In this final month of the regular season, J.D. Martinez has a shot to make history.
The Red Sox slugger entered September in the top two in the Major Leagues in batting average, home runs and RBIs, putting him in position to challenge for an MLB Triple Crown. The last player to lead the Majors in all three categories in the same season was Mickey Mantle, who batted .353 with 52 homers and 130 RBIs for the Yankees in 1956.
In this final month of the regular season, J.D. Martinez has a shot to make history.
The Red Sox slugger entered September in the top two in the Major Leagues in batting average, home runs and RBIs, putting him in position to challenge for an MLB Triple Crown. The last player to lead the Majors in all three categories in the same season was Mickey Mantle, who batted .353 with 52 homers and 130 RBIs for the Yankees in 1956.
In fact, Martinez could become only the sixth player since the American League began play in 1901 to snag an MLB Triple Crown. It’s a short list of baseball legends, featuring Hall of Famers Mantle, Ted Williams (1942), Lou Gehrig (’34), Rogers Hornsby (’25), and Ty Cobb (’09).
Martinez entered Thursday’s off-day holding a significant lead over the rest of the Majors with 115 RBIs, and with his 39 home runs trailing only Oakland’s Khris Davis (40). His .335 average was just a fraction of a point behind teammate Mookie Betts. As things stand, Betts (.33547) would win the closest batting race in history over Martinez (.33531), passing the National League race from 2003, when St. Louis’ Albert Pujols (.35871) edged out Colorado’s Todd Helton (.35849).
Even an AL or NL Triple Crown is rare. A player has led his league in average, homers and RBIs just 16 times, including 12 since RBIs became an official statistic in 1920.
• Every Triple Crown winner in MLB history
Before the Tigers’ Miguel Cabrera broke a 45-year drought in 2012, there hadn’t been a Triple Crown winner since Hall of Famer Carl Yastrzemski pulled off the feat for the 1967 Red Sox. Now, more than a half-century later, another Boston player is trying to join this exclusive club.
Martinez seemed like an ideal match for the Red Sox from the time free agency opened last November, but it wasn’t until late February that the two sides officially agreed to a five-year deal. So far, so good.
Boston has the best record in MLB, and Martinez has been a huge piece of the club’s resurgent lineup all season. From March/April through August, the 31-year-old batted at least .299 with a .958 OPS and 20 RBIs each month, busting out with 13 home runs in May after hitting five previously.
Here is a day-by-day look at Martinez’s Triple Crown chase, going back to Sept. 1. For each Triple Crown category, Martinez’s MLB rank is listed:
Sept. 6 (Red Sox off-day)
Stats: Did not play
2018 line: .335 (2nd), 39 HRs (2nd), 115 RBI (1st)
AVG leader: Mookie Betts, .335
HR leader: Khris Davis, 40
RBI leader: Martinez; K. Davis next with 106
Sept. 5 at ATL
Stats: Did not play
With no DH and the team having a day off on Sept. 6, Martinez was out of the lineup and essentially given two days off.
2018 line: .335 (2nd), 39 HRs (2nd), 115 RBI (1st)
AVG leader: Mookie Betts, .335
HR leader: Khris Davis, 40
RBI leader: Martinez; K. Davis next with 106
Sept. 4 at ATL
Stats: 1-for-4, no HRs or RBIs
Martinez’s hit came with a man in scoring position, but Rick Porcello, an AL pitcher not used to running the bases, only advanced to third. That deprived Martinez of a potential RBI.
2018 line: .335 (2nd), 39 HRs (2nd), 115 RBI (1st)
AVG leader: Mookie Betts, .336
HR leader: Khris Davis, 40
RBI leader: Martinez; K. Davis next with 106
Sept. 3 at ATL
Stats: 1-for-4, no HRs or RBIs
It was a quiet game for Martinez. His only RBI chance came in the top of the ninth, when he batted with men on second and third and no one out, but he was issued an intentional walk before being double-switched out for closer Craig Kimbrel in the bottom of the ninth.
2018 line: .336 (2nd), 39 HRs (2nd), 115 RBI (1st)
AVG leader: Mookie Betts, .338
HR leader: Khris Davis, 40
RBI leader: Martinez; K. Davis next with 106
Sept. 2 at CWS
Stats: 2-for-3, no HRs or RBIs
Martinez walked and singled twice, getting a break when he had a blooper (64.1 mph exit velocity) drop in shallow right field in the ninth inning. On the other hand, Martinez also crushed a deep fly ball to center field in the third (98.5 mph exit velocity) that Chicago’s Adam Engel hauled in on the warning track.
2018 line: .337 (2nd), 39 HRs (2nd), 115 RBI (1st)
AVG leader: Mookie Betts, .340
HR leader: Khris Davis, 40
RBI leader: Martinez; K. Davis next with 105
Sept. 1 at CWS
Stats: 2-for-4, no HRs, 1 RBI
Martinez smacked a pair of ground-ball singles back up the middle, the latter bringing home a run in the seventh inning.
2018 line: .335 (2nd), 39 HRs (2nd), 115 RBI (1st)
AVG leader: Mookie Betts, .340
HR leader: Khris Davis, 40
RBI leader: Martinez; K. Davis next with 105
Andrew Simon is a research analyst for MLB.com. Follow him on Twitter @AndrewSimonMLB.
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