We should not expect - nor want - Aaron Judge to win MVP

Yesterday, the AL announced its three MVP "finalists:" Jose Altuve, Aaron Judge and Bob Dylan. (Hey, if he can win the Nobel Prize for literature...) The Gammonitic consensus - repeatedly driven home by Joe Buck throughout the month of October - is that Altuve should win by a flood of votes, that Judge should settle for Rookie of the Year, and that Dylan can still take the Heisman Trophy, plus a lifetime achievement Golden Globe and maybe be picked for a summer internship under Taylor Swift. Within the Yankiverse, we should lick our wounds and accept Altuve's rapid ascension to the Wheaties box and 5-Hour Energy commercial - (I'm hoping the IBS lady, Irritabelle, gets her claws in him) - to be then followed by a 2018 descent into Rougned Odor territory. 

I won't throw stats at this - they were done to death last month - but the fact is, Altuve had a great year, and he led Houston to the Series - and even though that's not supposed to count, why kid ourselves? It's like the judge instructing the jury to discount the murder confession - plus, the feel-good fix was always in: America loves "the little guy" along with the ginned-up notion that sports teams "heal" regional catastrophes. Altuve is going to win, and that's fine. Because time at the MVP summit - like Altuve himself - is short.

Here are the last 20 AL/NL MVPs: 

2016: Mike Trout/Chris Bryant
2015: Josh Donaldson/Bryce Harper
2014: Mike Trout/Clayton Kershaw
2013: Miguel Cabrera/Andrew McCutcheon
2012: Miguel Cabrera/Buster Posey
2011: Justin Verlander/Ryan Braun
2010: Josh Hamilton/Joey Votto
2009: Joe Mauer/Albert Pujols
2008: Dustin Pedroia/Albert Pujols
2007: A-Rod/Jimmy Rollins

Two names - Pedroia and Rollins - are highlighted. Over the last 10 years, they are the only middle infielders to win the MVP. Considering the constant parade of emerging stars at SS and 2B - (after all, 2B is the position of Joggie Cano) - I find this surprising. But neither has repeated an MVP-caliber season, and I hereby suggest that the season-long wear and tear on middle infielders - coupled with the celebrity fanfare of winning the MVP - makes winning multiple awards almost impossible. 

Secondly, I think we should be privately relieved if Judge does not win the MVP. He'd have nowhere to go but down. Winning ROY is nice - )he must still beat the great Babe Benintendi - who hit a monstrous .271!) but history is littered with sophomore slumps. I like the idea of Judge still having something to prove. And if you check that above list, sluggers seem to have a far better chance of repeating. 

It's been a long time since the Yankees had finalists in the MVP, the ROY and the Cy Young (Luis Severino.) Judge is 25. Sevy is 23. They could both be in the mix next season. Holy shit. They could be here a long time.