Pete Crow-Armstrong wins NL MVP unanimously, ending Ohtani's run
The Cubs centre fielder got all 30 first-place votes after a 45-homer, 41-steal season, ending Shohei Ohtani's three-year MVP streak.
Pete Crow-Armstrong is the National League’s Most Valuable Player for 2026, and it was not close. The Chicago Cubs centre fielder took all 30 first-place votes from the Baseball Writers’ Association of America (BBWAA), the results announced on Thursday, 12 November showed, ending Shohei Ohtani’s run of three straight MVP awards.
He was the most searched name in the United States on Thursday night.
The vote
Ohtani, the Los Angeles Dodgers’ two-way star, finished second with 26 second-place votes, two thirds and two fourths, MLB.com reported. Milwaukee Brewers infielder Brice Turang was third. Only those three players were named on all 30 ballots.
In the American League, Houston’s Yordan Alvarez also won unanimously, Yahoo Sports reported, so both MVPs this year were clean sweeps.
Why Crow-Armstrong won
The numbers tell it: 45 home runs and 41 stolen bases, a 40-40 season that very few players in history have managed, plus the Platinum Glove as the best defender in the National League, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.
He is 24, the youngest NL MVP since Cody Bellinger won at 23 in 2019. Yahoo Sports called this season a “quantum leap”.
What it means for Ohtani
Ohtani has won the MVP in four of the previous five seasons. The Los Angeles Times was already asking what Ohtani needs to do to win it back.
Why it matters beyond America
Baseball has a small following in Pakistan, but MVP night is one of the biggest awards in American sport, and Crow-Armstrong’s name filled US search trends. For the Cubs, it is their first MVP since Kris Bryant in 2016, the year they won the World Series.
