2017 MLB Award Winners

Major League Baseball's 2017 awards have all been announced, and my MLBoyfriends had a very good showing.

Week 6: Buster Posey
Silver Slugger (Catcher, NL)

Week 10, Week 15 & Rookie of the Year: Aaron Judge
Rookie of the Year (AL), Silver Slugger (Outfield, AL), Players Choice Outstanding Rookie (AL)

Week 14 & World Series MVP: George Springer
World Series MVP

Week 16: Nolan Arenado
Silver Slugger (Third Base, NL), Golden Glove (Third Base, NL), & Players Choice Majestic Always Game Award

Week 17: Eric Hosmer
Silver Slugger (First Base, AL) & Golden Glove (First Base, AL)

Week 19: Brian Dozier
Golden Glove (Second Base, AL)

Week 21: Byron Buxton

Defensive Player of the Year (Center Field), Best Overall Defensive Player, Golden Glove (Center Field, AL), Platinum Glove (AL)

Week 22: Anthony Rizzo
Roberto Clemente Award (recognizing those who best represent the game through positive contributions on and off the field, including sportsmanship and community involvement), Players Choice Man of the Year

Congratulations to all my MLB-Award-Winning MLBoyfriends! You've done me proud.

World Series MVP: George Springer

Some may say I'm taking the easy route in choosing the player who won the Willie Mays World Series Most Valuable Player Award to also win the MLBoyfriend World Series Most Valuable Player Award. But, George Springer definitely deserves both titles.

As ESPN pointed out:

Springer was an easy choice for the Willie Mays World Series Most Valuable Player Award, after hitting .379 (11-for-29) with five home runs and seven RBIs. His eight extra-base hits were the most ever in a World Series, and he is the first player to homer in four straight games within a single World Series...

Springer tied the record for most home runs in a single World Series--only two other players, Reggie Jackson and Chase Utley, have hit five.

All of this is even more impressive considering Springer had been in a slump during the playoffs.

This is a guy who hit .100 without a single extra-base hit in eight postseason games, striking out four times in Game 1 of the World Series, only to come back and hit .478 the final six games. --USA Today

Springer's performance somewhat mirrors the rise of the Houston Astros--a team that went from losing 111 games just four years ago to the best team in baseball today.

Rookie of the Year: Aaron Judge

This will probably be the least surprising blog post in the history of the internet. But here goes...

The MLBoyfriend Rookie of the Year award goes to Aaron Judge!

Get used to seeing Judge win a lot of  awards this fall. With 98% of the vote, he was just named American League Rookie of the Year by Sporting News.

Judge hit 52 home runs this season--the most ever in a rookie year.

A lot of attention has been paid--rightfully--to Judge's batting stats. He had a .284 batting average (which admittedly is good but not great), a 1.049 OPS, 114 RBIs, 124 runs, and, of course, the 52 home runs. However, he's also a monster in the outfield--making great catches like this one from the last game of the ALCS.

National League Pennant Winner: Justin Turner

I waited until the NLCS was over to make it official, but Justin Turner became the clear front runner to be my MLBoyfriend with his walk off homer in game two. Perhaps the only thing Snoop Dogg and I have in common is that we both took notice of Turner after that dinger. (You shouldn't need this warning, but just in case... Snoop's video is VERY NSFW.)

La. Dodgers. ⚾️⚾️

A post shared by snoopdogg (@snoopdogg) on Oct 15, 2017 at 8:04pm PDT

I'm very fond of the Cubs, but I was rooting for the Dodgers to go the World Series. Looking back, it's kind of shocking that Justin Turner is my first Dodger MLBoyfriend given what a great season they've had.

Today, Justin Turner was named the NLCS MVP, but he's sharing that honor with Chris Taylor.

Chris Taylor certainly deserves the MVP award and his smile is MLBoyfriend worthy. However, I opted not to do a shared MLBoyfriend title this week. If I'm being totally honest, it was Justin Turner's hair and beard that gave him the edge on winning the title alone.

Misters October 2017

The regular season may be over, but many of my 2017 MLBoyfriends are still playing baseball. Here are my picks that made it to the postseason.

Week 1: Miguel Sano
Get ready to see a lot of Twins in this post.

Week 3: Bryce Harper
Bryce and his famous hair return to the playoffs.

Week 5: Ryan Zimmerman
It's always a pleasure to see Ryan at the plate.

Week 7: J.D. Martinez
Ditto for J.D.--although I could do without the hideous Diamondbacks uniform.
UPDATE 3/26/19: I wrote this before J.D. Martinez posted something very problematic on social media that is in direct opposition to my values. He has a right to express political opinions, but words have consequences. In this case the consequence is that I no longer think he's hot--in fact, he's the opposite of hot. NRA propaganda is deal breaker for me.

Week 8: Ervin Santana
It was still only May, and I already picked my second Minnesota player.

Week 10 and Week 14: Aaron Judge
Considering the season he's had and that he's a Yankee, it's kind of surprising I only named Aaron my MLBoyfriend twice this year.

Week 14: George Springer
This year, I will make an exception to my rule of always rooting against teams from Texas. #HoustonStrong

Week 16: Nolan Arenado
Everything seems to be in order here.

Week 19: Brian Dozier & Week 21: Byron Buxton
It just makes sense that I would take notice of Twins players. I do live in Minnesota after all. Plus, the Twins are pretty adorable.

Week 22: Anthony Rizzo
Speaking of adorable...

Week 23: Didi Gregorius
Didi proving, once again, that the Yankee pinstripes are the best sports uniform ever.

Week 24: The Minnesota Twins September 12 Starting Line Up
Then, there was that time I picked nine Twins to be my MLBoyfriend in one week. What can I say? They had a great game. Minnie and Paul did this a lot that night.

Week 25: José Quintana
Do the Cubs have the best smiles in baseball? I think so. (See also Anthony Rizzo above.)

CONGRATS TO ALL MY MLBOYFRIENDS WHO HAVE MADE IT TO THE PLAYOFFS!Unfortunately, some of them won't make it far into the postseason. Either the Yankees or the Twins will be eliminated right away in the one-game American League Wild Card Playoff--which is sort of breaking my heart. Still, it's something special to play baseball in October.

Week 26: Bruce Maxwell

Bruce Maxwell is the first and only Major League Baseball player to take a knee during the National Anthem. For the past week, Maxwell has been making a thoughtful, powerful statement for racial justice. I'm going to add to the support he got at home games in Oakland, by making him my final MLBoyfriend of the regular season.

"The point of my kneeling is not to disrespect our military, it's not to disrespect our Constitution, it's not to disrespect this country. ... My hand over my heart symbolizes the fact that I am and I'll forever be an American citizen, and I'm more than grateful to be here. But my kneeling is what is getting the attention because I'm kneeling for the people that don't have a voice." --Bruce Maxell

I'd also like to give a shout out to Maxwell's teammates, especially Mark Canha, for standing behind him both literally and figuratively.

This is point in the post where I usually say "Congratulations" to my new MLBoyfriend, but this week I'm going to do say something else because some things are much more important than baseball stats.

THANK YOU, BRUCE MAXWELL! 

Week 25: José Quintana

Sometimes, it just takes one excellent game to catch my eye. José Quintana had an excellent game yesterday and became my MLBoyfriend of the week. On Sunday, September 24, he threw a complete game and a shut out.

In nine full innings on the road against the Milwaukee Brewers, the Chicago Cubs pitcher struck out ten batters, gave up no runs, and threw for just three hits and one walk. Including his as-low-as-it-can-get ERA off 0.00 from that game, Quintana has an impressive 1.63 ERA in his four starts in the month of September.