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The 2026 MLB season hasn't gone to plan for the Houston Astros, but if there's one major positive to take away from this season, it would be that Yordan Alvarez is the likely AL MVP, and he has a chance to secure the Triple Crown.
Leading the league in home runs, runs batted in, and batting average would be an incredible feat. Miguel Cabrera did it over a decade ago, as it's one of the rarest feats in all of baseball. Alvarez has a real chance at some incredible history.
However, ESPN's Bradford Doolittle made a brutal prediction that Alvarez would not only fail to secure the Triple Crown, but he wouldn't even be the league leader in any of those categories by the end of the season.
Yordan Alvarez predicted to end season not in lead of any Triple Crown hitting category
"Alvarez is an offensive force and, barring something nutty down the stretch, my AL MVP pick," Doolittle writes. "But he's been moving toward the pack in the Triple Crown categories for several weeks."
Doolittle is predicting Alvarez will not finish in first place in any of the batting average, RBI, or home run categories this season in the American League.
Of the three, the least likely one for Alvarez to lose the lead in is batting average. He's hitting .314 on the season, and Chandler Simpson of the Tampa Bay Rays is second in MLB at a .308 average.
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While Simpson has been on fire lately and Alvarez has not, this is still the one category that is most likely to go Alvarez's way. And yet, Doolittle predicted he wouldn't finish as the batting title champion in the AL.
When it comes to RBIs, Alvarez has the AL lead with 95, but Pete Alonso of the Baltimore Orioles has 94 and could easily surpass Alvarez to close out the season.
If the hitters in front of Alvarez can't get on base, it's going to be very difficult for the Astros slugger to add more RBIs to his season-long total. Junior Caminero of the Rays is also close behind at 92 RBIs, but he's challenging Alvarez elsewhere.
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The home run leaderboard is the most at-risk statistic for Alvarez, as it's the only area where he's not in sole possession of first place. Caminero and Alvarez each have 38 home runs this season.
It's going to take Alvarez hitting more homers than Caminero while also knocking in more RBIs than Alonso and maintaining his batting average lead over Simpson to win the Triple Crown.
Doolittle is predicting Alvarez won't only lose the HR and RBI leads, but also fall off enough to end the year that he's behind Simpson in the batting average category.
This prediction would be heartbreaking for the Astros and for Alvarez. While he might still win the AL MVP, missing out on the Triple Crown when he has such a good chance at accomplishing the feat would be quite the disappointment.
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