Currently Historic: A new contender emerges
by Jason LindenSeptember 27, 2012
Welcome to the penultimate edition of our little column.
So, as you are likely aware, I took last week off because things were winding down and it didn't look like anything new was going to pop up. And then, all of a sudden, we have a contender for the triple-freaking-crown. Baseball is weird.
So let's talk about Miguel Cabrera. Earlier this year, we watched him get to 300 home runs, but he wasn't exactly a big feature here because, while he's always good, he's never had a season that was exceptional in an historic way. Which is funny, because unless he stops playing baseball like, tomorrow, he's going into the Hall of Fame. What we're seeing from him right now is simply an excellent player hitting his peak. This is his age-29 season. It's not surprising that he's having a good year. It is surprising that he has a shot at the triple crown because, well, that's just strange.
But can he do it? With a week to go, the answer is probably not. As I write this, he leads the league in average and RBIs but is second to Josh Hamilton in home runs. The RBI title is probably wrapped up (he leads Hamilton by nine), but he's just a few points ahead of Mike Trout for the batting average title. So to win, he has one week to out-homer Hamilton and he can't let the batting average slip. I'd give him about a 25 percent chance. Not an overwhelming chance, but a good chance. I certainly hope he pulls it off just because it hasn't happened in a really long time.
Adam Dunn has come back and played well/poorly enough to still be worth paying attention to. Right now, he's on pace to finish two short of the single season strikeout record, but two strikeouts for Adam Dunn is like a THT Live post for Chris Jaffe. That is, you're more surprised when it doesn't happen than when it does.
As for the TTO record, that's chase is over. He currently sits at 342. A fine total. But to get to the record, he would pretty much have to avoid putting the ball in play for the rest of the season. Similarly, his 57 percent TTO rate, while certainly impressive, isn't quite historic. Still, you never know. A lot can happen in a week. Hey, if he can out-thump Cabrera, Hamilton and Edwin Encarnacion, he could still manage the TTO triple crown, which I think would be cooler than the real triple crown.
Albert Pujols has reached 500 doubles, but he is going to need one heck of a final week to crank out nine more extra base hits to get to 1,000.
One week left, and Craig Kimbrel will be pretty much the most striking-outest pitcher ever. He currently sits on 16.23 per nine innings.
Jimmy Rollins, congratulations. You have swiped four bags in the last two weeks, and finally made it to 400. Well done.
Alex Rodriguez now needs to only three RBIs to pass Stan Musial for sixth all time. He is also now 10th all time in runs scored. He needs just three extra base hits to be eighth on his own and five to be sixth on his own.
Derek Jeter now has the 11th most hits ever and has scored the 13th most runs.
R.A. Dickey got a miracle. Clayton Kershaw got hurt, and Dickey now trails him by only two strikeouts. This one is going to be interesting.
Ryan Howard made it to 300 homers.
Okay, that's it for this week. Tune in after the season for our exciting conclusion and wrap-up.
Jason has too many irons in the fire. He fancies himself a fiction writer and also writes about the Reds at Redleg Nation, books at Elephants for Bookends, and everything else at The Winesburg Eagle. Email him at winesburgeagle *at* gmail or follow him on Twitter @jasonlinden
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