MLB MVP 2026: Yordan Alvarez Leads the American League Field as the Winners Are Announced Tonight
Baseball's awards week ends Thursday night at 6 p.m. Central on MLB Network. Houston's Yordan Alvarez — .316, 42 home runs, a 1.033 OPS, and the Outstanding DH Award already in hand from Wednesday night — is the American League's leading finalist. Chicago's Pete Crow-Armstrong leads a National League field that still includes Shohei Ohtani.
HOUSTON — The last and biggest prizes of baseball's awards week are handed out Thursday night, and Texas has the American League's front-runner. Houston Astros slugger Yordan Alvarez is one of three AL finalists for Most Valuable Player, and by every published account of the race he is the man to beat: a .316 batting average, 42 home runs, 106 RBIs and a 1.033 OPS, with a 190 OPS+ and a league-leading 6.9 win probability added, according to the finalists coverage read by this desk. The winners are announced at 7 p.m. Eastern — 6 p.m. Central — on MLB Network.
Alvarez arrives at the announcement with hardware already won. On Wednesday night at the MLB Awards in Las Vegas, he took the Edgar Martinez Outstanding Designated Hitter Award, the first Astro ever to win it, ending Shohei Ohtani's run of five straight, as Brian McTaggart of MLB.com reported. The other AL finalists present the voters' classic contrast: Tampa Bay's Junior Caminero, who matched Alvarez's 42 home runs with 101 RBIs at third base, and Kansas City shortstop Bobby Witt Jr., whose case rests on defense, speed and all-around value. The end-of-season odds published by Bleacher Report from FanDuel made Alvarez the overwhelming favourite; the ballots, cast by Baseball Writers' Association of America voters before the postseason, decide it.
The National League race has its own first-timer at the front. Chicago Cubs center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong hit .280 with 45 home runs, 107 RBIs and 41 stolen bases, and a 9.8 Baseball-Reference WAR built on hitting, defense and baserunning. Behind him stands the sport's standing standard: Los Angeles' Shohei Ohtani, a finalist despite an injury-affected season, and Milwaukee's Brice Turang, who completed the field with 21 home runs and 100 RBIs.
Thursday's announcement closes a week this desk has filed nightly: unanimous Cy Young winners Cam Schlittler and Jacob Misiorowski on Wednesday, Rookies of the Year Kevin McGonigle and Sal Stewart, Managers of the Year Will Venable and Pat Murphy — Murphy the first ever to win three straight — and the new Reliever of the Year awards to Louis Varland and Mason Miller. No Texas Ranger appears among the MVP finalists. The Silver Slugger Awards follow on November 17, where Alvarez is also a finalist at designated hitter. Tonight, though, is the headline: by 7 p.m. Central, Texas will know whether the American League's most valuable player plays in Houston.
