The Houston Astros are looking like a team ready to contend in 2026 thanks to their explosive start this season.
Cam Smith looks great, as does Christian Walker. But the biggest star has been Yordan Alvarez, who is slugging better than ever this season.
That hot start has led ESPN’s David Schoenfield to predict that Alvarez, the Astros designated hitter, will win the AL MVP over Aaron Judge and Bobby Witt Jr.
Yordan Alvarez predicted to win AL MVP
“Yordan Alvarez will win American League MVP,” Schoenfield predicts. “Healthy again after playing just 48 games last year, Alvarez is off to a blazing start in .353/.540/.794 and looks locked in for a monster season.”
Winning the AL MVP won’t be easy, especially with Judge and Witt two of the better candidates for the award. And if Gunnar Henderson’s hot start were to continue all year, it would be a bit more challenging for Alvarez to win this award.
So far this season, through 12 games, Alvarez has put up 0.9 bWAR, which is more than he had last year in four-times the games.
He has 12 hits, 10 runs scored, three doubles, four home runs, 10 RBIs, one stolen base, a league-leading 13 walks, and a ridiculous 1.248 OPS and 262 OPS+.
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Winning MVP as a designated hitter won’t be easy, but Shohei Ohtani and Kyle Schwarber, both DH’s, finished No. 1 and No. 2 in the NL MVP race last year. Alvarez can win the award. He just needs to play great all year.
Back in 2022, his 1.019 OPS and 37 homers in 135 games led to a third-place finish. He’ll not only need to beat those numbers this season to win MVP, but he’d also likely need to lead the Astros to the AL West title, and ideally, the top seed in the AL.
Alvarez has the potential to win the AL MVP, and Schoenfield is predicting that the Astros lefty slugger will continue his hot start to the season and beat out Judge, Henderson, Witt, and any other challengers to win the AL MVP.
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