Yordan Alvarez has spent this season building the kind of MVP case that should stand on its own, no matter what happens to the Astros over the final stretch.
That shouldn’t be a controversial take. It is, though, because some people want to turn the award into a referendum on team success.
The problem with that logic is simple: the history of the American League says otherwise. MVP has not meant “most valuable to the team.”
It has meant best player in the league, and voters have shown that plenty of times.
Cal Ripken Jr. won it in 1991 while the Baltimore Orioles went 67-95. Alex Rodriguez took it in 2003 on a Texas Rangers club that finished 71-91.
Mike Trout won twice on losing Angels teams, first in 2016 and then again in 2019. Shohei Ohtani did it in 2021 and 2023, and because he was doing damage both as a hitter and a pitcher, he was being judged on a different scale than everyone else.
That’s the backdrop here. If those seasons were enough for those players, then Alvarez shouldn’t be penalized because Houston’s postseason fate is still hanging in the balance.
And the numbers are loud.
Alvarez leads the AL with a .313 batting average. He’s tied for second in home runs with 40, one behind the league leader, and he’s second in RBI with 99. He also sits first in total bases, first in walks, first in intentional walks, third in hits, fourth in doubles, and fourth in runs.
The separation gets even more striking in the on-base and power categories. Alvarez is first in OBP at .430, with Willson Contreras next at .387.
He leads slugging at .597, well ahead of Ben Rice’s .529. His 1.027 OPS tops the league, while Contreras is second at .905.
That gap is enormous.
Ken Rosenthal weighed in on the race as well, and his view was clear: “The AL MVP race is close, but @Ken_Rosenthal says he would cast his vote for Yordan Alvarez over Junior Caminero.”
None of this is meant to diminish what Ben Rice, Willson Contreras, or Junior Caminero have done. All three are having excellent seasons. But Alvarez’s year has been on another level, and the case for him is not hard to make.
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