With the regular season entering its last lap, the MVP races have taken on very different shapes. Yordan Alvarez still owns a comfortable American League edge despite a quieter recent stretch, while Pete Crow-Armstrong has turned the National League contest into something close to a coronation.
A panel of 38 voters ranked their five leading candidates in each league, using a 5-4-3-2-1 points system. The evaluation considered both the season already on the books and what voters expect over the remaining games. Statistics are through Sunday.
Crow-Armstrong has the National League in hand
Crow-Armstrong received all 38 first-place votes and finished with 190 points, well ahead of Dodgers two-way star Shohei Ohtani at 135. The Cubs center fielder has supplied the kind of season that fills every line of a clubhouse board: power, speed, run production and premium defense.
He is tied with Phillies slugger Kyle Schwarber for the Major League lead with 45 home runs. Crow-Armstrong also leads baseball in runs scored with 118, extra-base hits with 83 and total bases with 351. His 38 stolen bases leave him two shy of a 40-40 season, a milestone that would place him seventh all-time in that club.
And that does not account for the glove. Crow-Armstrong has been among the sport’s most impactful defenders at any position, making his case far more than a home-run chase. The remaining question is whether the final vote will be unanimous.
Ohtani remains firmly in second place even after appearing in only three games this month because of lingering left knee and right biceps issues. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said there was “a good chance” Ohtani would return from the 15-day injured list Wednesday after serving the minimum time.
He will not pitch again this regular season, finishing his mound work at 1.79 ERA with 95 strikeouts in 85 2/3 innings. If activated, he will still have a handful of opportunities to improve an offensive line that includes 30 homers and a 142 wRC+.
Misiorowski and De La Cruz share third
Brewers right-hander Jacob Misiorowski and Reds shortstop Elly De La Cruz each collected 61 points, tying for third in the NL balloting.
Misiorowski has put together the kind of pitching season that has made the Cy Young discussion feel nearly settled. Over 169 1/3 innings, he leads the Majors in ERA at 1.86, WHIP at 0.80, strikeout-minus-walk rate at 31.7% and FanGraphs pitching WAR at 6.5.
Opponents have managed a .474 OPS against him. For qualified starters since divisional play began in 1969, only Pedro Martinez’s .473 mark in 2000 was lower.
De La Cruz, meanwhile, has stormed into the picture after receiving no support in the prior MVP survey. During his past 27 games, he has hit .404 with eight homers, six steals and a 1.205 OPS. He posted multi-hit games 14 times in that span, while his 2.5 fWAR was the best in the game over the stretch.
The late push has lifted De La Cruz to a career-high 139 wRC+. He enters the final week needing two home runs and two steals to become the fourth Reds player with a 30-homer, 30-steal season, and the first since Brandon Phillips in 2007.
Schwarber, fifth with 32 points, has endured a 4-for-34 skid with one homer across his last 10 games. He is also eight strikeouts from a single-season record. Still, the broader body of work remains formidable: he is on track for his fourth season of at least 40 homers and 150 games played in the last five years, has crossed 100 walks for a fourth straight season and remains in position to claim a third NL home run crown.
Alvarez remains the American League favorite
Alvarez totaled 181 points and 29 first-place selections to hold off Rays infielder Junior Caminero, who drew 149 points and seven first-place votes.
The Astros star has not carried his usual thunder through the past several weeks, batting .264 with an .840 OPS over 41 games. For most hitters, that would be a productive run. For the player leading the AL in batting average at .313 and OPS at 1.027, it represents a relative slowdown.
Alvarez has three homers and five RBIs in 16 games this month. He is tied with Orioles first baseman Pete Alonso in homers, one behind Caminero for the league lead, and trails Alonso by nine RBIs. The Triple Crown pursuit may have cooled, but Alvarez’s 179 wRC+ remains at least 27 points better than any other qualified hitter.
Caminero has paired his usual power with a more disciplined approach at age 23. He is closing in on a second consecutive 40-homer campaign while raising his walk rate from 6.3% last season to 11.5%. His strikeout rate sits at 18.5%, and he has reduced chase and whiff rates while making more contact.
That sharper plate work has helped Caminero reach a .363 on-base percentage, up 52 points from a year ago. His .892 OPS ranks third in the American League.
Witt and Schlittler bring complete cases
Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. finished third with 62 points and one first-place vote. His offensive numbers—18 homers, 43 steals and a 119 wRC+ in 137 games—do not match his 2024 surge, when he posted a 169 wRC+. But his complete game has once again placed him at the top of the AL FanGraphs WAR leaderboard at 6.6.
Witt’s +16 fielding run value is tied for third across the Majors, while his 22 Outs Above Average lead the American League. He also owns a +8 baserunning run value, one short of Arizona’s Corbin Carroll for the MLB lead. A top-five MVP finish would be his third in as many seasons.
Yankees starter Cam Schlittler, fourth with 60 points and one first-place vote, has built a powerful pitching case. He leads the AL with a 1.94 ERA, 0.91 WHIP and 6.1 FanGraphs pitching WAR. His .182 opponents’ batting average and 25.0% strikeout-minus-walk rate both rank second in the league.
Schlittler has yielded no more than one run in 21 starts, a Yankees record. Among pitchers 25 or younger in the Live Ball Era, only Blake Snell in 2018 and Dean Chance in 1964 had previously reached that mark. The Cy Young Award appears to be his to lose, though the MVP support has followed him into the final week.
Fellow Yankee Ben Rice rounded out the AL top five with 40 points. With Aaron Judge sidelined for much of the season and other key bats also missing time, Rice has provided steady production. He ranks third in the league in homers with 39 and runs with 100, fourth in RBIs with 95 and OPS at .888, and tied for fourth in batting run value at +34.
Two more homers would make Rice only the second Yankee other than Judge during the past decade to reach 41 in a season. Juan Soto did it in 2024.
Other players receiving MVP support
American League
- Willson Contreras, Red Sox
- Pete Alonso, Orioles
- Kevin McGonigle, Tigers
- Miguel Vargas, White Sox
- Randy Arozarena, Mariners
- Munetaka Murakami, White Sox
- Dylan Cease, Blue Jays
National League
- Fernando Tatis Jr., Padres
- Brice Turang, Brewers
- Matt Olson, Braves
- James Wood, Nationals
- Jordan Walker, Cardinals
- Alex Bregman, Cubs
- Bryce Harper, Phillies
- Jake Bauers, Brewers
- Otto Lopez, Marlins
- Gabriel Moreno, Diamondbacks
- Rafael Devers, Giants
- Alec Burleson, Cardinals
- CJ Abrams, Nationals
- Corbin Carroll, Diamondbacks
- Cristopher Sánchez, Phillies
