Sports
Pete Crow-Armstrong and Yordan Alvarez Win Unanimous Most Valuable Player Awards
The Chicago Cubs center fielder and Houston Astros designated hitter secured their first career MVP honors after dominant regular seasons in their respective leagues.
By Headlinne · Compiled from reporting by BBWAA, CBS Sports and Guardian
Chicago Cubs center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong and Houston Astros designated hitter Yordan Alvarez were unanimously named the Most Valuable Players in the National and American Leagues on Thursday.
The Baseball Writers' Association of America awarded both players all 30 first-place votes, marking the third time in history that both league winners were selected unanimously in the same year.
Crow-Armstrong, 24, finished his third full season with a .280 batting average, 45 home runs, 107 RBIs and 41 stolen bases while appearing in all 162 games for the Cubs.
Alvarez, 29, led the American League with a .316 batting average while contributing 42 home runs and 106 RBIs to help the Astros secure the AL West division title.
The recognition serves as a milestone for both franchises, as Crow-Armstrong is the first Cubs player to win the award since 2016 and Alvarez is the first Houston winner since 2017.
“You spend your whole life in baseball and you just don’t see this happen on a baseball field,” said Craig Counsell, the Cubs manager.
Crow-Armstrong became the seventh player in major league history to join the 40-40 club, recording at least 40 home runs and 40 stolen bases during the same campaign.
He also led the National League in slugging percentage and on-base plus slugging while anchoring the Cubs' defense in center field, according to CBS Sports.
Alvarez, who made his major league debut in 2019, paced the American League in on-base percentage and slugging percentage despite playing primarily as a designated hitter.
“I definitely missed less pitches in the zone, in the heart of the zone, that I should be hitting this year,” said Crow-Armstrong regarding his improved plate discipline.
Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Dodgers finished second in the National League voting, while Tampa Bay third baseman Junior Caminero placed second in the American League.
The voting process, conducted by two writers from each league city, concluded before the start of the postseason, ensuring the results reflect only regular-season performance.
Reporting from
- BBWAA
Armstrong unanimously wins NL MVP
- CBS Sports
Cubs superstar Pete Crow-Armstrong wins National League MVP unanimously, beating Shohei Ohtani - CBS Sports
- The Guardian
Cubs’ Pete Crow-Armstrong and Astros’ Yordan Alvarez unanimously win MVP awards
How this article was made: Headlinne wrote it with AI from the 3 reports listed above. Direct quotes are checked word for word against those reports, every number appears in at least one of them, and no other sentence is copied from one. Photos are from those reports and credited to them. Each report’s page on Headlinne links to the outlet’s original.