It appears that Christian Yelich “backed into” the batting average crown by missing the last three weeks. He edged Ketel Marte .3292 to .3286. ESPN’s stats are not MLB’s official ones, but MLB.com has the same info. Yelich also led the NL in OBP and slugging. In fact, he led the majors in slugging.
Mike Trout led the AL in both OBP and slugging.
Pete Alonso did achieve the undisputed rookie HR record with 53.
Eugenio Suarez hit 49 homers, thus improving his HR total for the fifth consecutive year. In every year since his rookie season, he has hit least five homers more than the previous year. Unless he suddenly turns into Barry Bonds, he has just about run out of room to improve. (4-13-21-26-34-49)
The Houston Astros had the only 20-game winners in baseball. It is an impossible choice between Verlander and Cole for the Cy Young:
Verlander 21-6, 2.58 ERA, .80 WHIP, 300K
Cole 20-5, 2.50 ERA, .89 WHIP, 326K
They finished 1-2 in the league in wins, ERA, WHIP and Ks
Jorge Soler led the AL with 48 dingers. In his previous five years he hit 5-10-12-2-9. I won’t start calling him “Brady” unless he falls back to 9 next year.
Freak home run years:
Brady Anderson, three successive years (1995-1997): 16-50-18
Ned Williamson, three successive years (1883-1885): 2-27-3 *
Jorge Soler: 9-48-?? **
Asterisks explained in (excruciating) depth after the jump.