After two days off to tend to a sore right ankle, Yordan Alvarez returned to the Astros’ lineup on Sunday. He was 0-for-1 with a walk before being lifted in a blowout 14-4 loss, hopping back in the saddle in his quest for the batting Triple Crown.
Alvarez, the frontrunner for American League MVP for most of this season, had been leading the AL for long stretches in each of the three prongs for the Triple Crown: batting average, home runs and RBIs. In fact, he seemed for a while to have an outside shot at the MLB-wide Triple Crown, not done since Mickey Mantle in 1956.
While the MLB crown is all but off the table, Alvarez still has a chance to win the first Triple Crown of any kind since Miguel Cabrera did it with the Tigers in 2012. But he has some work to do as the 2026 campaign enters its final weeks.
Here’s where things stand in Alvarez’s chase for royalty.
Batting Average (1st)
Alvarez still leads the AL in batting average with a .310 mark entering Monday, but things have tightened as Rays speedster Chandler Simpson is succeeding with one of MLB’s most unique offensive profiles. Simpson is second at .305, while fellow Ray Yandy Díaz is also in striking distance at .301.
Things ...