Mookie Betts of Boston and Christian Yelich of Milwaukee winners at MVP

NEW YORK – Mookie Betts is ready to become a baseball ambassador, now that he has won a batting title, the World Series and the Most Valuable Player Award with Boston.

"I like to be a kind of face around the game," Betts said after winning the vote for the AHL's MVP title. "I used this pedestal or what you mean to say that the game is fun."

Christian Yelich of Milwaukee was almost unanimously chosen for the honor of the National League. Yelich, a 26-year-old Betts player, also won a batting championship and led his team to a division title. But although Betts has been with the Red Sox since signing after the 2011 amateur draft, Yelich did not join the Brewers until he was treated in Milwaukee in January by the Marlins.

"I'm grateful that everything worked out, because being traded, you never know how it's going to be," Yelich said. "Fortunately for me, everything went very well.

Yelich is signed until 2021 and his contract includes a team option for the following season. Betts did not want to speculate on his fate, like Boston MVPs Ted Williams, Carl Yastrzemski and Jim Rice. Betts can become a free agent after the 2020 season.

"Right now, I'm focusing on the upcoming 2019 season," he said.

Betts received 28 first-place votes and 410 points from the Baseball Writers' Association of America.

Angels MVP Mike Trout, a most valuable player twice, followed with a vote for first place and 265 points. Trout equaled the record of four second places shared by Stan Musial, Williams and Albert Pujols. Trout won in 2014 and in 2016, finished second in '12, 13 and '15 and fourth in 2017.

Cleveland's third baseman, Jose Ramirez, was third with 208 points, followed by Martinez's Boston forward, following with a first and 198 points.

Betts led .346 with 32 home runs, 80 RBIs, 42 doubles and 30 bases as a Red Sox forward, winning 108 games and his fourth World Series title in 15 seasons. The votes were submitted before the post-season.

Betts, Trout's second in the 2016 vote, became known when he fed homeless people on the steps of the Boston Public Library after the second game of the World Series. Unlike some baseball players, it does not rule out the limelight.

"I really think it's pretty cool in some contexts," said Betts, "and in some contexts, I just want to be with my family."

Yelich got 29 votes for first place and 415 points, and the other vote for first place was won by New York launcher Jacob deGrom, winner of the NL Cy Young Award, who finished fifth. Chicago champions Javier Baez finished second with 250 points, followed by Colorado third baseman Nolan Arenado with 203 points.

Yelich won the first batting title in the history of the Brewers with an average of .326. He set career highs with 36 homers and 110 RBIs and 1,000 points.

Yelich almost became the first NL Triple Crown winner since Joe Medwick in 1937, finishing two homers in front of Arenado and one behind Baez. Yelich was particularly impressive in the second half, reaching 0.357 with 25 homers and 67 RBIs – including 11 in August and 10 in September.

Milwaukee reached the playoffs for the first time in seven years, swept Colorado in the Division Series, and then defeated the Dodgers in a seven-game League series.

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

Yelich celebrated his holiday in Southern California with family and friends. He wore a cap of the Los Angeles Fire Department during television interviews.

"Almost everyone had to be evacuated, just from Thousand Oaks, Westlake, Malibu," he said. "We had the chance to do it without damage. Unfortunately, many people could not say the same thing.

Ronald Blum is an Associated Press writer.