In what is likely the least surprising news of the postseason festivities, Real Salt Lake forward Corey Baird has been named the MLS Rookie of the Year.
It’s an award he completely deserves, given his goalscoring prowess and game-changing abilities. In his first professional year, Baird played in 31 of RSL’s 34 regular season games, scoring eight goals and earning five assists.
The award is the first for a Real Salt Lake player. Baird earned an average 44 percent of the vote, with the biggest skew coming in the media portion, in which he won 48 percent of the vote.