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Luis Arraez of Minnesota received a Louis Vuitton roller bag from Carlos Correa. Jeff McNeil of the New York Mets receives a car as a gift from Francisco Lindor.
Winning batting titles on the last day of the season was worth it.
“I couldn’t sleep last night, just thinking about it,” Arraez said after beating the New York Yankees’ Aaron Judge on Wednesday to become the American League batting champion. ‘I’m living a dream now. This is great for me because I worked hard for this.”
Aaron Judge (center) narrowly lost a triple crown to Luis Arraez (right), who finished the year with a .316 batting average
Arraez doubled against the Chicago White Sox on Wednesday night to claim the prize
Arraez finished averaging .316 after going 1 for 1 with a few walks against the Chicago White Sox, the lowest average for an AL champion batting since Boston’s Carl Yastrzemski at .301 in 1968. Correa gave him the luxury baggage on Wednesday.
“He is an example for us,” Arraez said. “He’s a leader and I love that man very much.”
Judge was stopped by Yankees manager Aaron Boone a day after hitting his AL-record 62nd home run to break the goal set by Roger Maris in 1961. Judge missed a Triple Crown.
McNeil made it to the first time champion in both leagues, his average of .326 by one point ahead of Freddie Freeman of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
McNeil was out until the eighth inning of the regular season finale against Washington and made no plate appearance. Having to go 4 for 4 to catch McNeil, Freeman doubled and homered in his first two at bats against Colorado.
“You’re getting a little nervous,” McNeil said. “Four hits is normal for him.”
Arraez’s teammates congratulated him on the best AL batting record after the 10-1 win
Arraez thanks fans for their years of support as he heads to the tunnel after the midweek win
Freeman’s flyout to the midfield warning lane in the fifth put an end to his hopes of a 3 for 4 afternoon.
“One of my goals in baseball is to win a batting title,” said McNeil, who topped .300 three times before dropping to .251 last year. “I wanted to get back to who I am.”
Lindor couldn’t remember the reason for his car promise.
“It’s rare for McNeil to be upset,” Lindor said. “And I just said, ‘If you win the battle title, you get a car.’ So yes. It was long ago. Everyone has to make sure I don’t forget, and everyone makes sure I buy him a car. I’ll get him a car. I didn’t specify which car it was.’
McNeil said, “Hopefully it’s something really cool.”
The Major League overall batting average of .243 was the lowest since the low of .237 in 1968, the last season before the pitching mound was lowered. MLB is banning defensive shifts starting next year, a move likely to help hitters.
In a season that highlighted baseball’s haves and have-nots, four teams finished with 100 wins, tying the 2019 record: the Dodgers (111), Houston (106), Atlanta and New York Mets (101 each). In addition, the Yankees won 99 before losing their last two.
Jeff McNeil of New York Mets won NL batting title despite not playing Wednesday night
The Dodgers had the most wins in NL since the Chicago Cubs went 116-36 in 1906.
Four teams only had 100 or more losses for the fourth time after 2002, 2019 and 2021: Washington (107), Oakland (102), Pittsburgh and Cincinnati (100 each).
Judge hit an AL-record 62 home runs, breaking Roger Maris of 1961, and Kyle Schwarber of Philadelphia led the title with 46. Rutte in 1932.
Judge and Pete Alonso of the Mets tied for the big league lead in RBI’s with 131.
Houston’s Justin Verlander finished with the lowest ERA in the AL at 1.75, contributing to the 2011 ERA title he won with Detroit. He became the second pitcher to lead the Major Leagues at age 39 or older, after 42-year old Roger Clemens in 2005. Verlander also led the AL in victories, 18-4.
Julio Urías of the Dodgers led the NL at 2.16.
Miami’s Sandy Alcantara came in second with 2.28 and threw 228 2/3 innings. That was 23 2/3 innings more than Philadelphia’s Aaron Nola, who finished second with 205 – the widest gap between first and second in the majors since Phil Niekro led 49 2/3 innings in 1979. Alcantara also threw six of the major leagues’ 36 complete games — the previous low for a full season was 42 in 2018.
Kyle Wright of Atlanta led the NL with 21 wins.
Justin Verlander, of the Houston Astros, finished the season with the AL’s lowest ERA at 1.75
Shohei Ohtani went 15-9 with a 2.33 ERA for the Los Angeles Angels and struckout 219 in 166 innings, hitting .273 with 34 home runs and 95 RBIs. Ohtani became the first player to have 10 wins and 30 home runs in the same season and also the first to qualify as a batter and pitcher since the batter qualifying rule began in 1950.
The Yankees’ Gerrit Cole won his second AL strikeout title with 257, and Milwaukee’s Corbin Burnes led the NL with 243.
Miami’s Jon Berti led the NL with 41 steals and Baltimore’s Jorge Mateo led the AL with 35, one more than teammate Cedric Mullins.
Seattle had 34 wins in a single run, becoming the first team to lead in consecutive years since Cincinnati in 1897-1898.
There was one postponement for COVID-19 reasons, between Cleveland and the Chicago White Sox on May 11, of 2,430 scheduled games. That was down from nine last year and 45 in the reduced schedule of 900 games in 2020.