Thursday's AL and NL Most Valuable Player announcements (7 p.m. ET on MLB Network, MLB+) will likely bring something we haven't seen in six years.
Aaron Judge and/or Shohei Ohtani have received MVP honors in each of the past five seasons. This year, Judge isn't an AL MVP finalist. That distinction belongs to Astros slugger Yordan Alvarez, Rays superstar Junior Caminero and the Royals' Bobby Witt Jr., who will finish inside the top four in MVP voting for a third straight year.
Ohtani is up to take home the fifth MVP trophy of his career and his third in three seasons with the Dodgers, but the NL competition is extremely tough. Cubs outfielder Pete Crow-Armstrong seems like the favorite after his phenomenal 2026 season on both offense and defense. And we can't rule out Brewers second baseman Brice Turang, who keeps raising his game every year.
So will two new MVPs be crowned? Follow along below for the results:
AL finalists
Yordan Alvarez, DH, Astros
Alvarez’s 2026 season was so dominant that not even a power drought in the month of August stopped him from putting up terrific offensive numbers. The slugger won the AL batting title with a .316 average and led the league in on-base percentage (.432), slugging percentage (.601), OPS (1.033), total bases (341), walks (109), extra-base hits (77) and Baseball-Reference offensive WAR (7.2). He finished second in RBIs (106) and tied for second in home runs (42), both of which were career highs.
Junior Caminero, 3B, Rays
The 23-year-old All-Star Caminero was the best player on the American League's best team, helping the Rays dramatically outperform preseason expectations. His club won 98 games. Maybe the strongest point in Caminero’s favor is that he was in the starting lineup for 162 games at third base, taking on the added stress of playing defense on a daily basis
Bobby Witt Jr., SS, Royals
In addition to Witt being one of the best all-around players in the league, his case for MVP is centered around how much he impacts the game by himself. Consider his 94 runs scored in 2026, fewer than fellow finalists Yordan Alvarez (105) and Junior Caminero (100). But the offenses around them weren't equally productive. Kansas City ranked 22nd in the Majors with 690 runs scored, while its .694 OPS with runners in scoring position was lower than that of the Rays and Astros (.774).
NL finalists
Pete Crow-Armstrong, OF, Cubs
Crow-Armstrong took flight at n historic rate, turning in one of the best all-around seasons not only in Cubs history, but in baseball history. He ended with an MLB-leading 10.6 fWAR, putting him 3.6 WAR ahead of second-ranked Bobby Witt Jr. (7.0) of the Royals. Not since 1956, when Mickey Mantle topped Duke Snider, had there been a gap of at least 3.0 WAR between the No. 1 and No. 2 ranked players in baseball.
Shohei Ohtani, TWP, Dodgers
By definition, it doesn't get much more valuable than Ohtani when he's producing as a two-way player. He had a 143 OPS+, meaning that he was considered 43% better than league average offensively, and he hit 30 home runs with an .889 OPS. He rounded out his case with 85 2/3 elite innings, going 8-2 with a 1.79 ERA and a 237 ERA+.
Brice Turang, 2B, Brewers
It’s been three years since incoming Brewers manager Pat Murphy predicted a quantum leap for Turang, and the infielder keeps taking them. After rubbing shoulders with the likes of Team USA’s Aaron Judge and Bryce Harper in the World Baseball Classic, Turang set career highs for home runs (21), RBIs (100), on-base percentage (.366) and slugging percentage (.450) during the 2026 regular season while stealing 19 bases and playing Gold Glove defense at second base.