All The 2014 Triple Crown Categories May Feature Players On Non-Playoff Teams
Giancarlo Stanton has hit homers in 3 straight games and has 10 HRs in his last 30 contests overall. The Marlins 24 Year Old OF has 5 HR streaks since the ALL – Star Break. With significant leads in both the HRs and RBI, he may just win the NL MVP. Should Stanton have a hot September for Batting Average, he may even run down a Triple Crown. Miami is far enough away from a playoff spot to almost ensure they won’t make it.
Giancarlo Stanton holds the current best marks for HRs (36) and RBI (102) in the NL. The Marlins slugger is 10 RBI ahead of Adrian Gonzalez of the Dodgers, and 6 bombs away from Anthony Rizzo.
The Cubs will not make the playoffs, so the nearest contender for the HR crown, on a playoff team is Atlanta’s Justin Upton. Upton is 10 jacks off the lead, and is also 3rd in RBI for the National League with 91.
Both Lucas Duda (26 HRs) and Marlon Byrd (25 HRs) round out the top 5 and neither of their clubs will make the playoffs.
If Stanton could get hot, he trails the NL Batting Leader Ben Revere (.314 – .295 BA) 2nd and 3rd in the NL Batting Race are (Justin Morneau, COL, .312) – and Josh Harrison of the Bucs (.310).
Buster Posey is 4th and .303 for the Wild Card leading Giants, and tied for 5th are Aramis Ramirez (.303) with the 2nd Wild Card team currently with the Brewers, and then Andrew McCutchen at .303.
Jose Altuve had back to back 4 hit games on Monday and Tuesday and holds a .340 BA to lead the AL. The little big man, also leads the MLB with 194 Hits, and could end up with over 220 Hits. Altuve is under club control until 2018 -at about a $3 MIL per year AAV. Altuve, 24, has 50 SB on the campaign is 13 swipes ahead of Jacoby Ellsbury for the AL Lead,
In the AL, I predicted last week that Jose Altuve and Chris Carter will take both the Batting Average and HR crowns.
Jose Abreu also has an outside chance to ring in a Triple Crown. The White Sox rookie is 1st in RBI (99), 3rd in HRs (33) and 3rd in BA (.322)
Altuve could defy all odds and win the AL Batting crown. He has an 8 PTS lead on Victor Martinez of the Detroit Tigers (Ahead in AL 2nd Wild Card slot by .5 Games on Seattle).
Nelson Cruz of the AL East leading Orioles, owns the lead in Amerlcan league HRs, but Chris Carter has brought the deficit to just 1, cracking his 7th Multi HR Game last night, and 31st HR cranked since May.9, 2014.
Mike Trout is 4th in HRs (31) and 2nd in RBI (98) – all for the AL West leading Angels.
David Ortiz has just 2 RBI in his last 9 Games Played, and resides in 3rd for guys knocked in for the AL with 95, and he is 5th in HRs for 30.
I still believe Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion could make the HR chase interesting. Yes they are both 7 dingers behind the leader Cruz. but both men could just go off at any time.
Miguel Cabrera is 4th in AL RBI with 94, and has shown he means business in September thus far, and could make a run at Abreu.
Yoenis Cespedes and Nelson Cruz have 91 RBI, which is 8 runs plated behind Abreu.
Adrian Beltre at .323 – and Robinson Cano at .321 round out the top 5 for Batting Average. Both of whom are not in playoff positions currently either.
As it stands right now, 4 of the 6 categories are held by non playoff players. (Abreu AL RBI, Altuve AL BA, and Stanton in both NL HRs and RBI).
Since the inception of the Wild Card/3 Division format, never has there been all 6 categories not led at least in 1 – by a playoff team in either the AL/or NL. You have to go all the way back to 1990 to find the last year in which all categories were led by non-playoff teams.
That year Cecil Fielder led in HRs (52) and RBI (130) while George Brett won his 3rd batting title with a .329 mark. The AL Division Pennant Winners were Oakland and Boston.
The Pirates won their 1st of three NL East Titles in a row, and Cincinnati won the NL West – and later their last World Series.
Leading the NL categories were: Willie McGee (.335 for STL, and actually was traded to Oakland in the AL), which is almost a technicality to continue, while Matt Williams drove in 122, and Ryne Sandberg blasted 40 bombs.
Last time the League had all categories with non-playoff clubs
In 2011, all of the NL Triple Crown Categories were held by non-playoff teams with Matt Kemp (39 HRs and 126 RBI) leading the way for the non playoff Dodgers, while Jose Reyes won the NL Batting Title – with a .337 clip in his last year for the Mets
The last time it happened in the AL Triple Crown Categories was 2008, when the HRs hit in the AL were led by Miggy Cabrera (37), Josh Hamilton led in RBI (130) and Joe Mauer won the Batting Title with a .328 mark, all of whom played for teams not in the playoffs..
Chris Carter He has fashioned his bolts in a short amount of time by having 7 Multi HR Games, and also coupling it with 7 different consecutive HR streaks. This guy is looking like a keeper for Houston, and may be one of the guys that got away from Billy Beane!
Posted on September 4, 2014, in HRs and tagged adrian beltre, adrian gonzalez, Andrew McCutchen, anthony rizzo, aramis ramirez, ben revere, buster posey, chris carter, david ortiz, edwin encarnacion, giancarlo stanton, houston astros, jose abreu, jose altuve, jose bautista, justin upton, lucas duda, miami marlins, miguel cabrera, Mike Trout, milwaukee brewers, nelson cruz, pittsburgh pirates, robinson cano, san francisco giants, top 5 home run leaders 2014 MLB, toronto blue jays, victor martinez, yoenis cespedes. Bookmark the permalink. Comments Off on All The 2014 Triple Crown Categories May Feature Players On Non-Playoff Teams.
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