As far as MVP races go this season, the National League side is taking all the headlines as Pete Crow-Armstrong looks to take down the juggernaut that is Shohei Ohtani. We covered that Thursday. What about the American League side, though?
I know that the great Han Solo made the phrase, "never tell me the odds!" famous, but we're going to see for ourselves. Based on a glance at the current odds (via Fanduel), this appears to be a monster blowout in favor of Astros slugger Yordan Alvarez. I'll run down a few cases and include the odds to illustrate.
Don't let his hulking 6-foot-4, 237-pound frame fool you, Alvarez has been one of the best all-around hitters in baseball from the day he debuted in 2019. He entered this season as a career .297/.389/.573 hitter with a Rookie of the Year, an ALCS MVP and a World Series ring (he hit the big home run in that clinching game, too). Staying on the field all year was the only real problem.
This year, he was coming off a 48-game season in 2025. So far, he's been in the lineup all year and in his 120 games, he's having the best year of his career. The line: .322/.436/.621 (196 OPS+) with 25 doubles, 35 home runs, 87 RBI and 80 runs.
He leads the majors in the entire triple slash line (yes, average, OBP, slugging and OPS in addition to OPS+). He leads the AL in home runs, RBI, runs and hits, too. Oh, and he also leads the majors in intentional walks with 23(!).
No one else in the AL has more than 10 intentional walks. Though he's a net negative on the bases and in the field, Alvarez usually serves as the DH and his offensive prowess is overwhelming the rest of the field. There's little doubt Alvarez is the leader in the clubhouse here.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
