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<p>NEW YORK &#8212; Jose Altuve and the Houston Astros have grown together, enduring an arduous rebuild and coming out the other side among baseball&#8217;s best.</p><p>These days, nobody is standing taller.</p><p>Altuve won the American League MVP award Thursday, towering over New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge by a wide margin and capping Houston&#8217;s championship season with another piece of hardware.</p><p>Giancarlo Stanton won the NL MVP, edging Joey Votto of the Cincinnati Reds in the closest vote since 1979.</p><p>The 5-foot-6 Altuve drew 27 of the 30 first-place votes in balloting by members of the Baseball Writers&#8217; Association of America.</p><p>&#8220;I was surprised that I won it,&#8221; Altuve said. &#8220;I wasn&#8217;t expecting this.&#8221;</p><p>It was a landslide long in the making. Altuve has been in Houston since general manager Jeff Luhnow took a scorched earth approach to developing a winner. The Astros lost 100-plus games in each of Altuve&#8217;s first three seasons, beginning in 2011.</p><p>Houston won its first World Series earlier this month, and it needed its longest-tenured player to get there. Altuve batted a major league-best .346 in the regular season, hit 24 home runs with 81 RBIs, scored 112 times, stole 32 bases and showed a sharp glove at second base. Voting for these honors was completed before the postseason began.</p><p>It&#8217;s been over a decade since Altuve signed with Houston from Venezuela &#8212; only after he was sent home from one tryout and told he was too short.</p><p>&#8220;They told me not to come back,&#8221; Altuve said. &#8220;It was something me and my dad, he went with me that day, we were like, &#8216;We have to go again. We have to try again.&#8217;&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s not a rule that you have to be 6-foot or you have to be really strong to play baseball and become a good player,&#8221; he added.</p><p>Altuve beat out a player who couldn&#8217;t be more different. The 6-7 Judge won the AL Rookie of the Year award Monday after setting a rookie record with 52 home runs. Judge&#8217;s moonshot homers dominated the highlights, and his No. 99 jersey was the top seller in baseball. Even Altuve has said he would have voted for Judge.</p><p>Judge had 8.2 wins above replacement compared to Altuve&#8217;s 7.5, per Fangraphs, while baseball-reference.com&#8217;s WAR metric preferred Altuve 8.3 to 8.1. Yet Judge got only two first-place votes, with the other going to third-place finisher Jose Ramirez of the Indians.</p><p>Altuve was the second Houston player to win an MVP &#8212; Jeff Bagwell earned the 1994 NL award.</p><p>While Altuve is set to defend his title in Houston, Stanton may be taking a piece of Marlins history elsewhere. He earned the franchise&#8217;s first MVP in the same week new team executive Derek Jeter said the club is listening to trade offers for Stanton. The 28-year-old outfielder is owed $295 million over the final decade of his record $325 million, 13-year contract.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s an interesting feeling and situation for me,&#8221; Stanton said.</p><p>Stanton would prefer to stick around and wants the team&#8217;s pitching situation &#8220;to be thoroughly addressed, not just somewhat addressed.&#8221; He&#8217;s not convinced the Marlins are ready to do that.</p><p>&#8220;I&#8217;m not entirely sure, to be honest,&#8221; he said. &#8220;I know all teams have plenty of money.&#8221;</p><p>The 6-6 Stanton led the big leagues with 59 home runs, most in the majors since 2001, when Barry Bonds hit a record 73 and Sammy Sosa had 64.</p><p>Stanton got 10 first-place votes and 302 points. Votto, who led the majors with a .454 on-base percentage, also got 10 firsts and had 300 points. Arizona&#8217;s Paul Goldschmidt was third.</p><p>&#8220;I felt like it was going to be so close and I felt like I had a legitimate shot,&#8221; Votto said. &#8220;It just feels like it&#8217;s exactly kind of how I thought it would play out.&#8221;</p><p>The last time an MVP race was so close, Willie Stargell and Keith Hernandez tied for the NL prize in 1979.</p><p>Stanton became only the sixth player to win from a losing team. The Marlins were 77-85.</p><p>Stanton joins Dan Marino and LeBron James as the only Miami pro athletes in a major sport to win MVP.</p><p>&#8220;That&#8217;s definitely good company,&#8221; Stanton said.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Stanton </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/web1_AP17320533105998.jpg</photo0><caption0>Stanton </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/web1_Altuve.jpg">
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<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By JAKE SEINER</p><p>AP Sports Writer</p></bylineMeta></div>

Altuve, Stanton earns MVP honors