Arraez denies Ohtani NL Triple Crown, set to win batting title for 3rd team

Luis Arraez held off Shohei Ohtani's bid to win National League Triple Crown and was set to become first player since 1800s to earn batting titles with three teams.

Kansas City Royals star Bobby Witt Jr. won his first American League batting championship, finishing with a major league-best .332 average.

Arraez went 1 for 3 on Sunday and posted a .314 average for San Diego, lowest for an NL batting champion since Tony Gwynn's record-low .313 in 1988. After striking out and flying out in his first two at-bats, Arraez doubled in sixth inning to reach 200 hits for second straight season. He was pulled for a defensive replacement in bottom half.

Arraez won 2022 AL title at .316 for Minnesota and 2023 NL title at .354 for Miami, which tred him to Pres in May. He became first NL player with 200 hits in consecutive seasons since Juan Pierre in 2003 and '04.

Dan Brours won five batting titles with four teams from 1882-92.

Ohtani went 1 for 4 with an eighth-inning single and finished second in National League at .310. In his first season with Los Angeles Dodgers, he led NL with 54 homers and 130 RBIs. He also got his 59th stolen base Sunday to cap a remarkable campaign in which he became first major leaguer with 50 homers and 50 steals in one season. two-way star did not pitch this year following elbow surgery in September 2023.

Joe Medwick of St. Louis Cardinals was last NL Triple Crown winner in 1937. most recent player to achieve feat in eir league was Detroit slugger Miguel Cabrera in 2012, which ended a 45-year drought.

Atlanta's Marcell Ozuna sits third in NL in batting at .304 and would have to go 9 for 9 in a makeup doubleheer Monday against New York Mets to overtake Arraez.

Witt, who took his first day off all season Saturday, went 1 for 4 in Royals' finale to finish at .332. Toronto's Vlimir Guerrero was second at .323 and New York Yankees' Aaron Judge third at .322.

Judge h 58 homers to le major leagues for second time after hitting an AL-record 62 in 2022. His 144 RBIs were most in majors since Philelphia's Ryan Howard h 146 in 2008.

Seven batters are hitting .300 or higher, which would be fewest since a record low six in 1968. re were 55 in 1999 during Steroids Era.

Among pitchers, this was just fifth non-shortened season without a 20-game winner after 1871, 2006, 2009, and 2017.

Detroit’s Tarik Skubal and Atlanta’s Chris Sale top major leagues with 18 wins each, though Sale might pitch against Mets on Monday. Hampered by injuries, left-hander totaled 17 wins over previous five seasons.

Sale is on track to le NL in ERA at 2.38, with Philelphia's Zack Wheeler at 2.57. Skubal’s 2.39 mark led AL.

Sale tops NL with 235 strikeouts and Skubal led AL with 228. Sale became first pitcher to win an NL pitching Triple Crown since Los Angeles Dodgers’ Clayton Kershaw in 2011.

Skubal became first AL pitching Triple Crown winner since Cleveland's Shane Bieber during pandemic-shortened 2020 season, and first in a full season since Justin Verlander in 2011.

re have been a record-low 28 complete games, down from 35 last year and 29 in 2020. 16 shutouts were down from 23 last season and matched 2022 as fewest in a non-shortened season since 1874.

Washington stole 223 bases, most since 1993 Montreal Expos swiped 228.

Chicago White Sox finished 41-121, breaking post-1900 record for losses that h been held by 1962 New York Mets, who went 40-120 during franchise's first season. 1899 Cleveland Spiders hold overall major league mark at 20-134.