Jeff McNeil Claims the Second Batting Title in Mets History

As for Judge, his rest on Wednesday was not a surprise after he had started 55 consecutive games while he was in pursuit of the A.L.’s single-season home run record. He ended up falling short of a triple crown, but in a season that is likely to earn him his first A.L. Most Valuable Player Award, he did lead the majors in home runs (62), runs (133), on-base percentage (.425), slugging percentage (.686) and total bases (391). He tied Pete Alonso of the Mets for the major league lead with 131 R.B.I.

Judge ended up with 16 more home runs than the next closest batter, Kyle Schwarber of the Philadelphia Phillies, which is the largest gap in a season since the Hall of Famer Jimmie Foxx led the majors by 17 in 1932.

Judge’s main competition for the M.V.P. Award, Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Angels, led his league in only one category — strikeouts per nine innings — but he took his two-way stardom to the next level by being the first player in major league history to qualify for the leaderboards as both a pitcher (one inning per team game) and a hitter (3.1 plate appearances per team game). Babe Ruth approached the feat only once, at least by the modern standard, qualifying as a batter but falling just over 20 innings short of qualifying for the pitching leaders in 1919, his last year with the Boston Red Sox.

In addition to the hitting exploits of New York’s stars, Gerrit Cole, who broke Ron Guidry’s Yankees franchise record for strikeouts in a single season, led the majors in that category with 257. He is the first Yankee to lead the A.L. in strikeouts since Al Downing did it in 1964 and the first Yankee to lead the majors since Vic Raschi tied two others for the top spot in 1951.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/05/sports/baseball/jeff-mcneil-mets-batting-title.html