At one point in the season, it looked like Yordan Alvarez would play himself into the AL MVP discussion, considering his performance from Opening Day through July 9 (.306/.405/.653, 26 HR, 197 wRC+). Notice that I didn’t say win — the award is Shohei Ohtani’s to lose, in my opinion — but Alvarez’s numbers as a hitter at least warranted expanding the discussion outside of Ohtani and Aaron Judge. I’m not exaggerating when I state that Alvarez was even a better hitter than Judge, who is now chasing history himself.
Alvarez’s early season performance was also one of the primary drivers for the Astros’ overall offensive value, as his numbers were partially responsible for the club posting a 116 wRC+ through July 9.