Yordan Alvarez still has a path to the American League Triple Crown. With 11 games remaining, there just isn’t much time left to take it.
Alvarez enters Wednesday leading the AL with a .310 batting average, while his 39 home runs leave him two behind Junior Caminero and his 98 RBI put him three behind Pete Alonso. The margins are hardly insurmountable, but with fewer than two weeks remaining in the regular season, Alvarez needs to start closing them now.
Tuesday offered some encouragement. Alvarez launched his 39th home run and drove in two in the Astros’ 4-2 victory over the Royals. It was his first home run since Sept. 6 and moved him a little closer in two of the three Triple Crown categories.
Alvarez Still Leads the Batting Race
The batting title remains the one leg of the Triple Crown Alvarez currently controls. His .310 average leads Tampa Bay’s Chandler Simpson, who has climbed to .308 after going 3-for-3 Tuesday. Yandy Díaz is third at .299.
The margin has tightened considerably. Alvarez had a more comfortable lead earlier in the summer, but his production has slowed since the beginning of August while Simpson has continued to close the gap.
An AL batting title would itself put Alvarez in select Astros company. Only Jose Altuve and Yuli Gurriel have won batting titles in franchise history.
Two Homers Separate Alvarez From Caminero
The home run race has become a two-man fight at the top. Caminero homered Tuesday to reach 41, while Alvarez answered with No. 39. Yankees slugger Ben Rice sits just behind Alvarez with 38.
Alvarez’s power drought is what has changed the complexion of the Triple Crown chase. He has hit only four home runs since the beginning of August after leading the category earlier in the season.
His next one would bring a different piece of history. No. 40 would make Alvarez only the fifth player in Astros history to hit at least 40 home runs in a season, joining Jeff Bagwell, Lance Berkman, Richard Hidalgo, and Alex Bregman. The previous four combined for seven 40-homer seasons: Bagwell did it three times, Berkman twice, and Hidalgo and Bregman once each.
No Astros player has ever finished a season as the league leader in home runs.
Alvarez Has Ground to Make Up in RBI Race
Pete Alonso remains atop the AL with 101 RBI after driving in a run Tuesday. Alvarez’s two-run homer pushed him to 98, with Caminero third at 96.
Alvarez hasn’t always had many opportunities to close that gap. From Aug. 3 through Monday, he had just 27 plate appearances with runners in scoring position, limiting his chances to drive in runs even when he was reaching base.
Tuesday was exactly the kind of opportunity he needs now. Jeremy Peña singled ahead of him in the fifth inning, and Alvarez turned a full-count changeup into a two-run homer.
Eleven Games Leave No Time to Waste
Alvarez remains within three of the lead in all three Triple Crown categories, but the calendar has become as important as the numbers. He leads one race by two points, trails another by two home runs, and trails the third by three RBI.
No hitter has won an AL or NL Triple Crown since Miguel Cabrera in 2012, and Cabrera is the only player to accomplish it since Carl Yastrzemski in 1967.
Eleven games leave enough time for the standings to change quickly, but not enough for Alvarez to endure another prolonged power drought. The Triple Crown remains within reach, but with the season down to its final 11 games, it’s time for Alvarez to chase the fight.
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