Penton: No rivals for Aaron Judge in MVP race
By Bruce Penton
They won’t need a judge or jury to determine the Most Valuable Player in the American League this season. It’s a runaway for New York Yankees’ superstar slugger, Aaron Judge.
The 32-year-old centre fielder, a surefire Hall of Famer when he retires, is having a season to remember — and that’s saying something when one of his previous seasons resulted in a 62-homer campaign.
Judge, a mountain of a man at 6-foot-7 and 282 pounds, set another long ball record recently when he swatted his 300th career home run in fewer games than anyone before him. Through Aug. 24 and with more than 30 games still to play, he has a Major-League-leading 49 homers, a pace that would give him 62 for the season. In a 99-game span starting April 27 (when he had only four homers), Judge blasted 44 homers. Last year, in an injury-shortened 106 games, Judge belted 37 homers (a 55-homer pace over a full season). He is without a doubt the most feared hitter in today’s MLB.
Through games of Aug. 24, Judge had 105 walks, including 16 intentionally. Blue Jays’ manager John Schneider showed the ultimate respect to Judge's power in a recent game by walking him intentionally with the bases empty and two out — in the second inning. “I honestly didn't feel like seeing him swing,” Schneider told reporters after the game. “That was kind of it. He's in a different category … than anyone else in the league, where he can just flip the script of a game with one swing.”
Judge won’t reach the fear level created by Barry Bonds in 2004, when the former Giant was intentionally walked a record 120 times, including once with the bases loaded. But Judge is the first player since Bonds 20 years ago to instil a similar fear in pitchers.
It’s not just home runs that define Judge, either. If not for the sensational play of Kansas City sophomore Bobby Witt, Jr., Judge would have a legitimate chance to win the Triple Crown. He leads the A.L. in homers and RBI and his batting average is second only to Witt’s.
The National League MVP race is not so one-sided, however. The winner will likely be the Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani, who is not pitching this year but slamming home runs in regular fashion. In late August, he led the NL with 41 round-trippers and became the fastest player in history to reach the 40-40 (homers, stolen bases) club. if the Dodgers continue to lead their division, MVP voters will likely say Ohtani was the major reason why.
Meanwhile, Judge’s heroics, and that of his teammate, Juan Soto, who sits third in A.L. home runs, have still not been enough to give the Yankees a cushion atop the A.L. East. They’ve been battling Baltimore for top spot all season and it appears as if the race will go down to the wire.
The MVP race, however, is over. All rise, here comes da Judge.
The late pro golfer, Chi Chi Rodriguez, who died Aug. 8 at age 88: “I don’t fear death, but I sure don’t like those three-footers for par.”
Super 70s Sports: “Cedric Maxwell on Pete Maravich and a rookie named Larry Bird: ‘We come to the timeout and Pete says ‘Larry, they’re double-teaming you. You can’t force up those kind of shots.’ Larry looks up and goes ‘If you were any damn good, they wouldn’t be double-teaming me.’”
Headline at fark.com: “(Patriots coach) Jerod Mayo promises to kick the crap out of anyone who violates his no-fighting rule.”
St. Louis GM Doug Armstrong, justifying making offer sheets to two Edmonton Oilers, Philip Broberg and Dylan Holloway: “I’d offer-sheet my mother if it would make the Blues better.”
Football columnist Graham Kelly in the Medicine Hat News, on B.C. quarterback Nathan Rourke’s unsuccessful foray to the NFL: “During Rourke’s time holding a clipboard in the NFL, he wasn’t exactly reduced to cadging loose change on street corners. He was paid U.S. $513,000.”
Comedy writer Alex Kaseberg: “In Santa Barbara, a driver left the scene of his crash on a skateboard. Police are looking for a guy who answers to the name Dude.”
Alex Kaseberg again: “Out of the NFL for almost a decade, Colin Kaepernick has turned down Jim Harbaugh's offer to coach at Michigan. Colin is holding out for an offer to be the starting QB for the Forty Niners, an offer that should come right before pigs fly.”
Super 70s Sports: “Never forget John McEnroe won four U.S. Opens and three Wimbledons by overcoming the gross incompetence of everyone around him. An inspiration.”
Headline at the Canadian parody website, thebeaverton.com: “Blue Jays owners shocked to discover you’re allowed to fire Front Office when team sucks every year.”
Jack Finarelli at TheSportscurmudgeon.com, on the firing of slumping Seattle Mariners manager Scott Servais: “I have to be honest here; I didn’t realize that it was Servais who had been striking out with men in scoring position over the last 2-3 weeks.”
Care to comment? Email brucepenton2002@yahoo.ca