New York Yankees: The 2017 AL MVP according to Aaron Judge

After MLB handed down its punishments in the Astros sign-stealing scandal, New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge sent a subtle message to the 2017 AL MVP.

After yesterday’s announcements regarding the Houston Astros sign-stealing scandal, 2017 will forever be in question. Unfortunately, the New York Yankees and Aaron Judge just so happen to have taken the brunt of it.

Why? Well, because it took 7-games for the Astros to eliminate the Yankees from the 2017 ALCS. Who knows how things could have turned out for New York had Houston played the game fairly.

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As for Judge, many folks believe that he deserved the MVP award and lost it to Astros second baseman Jose Altuve only because writers didn’t want to reward him with the AL Rookie of the Year award and MVP in the same season.

The kid is good, right? So, why not wait for another MVP-caliber season to give it to him.

At the time, though, nobody thought anything of it. No team won an away game in that 2017 ALCS, so we simply chalked it up to home-field advantage.

And, in terms of the AL MVP race, a strong argument could have been made for either Judge or Altuve. After all, in the traditional sense, Altuve was arguably better…

• Altuve – 590 AB, .346 AVG, 204 H, 84 SO
• Judge – 542 AB, .284 AVG, 154 H, 208 SO

However, more telling stats say otherwise…

• Altuve – .410 OBP, .547 SLG, .405 wOBA, 160 wRC+, 7.6 fWAR
• Judge – .422 OBP, .627 SLG, .430 wOBA, 174 wRC+, 8.3 fWAR

At the time, even Judge didn’t think much of it. In fact, he took to social media to praise Jose Altuve and congratulate him on the award, saying:

"“M-V-P! Nobody more deserving than you!! Congrats on an unforgettable 2017!! @josealtuve27”"

Then, two years later, Jomboy struck, MLB investigated, and punishments were doled out, including the firing of Astros manager AJ Hinch and GM Jeff Luhnow. Now, the New York Yankees superstar has taken to social media to send a subtle message.

Upon learning of baseball’s findings yesterday, Judge went ahead and deleted his 2017 congratulatory post to Altuve, seemingly overturning his ruling.

Should Aaron Judge have won the 2017 AL MVP? At the time, I sure believed so. After this whole Astros fiasco, however, there’s no doubt in my mind.