Alvarez crushes a grand slam, solidifying his status as the top favorite for the AL MVP award.

Should anyone have questioned whether Yordan Alvarez of the Houston Astros is the clear frontrunner to claim his inaugural AL MVP trophy, everything that has unfolded recently has surely put those uncertainties to rest.

Alvarez launched the Astros' first grand slam of the season—and the fifth of his career—propelling him to the top of the AL home run and RBI leaderboards, as Houston routed the Athletics 13-2 at Daikin Park. He went 1-for-3 at the plate with a walk and scored twice.

Entering today's game, Alvarez boasted a .316 batting average, second in the AL behind Tampa Bay's Yandy Díaz (.320). His 44 RBIs ranked third, trailing teammates Christian Walker (46) and New York's Ben Rice (45), while his home runs led the league. His second-inning grand slam gave him 22 homers and 48 RBIs, placing him at or near the top of the AL in all three Triple Crown categories: batting average, home runs, and RBIs.

The Astros also saw Lamonte Wade Jr. hit his first home run since joining the team, and Jose Altuve launched his 260th career homer on the first pitch of the third inning. Houston scored five runs in the third on blasts from Wade and Alvarez, then added six more in the fifth, highlighted by two-run doubles from Wade and Jeremy Peña.

In MLB.com's second MVP poll of the season released earlier this week, Alvarez led the AL, outpacing Yankees' Aaron Judge in ballots from 35 MLB.com experts. However, that was before Judge was placed on the injured list with a stress fracture of his right first rib, an injury sustained while playing in Houston back in April.

The Yankees stated that Judge will undergo another imaging exam in four to six weeks to assess healing and determine next steps for recovery. This likely sidelines the three-time AL MVP winner in four years from this season's award race. Kansas City's Bobby Witt Jr. ranked third in the MLB.com poll, with Rice in fourth.

The closest an Astros player has come to a Triple Crown was Jeff Bagwell's 1994 NL MVP season, when he finished second in batting average and home runs while leading the league in RBIs. Another Astro to rank in the top five of all three Triple Crown categories was Alvarez himself in 2022, placing third in homers, fourth in batting average, and fifth in RBIs. That season, he finished third in AL MVP voting behind Judge and Shohei Ohtani.