The Brice Turang NL MVP case came up short on Thursday evening. Pete Crow-Armstrong of the Chicago Cubs won the 2026 National League Most Valuable Player Award unanimously. He is the first Cub to win it since Kris Bryant in 2016, after a season with 45 home runs and 41 stolen bases. Crow-Armstrong is certainly deserving of the award, but that will not stop us from looking back on a strong season from the Brewers’ second baseman. Turang finished third in the voting, behind Crow-Armstrong and Shohei Ohtani, who was second with 26 second-place votes.
The Brice Turang NL MVP Case
Turang’s case was built on doing everything well. He hit .268/.366/.450 with 21 home runs, 100 RBI, 102 runs scored, 37 doubles and 19 stolen bases. His 7.3 bWAR was the highest on the Brewers, and he finished with a 124 OPS+. He also had the glove to match. Turang won the NL Gold Glove at second base, led all MLB second basemen with 23 Defensive Runs Saved and posted a 2.9 dWAR, the best among NL players.
That balance is the core of the Turang NL MVP argument, but he was up against two historic seasons. Crow-Armstrong led baseball with 10.6 fWAR, tied for the major-league lead with 45 homers and stole 41 bases, while Ohtani posted a 1.79 ERA in 14 starts before injuries ended his pitching season. Turang did not have the loudest numbers, but he gave Milwaukee value in the field, on the bases and at the plate every day.
Milwaukee Brewers second baseman Brice Turang (2) hits a double during the seventh inning during Game 2 of the World Series against the Tampa Bay Rays at American Family Field on Oct 24, 2026.
The Brewers also won 103 games, and Turang was part of the group that beat the Rays in five games for Milwaukee’s first World Series title. In the clincher, he opened the second inning with a double that set up the first run. In October, he hit .261 with a .404 on-base percentage.
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The season started fast, too. LWOS noted in April that he opened the year with a 20-game on-base streak, the third-longest to start a season in Brewers history, behind only Ryan Braun in 2011 and Robin Yount in 1983. The Turang NL MVP case grew from that start and never really faded.
Turang Would Have Joined Elite Company
A win in the Turang NL MVP case would have made Turang the fifth different Brewers MVP and the first since Christian Yelich in 2018. The franchise has a short but strong history with the award. Rollie Fingers won the American League award in 1981, Robin Yount won it in 1982 and 1989, Braun won in 2011, and Yelich in 2018. That is five MVP awards among four players.
The Turang NL MVP candidacy was the biggest step in a career that has grown each year. Milwaukee selected him in the first round of the 2018 draft, 21st overall. He won an NL Gold Glove and a Platinum Glove in 2024, then hit .288 with 18 home runs and 24 stolen bases in 2025. That year, he was named the Brewers’ team MVP by the Milwaukee chapter of the BBWAA, NL Player of the Month for August, and a member of the All-MLB Second Team.
Milwaukee Brewers second baseman Brice Turang (2) hits a two-run RBI single during the fifth inning of Game 3 of the World Series against the Tampa Bay Rays Monday, Oct. 26, 2026 at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida.
He finished 14th in the 2025 NL MVP voting with 23 points. In 2026, he moved up to third, added a second Gold Glove and was named to the World Baseball Classic All-Tournament Team.
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A Championship Year Gives Milwaukee Hope
Turang may not have won the award, but his season still ended with a championship. The Brewers control him through 2029, and he said in April that every player is interested in an extension if the number is right. A player with this résumé will draw a contract conversation sooner rather than later, and Milwaukee has every reason to keep him on a fair deal.
The Last Word
The Turang NL MVP case did not end with the award, and he finished third behind Crow-Armstrong and Ohtani, but that does not take away from his 2026. A second baseman who plays elite defense, runs the bases well, and gets on base now has a Gold Glove, a World Series ring, and a third-place MVP finish on his résumé. The open question is how Milwaukee keeps this core together, and whether Turang can build on a year that put him among the best players in the league.
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Main Photo Credit: Mark Hoffman / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
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Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: Sports.yahoo.com
