Dust off those history books. Yordan Alvarez can see them from here. Then again, so can Vladimir Guerrero Jr., except that he wants no part of the history he looks like he’s about to make.
We have less than six weeks to go in this MLB season — and counting. So what better time for that annual tradition we like to call … the August History Watch.
Who is closing in on a rendezvous with baseball history? Let’s fill you in.
Air Yordan and the Decuple Crown watch
The heck with the Triple Crown. If the most fearsome masher in Houston, Yordan Alvarez, keeps on squashing baseballs at this rate, he’s going to win the Decuple Crown.
So what in the world is that? It might sound more complicated than xWOBA, but it’s actually not. It’s simple. When this week began, this dude was leading the American League in 10 major categories…
Average
Homers
RBIs
OBP
Slugging
OPS
Runs
Hits
Times on base
Total bases
That’s a lot of stuff! And if I threw in extra-base hits, he’d be stalking an Undecuple Crown. But let’s go easy on the rest of the league and stick with 10. Because it’s time to ask:
What’s so historic about that? The RBI became an official stat in 1920. Since then, the complete list of players who have led either the National League or American League in all 10 of those categories in the same season consists of …
Carl Yastrzemski, AL, 1967
Rogers Hornsby, NL, 1922
That’s a wrap!
So yes, Alvarez is chasing a thing that has been done exactly once in the last 104 years — and by nobody since baseball had division play. Crazy.
Special bonus Yordan nugget – All right, you don’t have to tell me that America loves the Triple Crown more than the Decuple Crown. I got that memo. So all you Triple Crown fans should know that Alvarez entered Wednesday night just one home run and four RBIs shy of holding (or sharing) the major-league lead in all three Triple Crown categories. Does that also seem hard?
We’re going to go with yes. In the last 100 years, only three men have led both leagues in batting average, homers and RBIs. How ’bout this list: Mickey Mantle in 1956, Ted Williams in 1942 and Lou Gehrig in 1934. I’m thinking you’ve heard of them!
Moral of the story: Air Yordan isn’t just chasing history. He’s chasing legends.
Zeroing in on Vladdy
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is somehow homerless at home this season. His last regular-season long ball at Rogers Centre was on Aug. 17, 2025. (Mark Blinch / Getty Images)
We’re now up to 69 hitters — from Rowdy Tellez to Justin Foscue — who have swatted a home run in their home park while playing first base this season. Still not pictured in that group, somehow or other: Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
That’s one of the most mind-boggling paragraphs I’ve ever typed in any edition of this column. But it’s not even the first time I’ve typed it this year, because the Blue Jays first baseman has racked up an incredible 59 games and 251 appearances in the batter’s box in Toronto — without making a single home run trot. How even?
The Blue Jays can’t explain it, so I’m not going to try. What I am going to do is attempt to answer the question this column was invented to explore:
What’s so historic about that? With the assistance of STATS Perform’s Greg Harvey, we’ve pretty much established that players like Vladdy never have seasons like this. You don’t even have to take our word for it. We can prove it.
He was once in the 40-homer club! As recently as 2021, Guerrero tied for the major-league lead in homers with 48. So shouldn’t it be impossible for a guy who once hit 40 (or more) to later have a season in which he hit zero at home? You know that answer.
In the history of this sport, it has been literally impossible, because it has never been done — at least if we use 50 home games as the minimum threshold. But in a month and a half, will we still be able to say it has never been done? Let’s just say the Blue Jays are getting nervous.
From home run champ to zero hero! Imagine Aaron Judge going through a season homerless in Yankee Stadium. Imagine Shohei Ohtani going “Oh” for Chavez Ravine or Kyle Schwarber baking a season-long doughnut in Philadelphia.
Feared mashers who outhomer everyone on Earth one year do not turn around and forget to put the “home” in “home run” in some future year. That’s clearly not possible, right? Right, say your favorite baseball historians.
The live-ball era goes back to 1920. Want to guess how many players (minimum: 50 home games ) have A) led the big leagues in homers (or tied for first) in any of those 126 seasons and B) later hit zero home runs at home after winning that home run title? Yep, that would be zilch.
But let’s make Vladdy feel better by dragging in the dead-ball era champs. If Guerrero were to pull this off, he would be the first former home run champ to do it since … Wally Pipp, a Yankees legend for a whole different reason.
The Pipster led the dead-ball AL in 1916 (with 12), then put up a zero in 1927. But if a “slugger” back in the Woodrow Wilson administration could lead the whole sport with 12 homers, does that feel like even remotely the same thing as this? Only the Vladdy Guerrero Fan Club could possibly answer yes.
Speaking of Zero Heroes
How extinct is the good old .300 hitter? As recently as a decade ago, the AL had a dozen of them. In 2009, it had 23. Go back to the 1930s, and there were two seasons with 30 — in an eight-team league.
