Betts wins the A.L. MVP

Betts hit a major league-leading .346 with 32 homers, 80 RBIs, 42 doubles and 30 stolen bases as the leadoff hitter for the Red Sox, who won a team-record 108 games and their fourth World Series title in 15 seasons. Votes were submitted before the postseason.

Betts, second to Trout in the 2016 vote, raised his profile when he fed homeless people on the steps of Boston's Public Library after the second game of the World Series. Unlike some baseball players, he doesn't eschew off-the-field limelight. Commissioner Rob Manfred criticized Trout during the All-Star Game for not making enough of a marketing effort.

"I definitely think it's pretty cool in some settings," he said, "and in some setting settings I just kind of want to be with my family."

Both batting champions won MVP awards for the first time since San Francisco's Buster Posey and Detroit's Miguel Cabrera in 2012.

Yelich got 29 first-place votes and 415 points, and the other first-place vote went to New York Mets pitcher Jacob deGrom, the NL Cy Young Award winner, who finished fifth. Chicago Cubs infielder Javier Baez was second with 250 points, followed by Colorado third baseman Nolan Arenado with 203.

Yelich won the first batting title in Brewers history with a .326 average. He set career highs with 36 homers and 110 RBIs and had a 1.000 OPS.

Yelich nearly became the NL's first Triple Crown winner since Joe Medwick in 1937, finishing two homers shy of Arenado and one RBI back of Baez. Yelich was especially impressive in the second half, hitting .367 with 25 homers and 67 RBIs — including 11 homers in August and 10 in September.

Milwaukee reached the playoffs for the first time in seven years, swept Colorado in the Division Series then lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers in a seven-game League Championship Series, falling one win short of its first World Series appearance since 2002.

Yelich gets a $100,000 bonus for winning, and the price of the 2022 team option in his contract increased by $1 million to $16 million.

Yelich celebrated in Southern California with family and friends, including Heisman Trophy winner and Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield. Yelich is from Westlake Village, California, near the site of a recent mass shooting and the Southern California wildfires.