Cooperstown Company

We all know the slash line (BA/OBP/SLG), and we may recall that at the end of the 2012 season, Miguel Cabrera's was .330/.393/.606. He was the 17th player to win the batting Triple Crown with 44 HR and 139 RBI. We all realize that this year he is having an even better season. A way better season. As this is being written, Cabrera is hitting .360 with 43 HR (he literally just hit #43) and 130 RBI, with an incredible slash line of .360/.449/.689 (each the best in MLB)... and there are still 31 games left in the season, or about 140 more at-bats.  He is 1st in MLB in batting avg. by 25 points, 1st in RBI by 10, and he is trailing Chris Davis by only 3 HRs now. I predict that he catches Davis by the end of next week.

One less talked-about statistic is that Cabrera has reached base in all but 5 of his 122 games played this season. In 1985, Wade Boggs reached base in all but 9 games, making it 152 games reaching base safely. If Cabrera can continue to play through his hip/abdomen injuries, he has a chance to reach base safely in 153 games, eclipsing the likes of Rogers Hornsby (135 games reached safely in 1922), Chuck Klien (135 in 1930), Ichiro (141 in 2001) and Jeter (148 in 1999). After everything he's done, I would never bet against him.

If Cabrera wins the Triple Crown, he will likely win the "major league" Triple Crown, becoming just the sixth player in history to do so, joining Ty Cobb (1909), Hornsby (1925), Lou Gehrig (1934), Ted Williams (1942), and Mickey Mantle (1956). That's good company to keep.

Major League Triple Crown winners + Miguel Cabrera (so far):

	BA	HR	RBI
Cobb. 1909	.377	9	107
Hornsby, 1925	.403	39	143
Gehrig, 1934	.363	49	165
Williams, 1942	.356	36	157
Mantle, 1956	.353	52	130
Cabrera, 2013	.360	43	130

Week 22 Fantasy Baseball Power Rankings

 

Jackson hit .438 last week. (Photo: Mike Mulholland, MLive.com)

Houston's Jason Castro may have won AL Player of the Week, hitting .529 with two doubles, a triple, and three homers, but it was Austin Jackson of the Detroit Tigers who is batting king for the past week. Hitting .438 with nine runs, 2 home runs, and seven RBI, the Tigers' leadoff hitter is hot and providing plenty of production for the team, which has won eight of its last twelve. Incredibly, Miguel Cabrera did not crack the top 10 batters in the majors this week, despite knocking nine hits and two HRs. 

Batting (Last 7 Days):

	H/AB	R	HR	RBI	SB	Player Rating
1. Austin Jackson, OF, DET	12/28	8	2	7	0	10.31
2. Jason Castro, C, HOU	9/17	7	3	5	0	10.03
3. Carlos Beltran, OF, STL	13/31	6	3	6	0	10.01
4. Evan Longoria, 3B, TB	9/25	5	4	6	0	9.41
5. Martin Prado, 3B, ARI	10/29	6	2	9	0	8.94
6. Elvis Andrus, SS, TEX	8/25	5	0	3	4	8.56
7. Donnie Murphy, 3B, CHC	8/31	6	4	6	0	8.55
8. Nate Shierholtz, OF, CHC	8/29	5	3	9	0	8.54
9. Robinson Cano, 2B, NYY	12/29	4	2	8	0	8.37
10. Bryce Harper, OF, WSH	11/29	6	1	6	1	8.2

With only one or two weeks to go before the playoffs in most fantasy leagues, some of the newer names on this list, like Murphy and Shierholtz, may be worth picking up in the final stretch. 

Week 21 Fantasy Baseball Power Rankings

Well, it's the middle of August, and this baseball season is turning toward the home-stretch. Although Miguel Cabrera continues to hit at a torrid pace, Alfonso Soriano was last week's hit-king, going 15/23 with 5 HR and 18 RBI in a 5 game stretch. He was just named AL Player of the Week, and according to Elias, Soriano's 18 RBI over the 4 game stretch from Tuesday to Friday matched Baseball's all-time mark for the most RBI in a four-game period since it became an official statistic in 1920. For this he joins the likes of Bottomley (STL, 1929), Gehrig (NYY, 1930), Lazzeri (NYY, 1936), Dimaggio (NYY, 1939), and Sammy Sosa (CHC, 2002).  

Batting (Last 7 Days):            H/AB     R    HR    RBI      SB    

1. Alfonso Soriano, NYY           15/31     9      5        18         2

2. Miguel Cabrera, DET             10/33     4      4        10         0

3. Will Venable, SD                   13/32     7       2          5         1

4. Mike Trout, LAA                    9/23       6      1          5         2

5. Alexei Ramirez, CWS            10/28      4      1          6         0

6. Jayson Werth, WSH              10/24      5      0          4         2 

7. Chris Davis, BAL                    9/22       6       3          6         0

8. Brandon Belt, SF                    8/26       8      2          4         0    

9. Adam Jones, BAL                  7/28       3      1          4          1

10. Andrew McCutchen, PIT      9/26        4      1          3          2

Soriano must feel better in pinstripes, as his PR15 is currently 17.02, boosting his average by hitting .353 so far in August. Padres outfielder Will Veneble now has a 15 game hitting streak going, proving a valuable replacement for the suspended Everth Cabrera. Also keep an eye on Mark Trumbo this week, as he has a HR and 3 RBI in his last two games.