But this year? It’s now so hard to hit that the AL has exactly three qualifying .300 hitters: Alvarez, Tampa Bay small-ball king Chandler Simpson and his teammate, Yandy Díaz. That would be the fewest in an AL season in almost 60 years, since Yastrzemski stood alone in 1968. But we haven’t even asked yet …
What’s so historic about that? Check out the home run totals by the men who rank 1-2 in that strange AL batting race:
Alvarez — 36
Simpson — 0
How long has it been since we had a duel like this — in which the guy who led the league hit 30 homers (or more) and the guy who finished second hit none?
How about 1940! The top two from that year:
|
1. Joe DiMaggio |
.352 |
31 HR |
|
2. Luke Appling |
.348 |
0 HR |
But what if Yordan makes it to 40 homers and beyond (which seems likely)? That would be a truly bizarre first.
Do you believe in playoff reincarnation?
The Red Sox have rejuvenated their season after being 14 games under .500 in the last week of June. (Brian Fluharty / Getty Images)
What a weird season. The Tigers were dead, right? The Red Sox were the biggest bust in the AL, right? The Phillies were so buried after starting 9-19, how could they possibly recover, right?
Let’s see now. That would be “wrong,” “wrong” and “wrong” again.
But that’s not all. The Cubs lost 10 in a row, but their postseason slot now looks almost cinched, barring unforeseen Cubbie-like occurrences. The Phillies are also in playoff position after reeling off 10 losses in a row. And the Marlins dropped 12 in a row in July, but they’re still not dead, either. So …
What’s so historic about that? Have we ever seen a season like this, when so many teams have come back from the dead? It doesn’t look like it. Let’s show you why.
Is there life after 10 games under? The Tigers were once 16 games under .500 — then traded the reigning Cy Young Award winner (Mr. Tarik Skubal). The Red Sox were once 14 under — in the last week of June. The Phillies were once 10 under — and fired the manager. (Remember Rob Thomson?) The Blue Jays were once 10 under — and traded away one of the faces of their franchise (Kevin Gausman).
OK, now check those standings. Going into Wednesday, those teams were all within one game of being a playoff team.
Only once in history has there been a season in which even two teams lived to play a postseason game after falling to at least 10 under. That was 2024, when the Astros (12 under) and Mets (11) both did it. But could three teams do that this year? Or four? Hey, if you don’t even need to have a winning record to be a playoff team anymore, how is anything out of the question?
Is there life after 14 games under? Only three teams have ever tumbled 14 games below Mount .500 and scrambled back to make the postseason: Lefty Tyler’s 1914 “Miracle” Braves (16 under), Rennie Stennett’s 1974 Pirates (14) and Adam Everett’s 2005 Astros (15).
But is it really possible we could see three in 122 years, then get two more just this year? The Tigers and Red Sox say: You’d better believe it.
Is there life after 10-game losing streaks? Here we go again. Just four teams have made the postseason after a season that included a double-digit losing streak: Bobby Thomson’s 1951 Giants, Dale Murphy’s 1982 Braves, Yasiel Puig’s 2017 Dodgers and Jhonkensy Noel’s 2025 Guardians.
But could we be looking at three more just this year: the Phillies, Cubs and Marlins? Weirder stuff has happened — and it’s happening before our eyes, right here in 2026.
The Miz kid
We know Jacob Misiorowski tops 100 more often than the thermometers in Death Valley. But if we’re just counting up how many times he throws a baseball 104 mph, we’re missing the story the Brewers care about most. By which I mean…
His strikeout rate — 39.8 percent
His walk rate — 5.9 percent
His K-BB rate — 33.9 percent
His K/BB ratio — 6.77-to-1
His opponent AVG — .150
His WHIP — 0.75
OK, so …
What’s so historic about that? Oh, not much, except for the part where those numbers tell us this is probably the most dominating season by a starting pitcher ever.
I know it all depends on how we want to define that magic word, dominating. But how ’bout we define it based on sheer untouchability? If we do that — and also disqualify the 60-game pandemic season from 2020 — here’s what we’ll find: The Miz is neck-and-neck with Gerrit Cole, 2019 edition, for that claim to fame.
| STAT | COLE | MIZ |
|---|---|---|
|
K rate |
39.9% |
39.8% |
|
BB rate |
5.9% |
5.9% |
|
K-BB rate |
34.0% |
33.9% |
|
K/BB ratio |
6.79-to-1 |
6.77-to-1 |
Source: FanGraphs
Cole gets bonus points for burning through more innings (212 1/3) than Misiorowski (on pace for 189). So if we stopped right there, we’d tap our magic wand on Cole’s forehead. But not so fast. If you’re ready for the Miz bonus points, here they come. And I think they’re game-clinching, assuming he maintains them to the finish line.
| STAT | COLE | Miz |
|---|---|---|
|
Opponent AVG |
.185 |
.150 |
|
His WHIP |
0.89 |
0.75 |
OK then. Advantage, Misiorowski. But wait. There’s one more thing. The Miz hasn’t merely been more unhittable than just peak Gerrit Cole. He’s been more historically unhittable than anybody. Ever.
