Yordan Álvarez is MVP of the American League Championship Series

October 24, 2021

The Houston Astros left the Boston Red Sox in their wake and secured their third trip to the World Series in the last five years. But this ticket to the Fall Classic would not have arrived without what Yordan Álvarez did. After the 27th out of the sixth game of the American League Championship Series, the Cuban slugger was recognized as the Most Valuable Player of that series.

Álvarez simply made a mockery of the Boston pitchers with his hits. To top it all off, this Friday night he had a perfect game of four hits in four at-bats. He had a single, two doubles and a triple, in addition to driving in one run and scoring two runs. Thus he became the first Cuban with a three extra-base hit game in the history of Major League Baseball's postseason.

The left-handed giant of the Astros is the fourth Cuban-born player to receive the MVP award in a Championship Series. He joined Liván Hernández, who did it first (1997); Orlando "Duque" Hernández, honored in 1999; and Randy Arozarena, who shone with the Tampa Bay Rays in the 2020 season.

If you're wondering about the merits Álvarez accumulated during the six games of the series, we can tell you that he had at least one hit in each of the contests, including three consecutive multi-hit performances to finish the series.

But in terms of numbers, the designated hitter finished that stage with an enormous batting average of .522, thanks to 12 hits in 23 official at-bats. Álvarez hit three doubles, a triple and a home run, drove in six runs, scored seven times and registered an OPS of 1.408. His average was even higher, and notably, than Arozarena's last year (.321).

As if that weren't enough, and to further cement Yordan in Astros history, he is now only the second Houston player with at least four hits in a game that meant the potential advancement of his team to the World Series. The other to achieve such a feat was Terry Puhl, on October 12, 1980, when the Astros still belonged to the National League.

Now Álvarez and the Astros must wait to see who wins the series between the Atlanta Braves and the Los Angeles Dodgers. Will it be a series of Cubans on both sides between Houston and Atlanta or will Yordan face his former organization in a Fall Classic between Houston and Los Angeles? Hours remain before we know.