CHICAGO — Pete Crow-Armstrong of the Chicago Cubs is the 2026 National League Most Valuable Player, and nobody else got a first-place vote. The Baseball Writers’ Association of America announced Thursday night that the center fielder was the top choice on all 30 ballots, for 420 points.
Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Dodgers placed second with 264 points. Ohtani had collected the award in each of the previous three seasons. Milwaukee infielder Brice Turang finished third with 190 points, and he, Ohtani and Crow-Armstrong were the only players to appear on every ballot.
Crow-Armstrong hit 45 homers and stole 41 bases, the seventh 40-40 season the majors have seen and the first by a Cub. He led all of baseball with 10.6 wins above replacement by the FanGraphs measure, a total topped in franchise history only by Rogers Hornsby in 1929.
No Cubs player had ever won the award unanimously before. Crow-Armstrong is the club’s ninth MVP winner and its first since 2016. The writers’ group said the NL vote has now been unanimous four seasons running.
Houston slugger Yordan Alvarez swept the American League voting as well, making 2026 the first year both MVP races and both Cy Young races ended without a dissenting first-place vote since the pitching award began in 1956.
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