Yankees 2017 MVP and the rest of their regular season awards

The Yankees will host the Wild Card game on Tuesday, October 3. That leaves just enough time to hand out our regular season awards.

The Yankees have overachieved in 2017. A team that was supposed to lay the foundation for future success was instead able to build a comfy starter home in Wildcardville. You can bet they’ll want to trade up for something in Division Winner neighborhood next year.

But that’s all in the future. Now, before the playoffs begin, is a moment to look back at the past. And of course hand out hardware. The players who led the Yankees this year need to be acknowledged, as do those who almost derailed the season.

Let’s Get Busy

To start, I have created a special award in honor of Jacoby Ellsbury: The Intra-Season Comeback Player of the Year Award.

Up until about a month ago, the story of Ellsbury’s season seemed a familiar one. He started hot, hitting .281 by May 23rd, but then got injured. He returned to play much worse and lost his starting job; history seemed destined to repeat.

And that seemed carved in stone by August 22nd. Jake was the Yankees fourth or even fifth outfielder by then, slashing just .238/.315/.367. The only way he was getting playing time was if someone got injured.

Then people started getting injured.

So Jacoby took the playing time crumbs he was given and used them to fatten up. Today, he stands at .269/.356/.438 and has recaptured his dynamic playing style. More importantly, he has taken back his starting center field position.

It seems as if the competition has done Ellsbury a world of good. And he’s the Yankees’ ISCPY for 2017.

Now on to the regularly scheduled awards. And we will start with the bad news first.