Yankees: Luke Voit deserves serious MVP consideration in 2020

Yankees slugging first baseman Luke Voit is an MVP candidate in 2020, despite his “foot stuff.”

No, Yankees fans, you’re not imagining things. You’re not a homer, desperately trying to strain to convince an unfeeling third party of your argument.

Luke Voit is an American League MVP candidate. Take emotion out of the equation. It’s just objectively true.

The Yankees were widely expected to zoom to the postseason in 2020 with nary a bump in the road, but that hasn’t been the case at all. Earlier this week, their grasp on a playoff berth was as tenuous as it gets, and they’ll have to fight hard for the final two weeks if they want any hope of ascending above the eight seed. In order to even enter the playoff field, they’ve needed unexpected contributors to outshine their projections, replacing Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton.

And, really, only one of them has, absorbing the responsibilities of many: King Louis Voit.

Voit is hitting .277 while whomping a league-leading 16 home runs and knocking in 37, playing 42 out of a possible 46 games. He’s already been worth 1.4 WAR, and no disrespect to Mike Trout, but he’s being out-WARed by King Louis. Trout sits at 1.1, which we didn’t even think was possible. Trout owns the WAR metric so clearly that it almost feels like he invented it. But not this year.

Putting up large numbers for a slumping Angels team isn’t going to cut it in the MVP race in this shortened season, especially if Voit owns the matchup advantage here. Trout simply can’t grab the honor again. We won’t allow it.

And, on top of the exemplary offensive numbers, there’s the narrative. So many Yankees have gone down hurt in 2020. Voit, on the other hand, has proven the difference between “hurt” and “injured.” Every time he attempts to run, it’s clear the first baseman is hobbled with “foot stuff” that would take down many other competitors. But the King won’t let it happen.

Not for nothing, but he was also the only Yankee willing to admit that the team was struggling during their recent unholy slide. Almost as soon as he acknowledged it, things began to trend in the opposite direction.

The Yankees have chosen to freeze Judge and Stanton’s rehab in an effort to make sure, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that they’re ready for October in this bizarre year.

But without Voit? The Yanks wouldn’t even be close to earning a spot on the postseason stage.

Outside of Jose Abreu, who’s been raking to an inhuman degree for a sterling White Sox team that’s finally ready to rise and meet its ceiling, as well as Shane Bieber, who has redefined dominance on the mound in Cleveland, we can’t see anyone who deserves Voit’s award in ’20.

There’s a legitimate argument to be made that Voit’s an MVP, just two years after he was stolen from the Cardinals for a song. Whether he wins the award or not, it’s OK to bask in that.

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