Excluding the 2020 season, the record for lowest opponent average against any qualifying starter in the live-ball era is .166, which is what the sport hit against the great Pedro Martinez in 2000. Now imagine a modern-day ace beating Pedro by 16 percentage points. That’s jaw-dropping … just like the Miz.
Five more things history fans are watching
Jake Bauers has 22 homers, but his first-place team has hit only 118 — which ranks last in the majors. (John McCoy / Getty Images)
WHAT’S BREWING — Nobody wins baseball games quite like the Brewers. That’s not an opinion. That’s just a fact. They own the best record in baseball. They’ve also hit the fewest home runs in baseball. Think you’ve ever read those two sentences back-to-back about any team? Before you answer, let’s ask …
What’s so historic about that? If you have read those two sentences back-to-back, happy 120th birthday! We say that because the last time any team had the best record in the sport and bopped the fewest homers in the sport, the year was 1906 — when Wildfire Schulte’s 116-win Cubs were selectively whopping 20 home runs all year.
JUNIOR’S DOUBLE TROUBLE — How good is Junior Caminero? Let’s steal one of my favorite punch lines. If he’s this good this young, I’d hate to see Senior Caminero. Last year, in his age-21 season, the Rays’ favorite masher smoked 45 home runs. This year, in his age-22 season, Caminero is on pace to hit 45 again. Which means it’s time to ask …
What’s so historic about that? You know what’s hard for any big-time slugger to do? Hit so many homers in a season that they double his age. But Caminero is on pace to do that two years in a row.
If he does, he’d be keeping some head-turning company. The only players to do that two seasons in a row are … Babe Ruth (in 1920-21, at 25 and 26), Ken Griffey Jr. (in 1997-98, at 27 and 28) and Alex Rodriguez (in 2001-02, at 25 and 26). So Caminero could be the youngest ever to join that club. Would it shock anyone if he then went on to do this, like, six years in a row? Not me.
CORBIN’S TRIPLE THREAT — You know who else feels like a player from a whole different age? Corbin Carroll. The Diamondbacks’ energizer just became the active leader in career triples before he even turned 26. Want to guess the last time the active leader in triples was that young (or younger)? How about 1876, which was Ross Barnes’ age-26 season. (Hat tip: STATS Perform.)
But back here in 2026, Carroll is on pace to lead the big leagues in triples again (with 19) and to launch 23 homers. So …
What’s so historic about that? Here’s a fun little list of all the players who have had three seasons in which they hit 20 home runs while also leading their league in triples: Willie Mays (1954-55-57), Stan Musial (1948-49-51) … and Corbin Carroll (2023-24-25). Now Carroll is only two homers away from doing that in each of his first four full seasons in the big leagues. No one else has done it four times, period, let alone in a row. Amazing.
THE RISE OF THE ROMANO EMPIRE — Maybe you lost track of Jordan Romano in, like, 2023. But he is so back. And unless you live in the shadow of snow-capped mountain peaks, you may not have noticed. Yes, that same man currently leads those Colorado Rockies in saves, with eight. But even wilder is this tidbit:
He also is still tied for the Angels’ team lead in saves, with four, despite the slight hindrance that his last one for that team came on April 6. Yeah, really. So …
What’s so historic about that? On one hand, it’s not unprecedented for a reliever to lead two teams in saves in the same year. Jhoan Duran did it just last season (for the Twins and Phillies). STATS tells us it has also been done by Rick Aguilera (1995), Jeff Shaw (1998), Bob Wickman (2006), Huston Street (2014), Trevor Rosenthal (2020) and Paul Sewald (2023). But …
There’s one nutty little difference between Romano’s saves and what those other men did. Only Romano has chased that feat in a season in which he didn’t get traded. The Angels actually released him in April. He then signed a minor-league deal with the Rockies. And here we are.
OK, so I should probably add: but not for long. Now that Ben Joyce is healthy again, he just saved three games for the Angels in a week. So he’s no doubt going to make this note irrelevant. But it was too fun not to make this list! Imagine getting released in April and still leading that team in saves? For four months, I thought that might actually happen.
THE WHITE SOX: NOT THE HITLESS WONDERS ANYMORE — It’s fun to see the White Sox atop the standings these days, but that has nothing to do with this note. Did you know the Sox employ the hitter who is leading the league in hit-by-pitches in Sam Antonacci (with 23)? But they also employ the pitcher who leads the American League in HBPs in Anthony Kay (with 23). So I bet you’re wondering …
What’s so historic about that? It isn’t every year that a team that has a hitter and a pitcher crosses the 20-HBP plateau. And by that, I mean it isn’t any year.
The HBP 20-20 Club might not be as prestigious as that 50-50 Club that Shohei Ohtani once joined, but that’s not our problem. We’re proud to announce that these White Sox have already become the first team since 1900 to join that 20-20 Club. What should they win? How about a shiny new state-of-the-art X-Ray machine!