Mookie Betts and Christian Yelich both became some of baseball’s biggest stars in 2018. They were each respectively rewarded for their breakout seasons on Thursday with the American League and National League Most Valuable Player Awards.
The Baseball Writers Association of America made the selections. Betts impressively beat out two-time winner Mike Trout to receive MVP honors, while Yelich received 29 of 30 first-place votes in the NL.
Betts was an offensive and defensive force for a Boston Red Sox team that won 108 games and won the World Series. He joins an illustrious list of ten players in franchise history to have been named MVP.
Betts paced baseball with a .346 batting average and he added 32 home runs and 30 stolen bases. His 10.4 Wins Above Replacement was also the best in the game.
"It means a lot," Betts said. "It's definitely a special award and something that I cherish, but I think the most important thing is that we won a World Series and got to bring a trophy back to Boston."
Yelich’s strong play helped propel the Milwaukee Brewers to an NL-leading 96 wins and their first playoff appearance since 2011. He led the NL with a batting average, finished third with 36 home runs and second with 110 RBIs.
Yelich had a red-hot finish to the season, hitting .367 with a .444 on-base percentage after July 7. His .770 post-All-Star break slugging percentage was baseball’s highest in 14 years.
"It's really hard to put into words what this means,” said Yelich. You never dream of ever winning an award like this. It's been amazing."
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MLB Announces Mookie Betts and Christian Yelich as AL and NL MVPs:
