NEW YORK — Trea turner, of the Los Angeles Dodgers, and the Cuban Yuli gurriel, of the Houston Astros, won their first batting titles on Sunday, in a season of contrasts in which four teams lost more than 100 games for the third time in history and another four surpassed 90 victories, in the East Division alone. the American League.
The Japanese Shohei ohtani, of the Los Angeles Angels, was a sensation with an incredible season being a double threat, pitching and hitting, above even the level of Babe Ruth.
Turner hit .328 by beating the National League batting champion, the Dominican. Juan Sotoof the Washington Nationals, who finished with a .313 average.
“It’s a matter of consistency, which I take pride in and show daily,” said Turner, a 28-year-old player who came to the Dodgers from the Nationals in late July.
For his part, Gurriel leads the American League batting .319 with the Astros. Your partner Michael Brantley was second with .311, just ahead of the Dominican Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who also hit .311 with the Toronto Blue Jays. Gurriel came in as a defensive replacement in the ninth inning Sunday and singled as the Astros beat the Oakland Athletics 7-6.
At 37, the Cuban is the second-oldest batting champion, behind Barry Bonds, who got it at 38 in 2002.
Ohtani, 27, was second in the American League with .592 in slugging percentage. The Japanese led the American League with eight triples and was third in the major leagues with 46 home runs. He hit .257 with 100 RBIs and 26 stolen bases.
On the mound, he led AL pitchers by limiting opponents to a .122 batting average with running backs in scoring position. He held a .087 (127-11) batting average against his splitter, the lowest of any major league pitch with a minimum of 110 plate appearances.
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The Dodgers put the score 6-1 against the Brewers with a homerun by Trea Turner on the bases loaded.
The Venezuelan receiver Salvador Perez, the Kansas City Royals, and Guerrero Jr. tied for the top on the Major League Baseball home runs list with 48 each, two more than Ohtani. The dominican Fernando Tatis Jr., of San Diego Padres, was the leader of the National with 42. Pérez also led the American League with 121 RBIs and Adam duvall the National with 113 for Miami Marlins and Atlanta Braves.
The San Francisco Giants (107), the Dodgers (106) and the Tampa Bay Rays (100) gave the Major Leagues three teams with at least 100 wins for the fourth consecutive full season. Prior to this run, it had only occurred in 1942, 1977, 1998, 2002 and 2003.
The Dodgers set the most victories for a team that finished second in their division, surpassing 104 for the Chicago Cubs in 1909 and the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1942.
Every AL East team except the Baltimore Orioles won at least 90 games, the first time since the leagues were split into three divisions each in 1994 and only the second time after 1978 with the New York Yankees. , Boston Red Sox, Milwaukee Brewers and Baltimore.
Arizona Diamondbacks and Baltimore (both with 110), Texas Rangers (102) and Pittsburgh Pirates (100) caused four teams to lose at least 100 games in a full season for the second full season in a row, something that had only happened once, in 2002. .
Julio Urias, the Mexican of the Dodgers, was the only pitcher with 20 victories, the lowest amount since there were none in 2017. The 16 victories of Gerrit cole, the Yankees, represented the fewest number for the winningest pitcher in the American League in a full season.
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