Chicago Cubs center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong and Houston Astros DH/OF Yordan Alvarez were named unanimous winners of the Most Valuable Player award in their respective leagues Thursday night.
Crow-Armstrong, 24, earned all 30 first-place votes behind his monster season at the plate, on the bases and in the field, beating out four-time MVP Shohei Ohtani in second and Milwaukee Brewers second baseman Brice Turang, who was third.
Alvarez, 29, topped Tampa Bay Rays third baseman Junior Caminero and Kansas City Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. in the voting to capture his first MVP after a season in which he nearly won the triple crown -- he hit a league-best .316 and finished second in home runs (42) and RBIs (106).
New York Yankees ace Cam Schlittler, the unanimous AL Cy Young winner on Wednesday, placed fourth in the MVP voting. With the Brewers' Jacob Misiorowski winning the NL Cy Young unanimously, it's the first season in which both MVP winners and both Cy Young winners were unanimous.
Crow-Armstrong became the 25th unanimous MVP winner after hitting .280 with 45 home runs and 41 stolen bases, winning a Gold Glove award and also leading both leagues with a 10.6 fWAR. A fourth-year player, he is the 13th player in franchise history to win the award and first since Kris Bryant in 2016.
Crow-Armstrong began the season batting low in the lineup, often in the ninth slot. But by mid-May, he was moved to leadoff and went on a tear that lasted most of the rest of the year. Cubs manager Craig Counsell said the decision to move Crow-Armstrong to the top of the order came about simply because the team was struggling on offense at the time and needed a spark.
Crow-Armstrong took to the challenge, hitting .300 with a .398 on-base percentage while hitting first in the order. He drew 83 walks in 2026 after totaling just 29 the previous year.
Alvarez's unanimous MVP comes after an injury-plagued 2025 season in which he appeared in just 48 games due to a wrist fracture and a sprained ankle. He had no such bad luck this season, appearing in 158 games for the playoff-bound Astros. On Wednesday, he was also named comeback player of the year.
Alvarez drew an MLB-high 109 walks while posting a .432 on-base percentage, 46 points higher than the next player.
Alvarez is the 31st player in history to win an MVP award along with a rookie of the year honor. He took home the latter award in 2019 while then earning MVP votes from 2022-2024. He finished third in voting in 2022. He's the third Astro to win the award alongside Jeff Bagwell (1994) and Jose Altuve (2017).