All season long, MLB Network has been providing round-the-clock coverage of everything Major League Baseball. As the 2026 MLB season nears the All-Star break, there is now talk of what players are not only worthy of being All-Stars, but also who will be an MVP candidate late in the year.
Part of this discussion includes listing players that could be considered “first half” MVP’s, that is players who could win MVP now if the season were not as long. MLB Network analyst Greg Amsinger recently released his top-nine first half MVP candidates:
1. Shohei Ohtani
2. Yordan Alvarez
3. Junior Caminero
4. James Wood
5. Kyle Schwarber
6. Otto Lopez
7. Jordan Walker
8. Miguel Vargas
9. Dillon Dingler
As one can see, that list does not include Chicago Cubs All-Star outfielder Pete Crow-Armstrong, and the push-back for this omission forced Amsinger to address the reasons why on air.
MLB Network analyst Greg Amsinger explains why Cubs star Pete Crow-Armstrong is not an MVP candidate right now
After seeing Amsinger’s list of nine first half MVP candidates, Cubs fans went after him on X for not including Crow-Armstrong. After all, the Chicago star is hitting .296/.387/.543 with 21 home runs, 52 RBI, and 23 stolen bases already this year.
But those are his overall numbers, and Amsinger wants fans to understand that, as good as Crow-Armstrong is, he was not all that great for the majority of the season up to this point:
Greg defends his first-half MVP rankings and explains why he left PCA off his list, but @CliffFloyd30 and @Plesac19 disagree ⬇️ https://t.co/WBK8Kc7uN0 pic.twitter.com/qG6rURJj2C
— MLB Network (@MLBNetwork) July 10, 2026
“PCA, you’re my favorite player. I love PCA. He is a star. But folks, this is what I care about. Is your team winning, and it’s the first half’s most valuable players.
“PCA might win MVP (he won’t because Ohtani’s going to win it), but the whole second half.”
Amsinger then showed a graphic that compared Crow-Armstrong’s stats from his first 58 games to those of his last 35:
- First 58- .224/.314/.362, six home runs
- Last 35- .406/.494/.819, 15 home runs
“I think he was mismanaged! It wasn’t his fault! But for the first 58 games, he was one of the worst players on the Cubs. They were batting him ninth, not his fault. Then they move him to the lead-off spot, last 35 games, and he’s the best player in the world. You can’t be the MVP of a half if you’re one of the worst players on your team for 58 games.”
When Amsinger asked former MLB star Cliff Floyd what he thought, Floyd responded, “Yeah, he needed to lead-off.” He argued that, since it was what he had done his entire career, his entire life, it was a poor decision by manager Craig Counsell to bat him ninth.
But when Amsinger asked if Floyd and former MLB pitcher Dan Plesac agreed with Cubs fans angry at him for leaving PCA off the list, Plesac said, “You proved your point, but I could see if I was a die-hard Cub fan, how could you ignore what he has done? If you just put everything together.”
Amsinger acknowledged this point, but said “This isn’t the Marquee Sports Network,” which is the station that covers the Cubs. He argued that he is not trying to include any bias and, in his opinion, PCA cannot be an MVP candidate right now because of how poorly he played for most of the year so far.
