HOUSTON – It’s hardware time in major league baseball now that the Brewers wrapped up the World Series over the Rays. The countdown begins as Astros star Yordan Alvarez is in line to earn coveted honors.
The Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA) has named the Astros Designated hitter as a finalist for the 2026 American League Most Valuable Player.
Alvarez, 29, is seeking to win his first career MVP award and become the third player in Astros history to earn the honor. He batted .316 (179×567) with 105 runs, 34 doubles, one triple, 42 home runs, 106 RBI, 109 walks and a 1.033 OPS in 158 games. He led the AL in batting average, OPS, slugging percentage (.601), on-base percentage (.432), total bases (341), walks (109), intentional walks (33), wRC+ (181), OPS+ (190) and extra-base hits (77), while also ranking tied for second in home runs, second in RBI, second in hits, fourth in doubles and fourth in runs scored.
Additionally, Alvarez was the only player in the Majors this season to post an OPS over 1.000.
Alvarez won the American League and Major League batting titles, becoming the third player in franchise history to win a batting title, joining 1B Yuli Gurriel (2021) and 2B Jose Altuve (2014, 2016-17).
He also became just the third player since 1970 to win the AL batting title while hitting 40-or-more home runs, joining NYY OF Aaron Judge (2025) and DET 1B Miguel Cabrera (2012-13). Alvarez set the Astros franchise record with 33 intentional walks, which was just three shy of the all-time AL record, set by Judge in 2025 (36).
This season, Alvarez won three AL Player of the Week honors along with two AL Player of the Month honors. He was also selected to his fourth career All-Star Game, the second time that he was voted as a starter (also, 2024).
With a win, Alvarez would join Jeff Bagwell (1994) and Jose Altuve (2017) as Astros to win BBWAA MVP honors.
The MLB Most Valuable Player awards will be announced on Thursday, November 12th at 6pm central live on MLB Network.
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