In 2025, Yordan Alvarez appeared in just 48 games for the Houston Astros due to injury, but this season, he came back stronger than ever, putting up one of the best campaigns of his career for the organization.
Following their push to the 2026 playoffs, Alvarez was awarded the 2026 Comeback Player of the Year award, and on Thursday his end of season awards haul got even better, as he was not only named American League MVP, but unanimously so.
The three finalists for the AL MVP were Alvarez, Junior Caminero of the Tampa Bay Rays and Bobby Witt Jr., but as the MLB official social media account notes, career highs across the board were enough for the Astros slugger to take home his first MVP Award.
Not only did Alvarez lead the league in batting average with a .316 mark, but he blasted 42 home runs alongside 106 RBI's, with a ridiculous OPS of 1.033 being the best mark of his career across a full season. On top of that, Alvarez also drew 109 walks, a number that was first in Major League Baseball, with a WAR of 6.8 matching the career best numbers he had back in 2022, his first season as an All-Star.
While a case could have been made for Caminero or Witt Jr., it was clear throughout the season that Alvarez was the MVP this season, as a power outage in August didn't dim the incredible numbers from his 158 game campaign, as he deservedly takes home the first unanimous AL MVP since 2024 with Aaron Judge.