The Houston Astros made a brief cameo in this year’s postseason — two games, two losses — so they’ve been largely irrelevant in the march to the World Series the last few weeks. With a work stoppage looming on December 1, we have no idea how active the Astros will be in the offseason, or even what the offseason will look like. 

Thankfully, here in Houston, we have another “season” that we can revel in for at least a few days in late October and early November — Yordan Alvarez Hardware Accruing Season. After a 2026 season in which Alvarez led (or nearly led, in some cases) all of baseball in every relevant offensive statistic, the trophies are rolling in.

Alvarez is the prohibitive favorite to win the American League Most Valuable Player Award, which we will discuss in just a bit. However, as a warm up act, Alvarez’s peers bestowed two honors on him, both announced late Wednesday morning. The Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) announced their Players Choice awards on Wednesday, and Alvarez took home two big honors. 

First, Alvarez was named the American League’s Most Outstanding Player, beating out Tampa Bay’s Junior Caminero and Kansas City’s Bobby Witt, Jr. This will likely be the order of finish when the AL MVP is announced shortly after the postseason ends, as well. Additionally, Alvarez was named the MLBPA’s American League Comeback Player of the Year, as Alvarez put together this amazing 2026 season on the heels of a 2025 season in which he missed all but 48 games with various injuries. 

As mentioned above, Alvarez was the most dominant offensive force in the game in 2026, as he batted .316, scored 105 runs, and struck 34 doubles, one triple, and 42 home runs. Alvarez piled up 106 RBI, and walked a league leading 109 walks, including 33 intentional walks, the most in the sport. With a 1.033 OPS in 158 games, he was the only qualified hitter with an OPS over 1.000.  Alvarez won the American League and Major League batting titles, becoming the third player in franchise history to win a batting title, joining Yuli Gurriel (2021) and Jose Altuve (2014, 2016-17). 

Alvarez led the American League in OPS, slugging percentage (.601), on-base percentage (.432), total bases (341), walks (109), intentional walks (33), wRC+ (181) OPS+ (190) and extra-base hits (77), while also ranking tied for second in home runs, second in RBI, second in hits, fourth in doubles and fourth in runs scored. The writing was on the wall for Alvarez’s taking home all of this hardware, as he won three AL Player of the Week honors, along with two AL Player of the Month honors. For the fourth time, Alvarez was named to the All Star Game in July. 

As for the Comeback Player of the Year award, Alvarez was fully healthy for an entire season for the first time in his big league career, missing just four games the entire campaign, which makes the Astros’ 81-81 record even more infuriating, as it feels like they wasted the rare “fully healthy Yordan season.” Alvarez joins Justin Verlander (2022), as the only Astros to earn the Comeback Player of the Year distinction. 

Other Astros to win MLBPA awards, which have existed since 1992, include Jeff Bagwell (1994) and Jose Altuve (2016-17) winning the AL Outstanding Player award; Alvarez (2019), Carlos Correa (2015), and Willy Tavares (2005) winning the Outstanding Rookie award; and Verlander (2019, 2022), Dallas Keuchel (2015), and Mike Hampton (1999) winning the Pitcher of the Year award.  

Alvarez is expected to take home the AL MVP honor in a Runaway when the award is announced in the next several days. Additionally, Jeremy Pena joins Alvarez as a nominee for a Silver Slugger award, and Cam Smith (right field) and Christian Walker (first base) are each nominated for AL Gold Glove awards at their respective positions. 

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