Mookie Betts, Christian Yelich named MVP of AL, NL

Mookie Betts and Christian Yelich already had plenty in common — from starring in the outfield on two of baseball’s best teams in 2018 to Gold Gloves, Silver Sluggers and batting titles — but on Thursday night, they added another shared resume line: Most Valuable Player.

Betts, who in recent weeks won the World Series with the Red Sox and became a father, was named AL MVP, getting 28 of 30 first-place votes. Yelich, whose second-half power surge pushed the Brewers to the playoffs, was named the NL MVP, garnering 29 of 30 first-place votes.

Both are just 26 years old.

Mets ace Jacob deGrom led local vote-getters, finishing fifth in the NL race. A day after winning the NL Cy Young Award nearly unanimously, he received the only first-place vote that didn’t go to Yelich. DeGrom got seven second-place votes but was completely left off eight ballots (which list 10 players).

On the AL side, several Yankees received down-ballot votes. Aaron Judge finished 12th, Giancarlo Stanton 19th, Didi Gregorius tied for 20th and Aaron Hicks tied for 22nd.

Of note, the Angels’ Mike Trout came in second behind Betts. Trout has finished first (two times) or second (four times) in the AL MVP voting in six of the past seven years. (The other year, he hurt his thumb, missed a month and a half and finished fourth.)

In 2016, Betts came close, finishing second to Trout.  “I really wanted to win then,” Betts said. “You never know if you’ll ever make it back.”

Betts made it back in a big way, leading the majors in hitting (.346) and slugging (.640) and collecting 32 homers and 80 RBIs out of the leadoff spot for the Red Sox, who set a franchise record with 108 wins.

After his banner year — professionally and personally — Betts now will watch how the open market treats free agents Bryce Harper and Manny Machado.

A free agent after the 2020 season, Betts deflected the question when asked if he hopes to spend his entire career in Boston.

“I’m just focused on the 2019 season coming up,” he said. “This is a great organization. I love being a part of it. But yeah, right now, the 2019 season is the most important.”

For Yelich, the honor comes on the heels of madness for his hometown of Thousand Oaks, California, the site of a mass shooting last week and wildfires in the days since. Yelich said many of the friends celebrating with him Thursday night had to evacuate from their homes — though none was lost — and that he and other Los Angeles-area major-leaguers, including Brewers teammates Ryan Braun and Mike Moustakas, are putting together something to help those affected by the fires.

“A lot of destruction around here. People lost their houses, people lost their lives,” Yelich said.  “It was a tough week for a lot of people out there. It’s nice to see some people smiling for once.”

In addition to 36 homers and 110 RBIs, Yelich led the NL in hitting (.326) and slugging percentage (.598) and reached base at a .402 clip. In the second half, that slash line jumped to .367/.449/.770. In September, it was .370/.508/.804.

Milwaukee won an NL-high 96 games, taking the NL Central title in Game 163 against the Cubs, but lost to the Dodgers in Game 7 of the NLCS.

Altogether, it’s a drastic change from Yelich’s standing a year ago, when he was hanging   out with Stanton, his then-Marlins teammate and the 2017 NL MVP. The Marlins traded both players last winter as part of a rebuilding effort under CEO Derek Jeter.

“I remember celebrating with Stanton last year,” Yelich said. “I would have never guessed I would be standing in those shoes a year later after all our team’s accomplished.”