Yankees: Highway robbery times three and the honor of the game

Yankees bias is in full-force

Two other writers, Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com from Los Angeles and Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet.ca in Toronto, inexplicably ranked LeMahieu 10th for AL MVP on their ballots. D.J. received two seventh-place votes, one sixth place vote, and seven fifth-place votes. All of these votes were cast by writers working in cities other than New York.

D.J.’s statistics were equal to or superior to Semien’s numbers. LeMahieu hit .327 with 33 doubles, 26 homers, 102 RBIs, and a .893 OPS. Semien only hit .285 (a whopping 42 points lower than DJ!), 43 doubles, 33 home runs, 92 RBIs, and a .892 OPS. LeMahieu received a highly coveted Silver Slugger Award while Semien (nor Moncada) received any prestigious hitting awards.

When comparing LeMahieu and Semien, in terms of batting average with runners in scoring position, which one would consider a critical indicator for an MVP Award, LeMahieu had a .389 average, the highest in all of baseball. Semien, in contrast, had a respectable, but significantly lower .327 average with runners in scoring position.

While Semien consistently played only one position in the field (and won a Gold Glove), LeMahieu consistently played multiple infield positions on an injury-plagued team. After considering all of these performance numbers and situational conditions, it is clear that LeMahieu should have garnered at least a few first or second place votes and been solidly entrenched in third place in the voting for AL MVP.