Despite going 0 for 4 Sunday against the Padres, Yordan Alvarez is still chasing the Triple Crown.
Back in July, Alvarez was making a case for the AL Triple Crown. He's still chasing it, and the case has only gotten stronger, even after a quiet 0-for-4 Sunday against the Padres.
Where He Stands Right Now, per MLB:
Batting average: .322, leads the ALHome runs: 35, leads the ALRBI: 86, leads the AL
A Triple Crown happens when a hitter leads their league in average, home runs, and RBI in the same season. It's one of the rarest achievements in baseball. The last player to do it was Miguel Cabrera with the Tigers in 2012 (.330, 44 HR, 139 RBI). Before him, it hadn't happened since Carl Yastrzemski in 1967, per MLB.
If the AL Triple Crown wasn't impressive enough, he's making a real run at the MLB-wide version too.
Batting average: .322, leads all of MLB, per ESPN
Home runs: 35, tied for the MLB lead with Kyle Schwarber, per ESPN
RBI: 86, third in MLB, per MLB
Right now, Alvarez leads all of Major League Baseball in batting average and is tied for the MLB lead in home runs with Kyle Schwarber. RBI is his toughest challenge of the three, he currently sits third in baseball with 86, behind C.J. Abrams (89) and Sal Stewart (87), per MLB.
Only four players have ever led all of baseball outright in average, home runs, and RBI in the same season since RBI became an official stat in 1920: Rogers Hornsby (1925), Lou Gehrig (1934), Ted Williams (1942), and Mickey Mantle, the last to do it, back in 1956, per MLB.
Back in July, MLB.com compared his pace through his first 87 games to the only two MVP seasons in Astros history. Jeff Bagwell, in his unanimous 1994 MVP season, hit .355/.429/.713 with 26 homers and 89 RBI through 87 games. Jose Altuve, in his 2017 MVP season, hit .350/.420/.561 with 14 homers and 51 RBI through the same span. Alvarez matched Bagwell's home run total and more than doubled Altuve's, per MLB.
He's also chasing Bagwell's own single-season franchise record of 47 home runs, set in 2000. No Astros hitter has topped 40 since Alex Bregman hit 41 in 2019.
Bagwell and Altuve remain the only two MVP winners in Astros history, and Alvarez is making a strong case to become the third.
A month ago, this was a story about a great player on a team fighting to stay relevant. Now the Astros are in first place, and Alvarez is chasing something no Astro has ever done. If the Astros continue to lead the AL West and Yordan Alvarez wins the Triple Crown, this could be one of the most incredible comebacks in MLB history. But for that to be the case, the Astros need to step it up after dropping the series against the San Diego Padres.
