Pete Crow-Armstrong’s historic 2026 regular season with the Cubs has driven overwhelming trader consensus for the NL MVP. The 24-year-old center fielder posted a .280/.372/.570 slash line across 162 games, tied for the MLB lead with 45 home runs, led the majors with 119 runs scored, stole 41 bases to join the 40-40 club, and delivered elite defense while accumulating roughly 10 fWAR. Multiple outlets, including Baseball Digest and Baseball America, named him Player of the Year, and he swept recent MVP polls. Shohei Ohtani and others trail far behind after injuries limited their production. The award could still shift only in the unlikely event of an unprecedented voter preference for a two-way contributor or late narrative reversal, though regular-season metrics and awards point firmly to Crow-Armstrong.