September 29, 2024; Denver, Colorado, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani (17) walks out to the field in the first inning against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-Imagen Images The baseball calendar couldn’t be more perfect this season.
A compelling regular season ended on the last day of September, leaving an extensive postseason to begin on the first day of October.
But before turning to the drama of fall baseball — as the temperatures drop and emotions rise — it’s worth taking a moment to review a history-making regular season. Some unreliable history, some incompetent history… but all history nonetheless.
No. 1: Shohei Ohtani becomes first member of the 50-50 club
At one time, it was impossible to fathom someone joining the 40-40 club, hitting 40 home runs, and stealing 40 bases in the same season. Jose Canseco changed that in 1988, and only five others have joined him in the more than three decades since then. Ohtani made the 40-40 club look like child’s play this season as he hit 54 home runs and swiped 59 bases – both career highs. That’s on another level.
No. 2: White Sox set modern record with 121 losses
Congratulations, 1962 New York Mets. You will no longer be known as the unluckiest team of the modern era. For that, you can thank the Chicago White Sox, who were almost as terrible at home (23-58) as they were on the road (18-63). The White Sox scored 507 runs – the fewest in baseball – and gave up 813 runs, the most in the American League. They lost 21 consecutive games during a poor performance in July and August. If this were football, he would have been fired.
No. 3: Tarik Skubal and Chris Sale win pitching Triple Crown
Hitting gets a lot of the headlines when it comes to the Triple Crown, but the pitching version is no easy task. Someone must lead their league in wins, ERA, and strikeouts. The last player to accomplish this feat was Shane Bieber in 2020, and no one had done it before since Justin Verlander and Clayton Kershaw in 2011. This year once again featured two Triple Crown winners, as the Scobles won it in the American League with 18 wins. , a 2.39 ERA and 228 strikeouts for the Tigers, and Sale led the National League with 18 wins, a 2.38 ERA and 225 strikeouts with the Braves.
No. 4: Luis Arraez wins third consecutive batting title with a different team
No one will confuse Arraez with Tony Gwynn, but the Padres infielder may be the closest active player to be compared with the Hall of Fame hitter. Eraiz, 27, won the NL batting title this season by hitting .314. He finished with 200 hits, including 159 with the Padres after they acquired him from Miami. Arraez also won batting titles with the Minnesota Twins in 2022 and the Marlins in 2023. He is the first player in MLB history to win three batting titles with three different teams.
No. 5: Aaron Judge posts monster power numbers in year when offense is down
Imagine having a season like Judge just had and somehow eclipsing the accomplishments of any other hitter (see: Ohtani, 50-50). But make no mistake, the New York Yankees slugger produced an incredible season at the plate that few others have achieved. He led baseball with 58 home runs and 144 RBI – the most since Ryan Howard’s 146 in 2008. He also became the first player since Barry Bonds in 2004 to have a .700 slugging percentage. At the end of the season, he joined Babe Ruth as the only players to have five-plus games with a home run and 10-plus games with a walk at the same time.
As the calendar turns to October, there could be more history in store this season.
The New York Yankees and Cleveland Browns earned byes in the AL, while four other teams will compete for a chance to advance out of the wild-card round. The Kansas City Royals will visit the Baltimore Orioles and the Detroit Tigers will visit the Houston Astros in a pair of best-of-three series.
In the NL, the Los Angeles Dodgers and Philadelphia Phillies earned byes. They will await the winners of the best-of-three series between the New York Mets and Milwaukee Brewers as well as the Atlanta Braves and San Diego Padres.
As for the other 18 teams that failed to reach the playoffs? They are, well, history.
–Field Level Media