That's going to be tough. The media seems to be slanted towards Altuve. And though they shouldn't, they will take into account his previous 3 seasons of 200 hits. He was predominately the Astro's #3 hitter in their lineup and in that slot (393 abs), he drove in 50 runs and hit .305. I guess you could say Houston misused him as his numbers were far better in the #1 and #2 slot (.427 in 194 abs).
Judge had that terrible slump after the all star game and that could be his downfall. I remember hearing some guys from MLB Channel predicting a downfall once pitchers figured out how to attack him. One guy when asked if he'd reach 50 and surpass McGwire emphatically said "no way". It (the way they pitched him) worked.....for a while. In September, during the stretch drive, .311, 29 runs scored, 32 rbi, 15 homers, 32 walks, .463 OB%, .889 Slg% and a 1.352 OPS, nobody held him down. His performance helped the Yankees go 20-8 putting pressure on Boston, though they fell short in the end.
There are solid arguments for Altuve, Judge and Trout to be the MVP. For me, with all the time he missed I gotta rule out Trout. So the question is, who was more valuable to their team Altuve or Judge? Would the Astros be West Champions without Altuve? Would they still be a playoff team? I think they are with Springer (.283, 34 HR 85 rbi), Correa (.315, 24, 84), Reddick (.314, 13, 82), Gonzalez (.303, 23, 90), Gurriel (.297, 18, 74) and Bregman (.285, 19, 71) all being huge contributors, not to mention Beltran and McCann. Are the Yankees a playoff team without Judge? I seriously doubt it, no disrespect to Sanchez and Didi G.
