Pete Crow-Armstrong won the unanimous NL MVP award on Thursday after the center fielder pitched for the Chicago Cubs in an all-around great season.
Crow-Armstrong joined Yordan Alvarez of the Houston Astros as MVP for the first time. Alvarez was the unanimous AL hitter after making a run at the Triple Crown, hitting a career-high .316 with 42 homers and 106 RBIs for the AL West champions.
Crow-Armstrong set career highs by hitting .280 with 45 homers, 107 RBIs and 41 steals in 162 games. He tied Kyle Schwarber for the major league lead in home runs, and he led the NL in runs (119), slugging percentage (.570) and OPS (.942).
He was also one of the main players of the defense. The Southern California native won his second Gold Glove, and he led the way with 26 strikeouts and 23 runs batted in, according to Baseball Savant.
“You spend your whole life in baseball and you just don’t see that happen on a ballpark,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said after Crow-Armstrong homered twice in an 8-4 win over Atlanta on Sept. 16. “You’re grateful to be a part of it. You’re grateful to see things like that, and then you’re grateful for this season.”
Crow-Armstrong received all 30 first-place votes in the Baseball Writers’ Association of America ballot. Four-time MVP Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Dodgers finished second, and Milwaukee Brewers second baseman Brice Turang was third.
Alvarez led the majors in batting average and finished in a tie for second in the AL in homers and second himself in RBIs, behind Pete Alonso’s 43 homers and 113 RBIs for Baltimore.
Alvarez was Houston’s leading hitter, but his offensive brilliance was enough to overcome his limited defensive contributions. The four-time All-Star also led the majors in walks (109), on-base percentage (.432) and slugging percentage (.601).
The 29-year-old Alvarez became the first AL MVP from Houston since Jose Altuve in 2017. Third baseman Junior Caminero, who hit .276 with 42 homers and 101 RBIs for Tampa Bay, was second in AL voting. Kansas City’s Bobby Witt Jr. finished third.
Alvarez broke into the majors with Houston in 2019. He hit .313 with 27 homers and 78 RBIs in just 87 games, earning AL Rookie of the Year honors.
Alvarez was the ALCS MVP in 2021 and helped the Astros to the 2022 World Series championship. He is a .300 hitter with 212 homers and 599 RBI in eight big league seasons.
Crow-Armstrong improved significantly after the 2025 breakout
The 24-year-old Crow-Armstrong, who agreed to a six-year, $115 million contract in March, is the Cubs’ first NL MVP since Kris Bryant in 2016.
Crow-Armstrong was selected by the New York Mets in the first round of the 2020 amateur draft. He was traded to Chicago in the Javier Báez deal in July 2021.
Crow-Armstrong had a breakout season last year, helping the Cubs qualify for the playoffs for the first time since 2020. He hit .247 with 31 homers, 95 RBIs and 35 steals in 157 games.
The left-handed hitter made significant strides at the plate in his fourth season, namely against lefties. He hit .280 against southpaws in 2026 after hitting .188 last year.
“I would say, like, what contributed to making myself a consistent quality at-bat and all those things is just knowing the strike zone a lot better,” Crow-Armstrong said before the playoffs began. “I’ve definitely missed the fewest pitches in the zone, in the heart of the zone, that I should have hit this year.”
Reporting by the Associated Press.
