarez won four awards at the MLB Awards show that night in Las Vegas.

## What did each player do in 2026?

Crow-Armstrong, 24, finished with 45 home runs and 41 stolen bases, which MLB.com calls only the seventh 40-40 season in major league history and the first for the Cubs. His 10.6 wins above replacement (per FanGraphs) led the majors by 3.6 over Bobby Witt Jr. of Kansas City, the largest gap between the top two players since 1956, according to the same report. He also posted the best fielding run value of any outfielder in the Statcast era, and he won the NL Platinum Glove.

The turnaround is the story. MLB.com notes he carried a .669 OPS through the end of April, then led baseball in home runs, runs scored and OPS from May 1 on.

Alvarez, the Astros' designated hitter, hit .316 with a .432 on-base percentage and a .601 slugging percentage, good for a 1.033 OPS. He hit 42 home runs and drove in 106 runs, both career highs, and played 158 games, the most of his career. MLB.com says he won the AL batting title and led the league in walks (109), total bases and extra-base hits. He also drew 33 intentional walks, breaking Bagwell's club record of 27.

## What is confirmed, and what do the sources disagree on?

- **Confirmed:** both awards were unanimous, with 30 of 30 first-place votes each.
- **Confirmed:** Ohtani finished second in the NL, per MLB.com.
- **Not settled:** how rare it is for both leagues to be unanimous in the same year. MLB.com lists 2023 and 2024 as the earlier years, while Yahoo Sports names different seasons, so we are not putting a count on it.

## Our take

The Alvarez vote was always going to be the easy one for voters, and it was. The Crow-Armstrong vote is the one worth stopping on. Ohtani is a two-way star with a long run of MVP wins, and the writers still did not give him a single first-place vote. That says a lot about how lopsided the WAR gap was. A player with a below-average bat in April ended as the clearest MVP in either league in a long time.

For U.S. fans, the awards close out the 2026 individual honors that began with the Cy Young results earlier this week. The offseason now turns to free agency and trades.

## Related reading

- [Cy Young 2026: Misiorowski, Schlittler win unanimously](/post/cy-young-2026-misiorowski-schlittler-win-unanimously)
- [CFP rankings Nov. 10: Georgia No. 1, full top 25](/post/cfp-rankings-nov-10-georgia-no-1-full-top-25)

Picture credit: MLB