The Yankees fell one victory short of a World Series berth this season, but two members of their talented young core, Aaron Judge and Luis Severino, were announced as finalists Monday for the year-end awards, as voted on by the Baseball Writers' Association of America.
Judge is among the top three for the American League MVP, a tight race that also includes the Astros' Jose Altuve and the Indians' Jose Ramirez. As for the AL Rookie of the Year, Judge should win that easily over the Red Sox's Andrew Benintendi and the Orioles' Trey Mancini. Alex Rodriguez was the last Yankee to win the MVP, in 2007, and the team hasn't had a ROY since Derek Jeter claimed the award in 1996.
Severino placed in the top three for the AL Cy Young but is likely to finish third behind the Indians' Corey Kluber and the Red Sox's Chris Sale. Severino, the youngest at 23, went 14-6 with a 2.98 ERA and 10.9 strikeouts/nine innings. The Yankees haven't had a pitcher finish in the top three since CC Sabathia was third in 2010. Rogers Clemens was their last Cy winner in 2001.
Perhaps most surprising, however, was Joe Girardi's absence from the top three in the AL Manager of the Year voting. The Astros' A.J. Hinch, the Indians' Terry Francona and the Twins' Paul Molitor are the finalists.
In the National League, the MVP finalists are the Diamondbacks' Paul Goldschmidt, the Marlins' Giancarlo Stanton and the Reds' Joey Votto; for the Cy Young, the Dodgers' Clayton Kershaw along with the Nationals' Max Scherzer and Stephen Strasburg; for Rookie of the Year, the Pirates' Josh Bell, the Dodgers' Cody Bellinger and the Cardinals' Paul DeJong; for Manager of the Year, the Rockies' Bud Black, the D-backs' Torey Lovullo and the Dodgers' Dave Roberts.
The winners will be announced next week.
