Jeff McNeil, the second baseman for the Mets, prevailed over Freddie Freeman, the second baseman for the Los Angeles Dodgers, to win the National League batting title. Despite the fact that Aaron Judge’s chances of winning a triple crown were eliminated when he sat out the New York Yankees’ season-ending game on Wednesday against the Texas Rangers, New York was still able to have a batting champion.
McNeil, who is just the second player in Mets history to win a batting crown, came in late as a defensive substitute for Wednesday’s game against Washington at home but did not get a hit in the 9-2 victory. He concluded the season with the highest batting average in the major leagues, which was.326, which was higher than Freeman’s.325, which he achieved by going three for four on the last day of the season. Judge, on the other hand, ended with a batting average of.311, which was good enough for second place in the American League behind Minnesota’s Luis Arraez, who went 1 for 1 to finish with a batting average of.316.
The Mets scored their 101st win of the season, the second most in club history after the 108 wins that the team gained in 1986 on their route to winning the World Series. This victory came despite the fact that McNeil did not take an at-bat throughout the game.
As for Judge, his decision to sit out on Wednesday was not a surprise given that he had started 55 straight games as he was attempting to break the American League record for most home runs hit in a single season. In the end, he wasn’t able to win the triple crown, but in a season that’s on track to bring him his first American League MVP award, it’s looking probable that he will. Despite not winning the Most Valuable Player Award, he did finish first in the major leagues in the following categories: home runs (62), runs (133), on-base percentage (.425), slugging percentage (.688), and total bases (391). With 131 runs batted in, he is tied for first place in the big league with Mets third baseman Pete Alonso.
Judge finished the season with 16 more home runs than the next closest hitter, Kyle Schwarber of the Philadelphia Phillies. This is the greatest disparity in a season since Hall of Famer Jimmie Foxx led the majors by 17 in 1932. Schwarber of the Phillies played for the Philadelphia Phillies.
Judge’s main competition for the Most Valuable Player Award was Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Angels. Ohtani led his league in only (3.1 plate appearances per team game). Only once, at least by today’s standards, did Babe Ruth come close to accomplishing the feat. In 1919, his last season with the Boston Red Sox, he qualified as a hitter but fell short of the required number of innings to qualify for the pitching leaders by just over 20 innings.
Gerrit Cole, who surpassed Ron Guidry’s Yankees club record most strikeouts in a single season, topped the big leagues in that category with 257 strikeouts. This was in addition to the hitting exploits of New York’s studs, who led the majors in hitting. He is the first New York Yankee to ever lead the American League. since Al Downing achieved it in 1964, and the first Yankee to lead the majors in strikeouts since Vic Raschi equaled two others for the top place in 1951. in strikeouts since Vic Raschi tied two others for the top spot in 1951.
