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I was having a nice day at work earlier this week when suddenly things took a dramatic turn. A coworker/pal dropped a comment into Slack about who everyone thought should be the MVP of the American League this year. I quickly typed in the the right answer – Yankees slugger Aaron Judge – and then was attacked by just about everyone I work with.
People who I consider friends started yelling at me about turning in my badge and my work computer and told me to leave my job at once. “PROMISE US YOU’LL NEVER TRY TO WORK HERE AGAIN!!” they yelled through their screens.
It was all so hard for me to take. These were my buddies! People I have known for quite some time! People who are usually so nice and pleasant!
For a while there I didn’t know which way was up. I started to doubt everything I had once thought about anything. Was I really this dumb? Am I a totally (blanking) idiot?! DO I EVEN UNDERSTAND BASEBALL!!???
My poor heart!!
OK, maybe it wasn’t that rough but still… I was basically the only one saying the right thing and I was stunned to find that out.
Aaron Judge should be the MVP of the AL this year. If he’s not, they should just stop handing out the award altogether. Last night he crushed his 60th home run of the year, which kickstarted an incredible come-from-behind win for the Yankees, and put him one back of Roger Maris for the most dingers in AL history, which is pretty darn good.
No. 60 for Aaron Judge in all its glory 😍
(via @Sportsnet)pic.twitter.com/1tQLKhd9ku
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) September 21, 2022
Judge is the easy pick for AL MVP. As of Wednesday morning he’s first in home runs (by 20 in all of MLB and by 23 in the AL), he’s leading the AL in batting average at .316, and his 128 RBI are easily the most in baseball.
If you take a step back and look at those stats you’ll see that if the season ended today he’d hit for the Triple Crown. Only one player since 1967 – Miguel Cabrera, 2012 (he won the MVP that year) – has done that. It’s just not a thing that happens and it’s the sign of pure dominance at the plate.
Judge has also been carrying a Yankees team that would be pretty mediocre without him in the lineup. They’re basically in first place in the AL East because of him and while they might not win the World Series this year, he is the reason why they could. He’s very valuable to his team. Heck, I’d consider him the most valuable to his team!
The only other name kind of in this conversation is the great Shohei Ohtani. He’s the coolest guy in baseball and what he has been doing at the plate and on the mound is stuff we’ve never seen before and will likely never see again. He’s unreal. He’s a special talent. And he’s exactly what baseball needs.
But he’s not the MVP.
Ohtani’s Angels have won only 65 games this year and have been irrelevant since late April. I just don’t know how you give out an MVP award to a guy whose team has been that bad. Take away his wins on the mound and some of his home runs and hits and the Angels have what, like 50 wins? So you’re gonna reward a guy for helping his team be just a little less terrible?
No thank you.
Ohtani is awesome and I’ve been singing his praises all year and will continue to love watching him play the game of baseball. If there was a Most Coolest Player award he would win it hands down.
But there’s only one man deserving of the AL MVP award and – if we’re being honest with each other and with ourselves – it’s not even close.
It’s Aaron Judge, duh.
Quick hits: Mic’d up Russell Wilson sounds so annoying… J.J. Watt’s great reaction to Murray’s stunning play… Dan Orlovsky denies farting on MNF… And more.
– Russell Wilson was mic’d up last Sunday and man did he sound like an annoying teammate.
– J.J. Watt was also mic’d up and he had a great reaction to Kyler Murray’s insane 2-point conversion against the Raiders.
– Here’s some big news – ESPN’s Dan Orlovsky says he didn’t fart on the MNF broadcast. Sadly, he didn’t go with the “whoever smelt it, dealt it” defense.
– Here are some fantasy football waiver moves you should be targeting.
