Alvarez and Crow-Armstrong sweep the MVP votes

Yordan Alvarez and Pete Crow-Armstrong reached their first MVP awards by different routes. Alvarez overwhelmed the American League with his bat. Crow-Armstrong brought power, speed and center-field defense to the National League race. All 30 writers in each league put their winner first, giving both men the maximum 420 points on Thursday.

Their sweeps complete something the BBWAA says has never happened before: unanimous winners in both MVP races and both Cy Young races in the same season. Cam Schlittler and Jacob Misiorowski swept the pitching awards Wednesday. Across those four elections, all 120 first-place votes went to the four winners.

Alvarez made the entire plate appearance count

Alvarez won the AL batting title at .316, hit 42 home runs and drove in 106 runs. His 109 walks helped produce a .432 on-base percentage; a .601 slugging percentage brought his OPS to 1.033. MLB’s official regular-season record lists 341 total bases in 158 games. Working around his power still meant putting a Houston hitter on base.

The designated-hitter question is a fair one: players who also defend demanding positions can add value that a DH cannot. Alvarez’s offensive production was convincing enough for every voter to choose him anyway. His case rested on average, patience and power together, with 33 intentional walks illustrating how often opponents preferred another matchup.

Junior Caminero was an unusually clear runner-up. He drew 27 second-place votes and three thirds for 267 points. Bobby Witt Jr. was third with 188, seven ahead of Schlittler. Alvarez joins Jeff Bagwell, the 1994 NL winner, and Jose Altuve, the 2017 AL winner, on Houston’s MVP list.

Crow-Armstrong’s value reached every part of the field

Crow-Armstrong hit 45 home runs and stole 41 bases while playing all 162 games. He scored 119 runs, collected 357 total bases and added 31 doubles and eight triples. His Gold Glove and Platinum Glove recognition reflected the other part of the argument: the center fielder helped Chicago prevent runs as well as create them.

MLB’s Anthony Castrovince reports that Crow-Armstrong finished with 10.6 FanGraphs wins above replacement, the highest figure in the majors. That estimate combines contributions at the plate, on the bases and in the field. The 40-40 season supplied the memorable headline; the breadth of the season explains why the MVP argument went further.

Shohei Ohtani finished second with 264 points, receiving 26 second-place votes, two thirds and two fourths. Milwaukee’s Brice Turang was third with 190. Crow-Armstrong is the first Cubs player elected unanimously and their first MVP since Kris Bryant in 2016, according to the BBWAA. Ohtani has now finished first or second in six consecutive MVP elections.

What the rest of the ballot tells us

Witt’s seven-point edge over Schlittler was the closest contest among the top four in either league. Witt appeared on all 30 ballots; Schlittler was on 28. They each collected 159 points from second-through-fifth-place votes, and Witt’s 29 points from the remaining places exceeded Schlittler’s 22. Ben Rice finished ninth in the AL with 92 points. Pete Alonso, now with Baltimore, was fifth with 144.

In the NL, Elly De La Cruz placed fourth with 173 points, ahead of Misiorowski’s 158. Turang, Ohtani and Crow-Armstrong were the only NL players included on every ballot. The full voting tables and all 60 individual ballots are linked below.

The writers submitted their ballots before the postseason. Each ranked ten players, with 14 points for first, nine for second, then eight through one for the remaining places. Those weights distribute 1,770 points per league. The unanimous first-place decisions were settled; the rest of each ballot records a much wider range of judgments about the season.