Yordan Alvarez competing for MLB Triple Crown after hitting 34th home run in Astros' 5-2 win over Marlins
With 58 games remaining in the Houston Astros' 2026 season and two months left on the schedule, it might be too early to talk about Yordan Alvarez potentially winning a Triple Crown.
Yet after Alvarez hit his 34th home run of the season, it's not unreasonable to raise the possibility either. The Astros slugger batted 2-for-4 with 2 RBI in Houston's 5-2 win over the Miami Marlins.
Alvarez now leads MLB in homers, overtaking the Philadelphia Phillies' Kyle Schwarber. And he has four more than Ben Rice of the New York Yankees for the top spot in the AL.
With 77 RBI, Alvarez is one ahead of the Washington Nationals' CJ Abrams and Jordan Walker of the St. Louis Cardinals. And though he trails the Marlins' Otto Lopez (.332) for the MLB lead in batting average, his .328 mark leads the Tampa Bay Rays' Yandy Diaz (.308) by 20 points.
MLB's last Triple Crown winner was the Detroit Tigers' Miguel Cabrera, who led the AL with a .330 batting average, 44 homers and 139 RBI. But as might be expected, Alvarez doesn't want to talk about the Triple Crown right now.
"I'm just focused right now on playing ball," Alvarez said to MLB.com's Brian McTaggart. "There's more than two months remaining in the season, so I'm not going to talk anymore about the Triple Crown. I don't want to answer any more questions about the Triple Crown."
With the Astros fighting for a playoff spot, Alvarez is understandably reluctant to discuss individual achievements. Not to mention that talking about a thing makes it a thing that could present an obstacle to peak performance. Wednesday's win improved Houston's record to 50-54, two games behind the first-place Texas Rangers (51-51) in the AL West and 1.5 back from the Seattle Mariners (51-52) for second place. The Astros face more of an uphill climb in the AL wild-card race, 3.5 games from the league's third spot with four teams ahead of them — including the Boston Red Sox, who just finished a 15-game winning streak.
The Astros have won three consecutive games after sweeping the Marlins. However, they lost seven of 10 before that, including two of three to the Rangers, the team Houston is trying to catch in the AL West.
That skid raised questions about the Astros being sellers at the trade deadline, perhaps dealing off players like shortstop Jeremy Peña, third baseman Isaac Paredes or reliever Josh Hader. Yet Houston could just as easily be buyers at the deadline, looking to add pieces, including a starting pitcher, high-leverage reliever or outfield bat to provide a boost to its playoff chances.
"You get swept, you sweep somebody back, right?" said Astros manager Joe Espada, via MLB.com.
"That's a good bounceback win. That was good stuff," he added. "We bounced back very well against a good Marlins team. Beat one of the best pitchers in the game. I think our players, our team reacted very well after the way we played against Baltimore."
The Astros face another test this weekend with a three-game set at the Chicago White Sox (54-47).
