We talked on Tuesday about the Triple Crown, the well-known honor bestowed on any batter who leads his league in batting average, home runs, and runs batted in.
Were you aware that a Triple Crown also exists for pitchers? It isn’t as highly publicized as its hitting counterpart, though its structure is similar, also recognizing league leadership in three important categories — in this case, earned run average, wins, and strikeouts.
The Triple Crown for hitters is notoriously difficult to win. Nobody, in fact has done so since Miguel Cabrera in 2012, and only 16 batters have claimed the prize in the long histories of the American and National Leagues.
The odds are slightly better for pitchers, 38 of whom have won their version of the Triple Crown over the years. The most recent was Cleveland’s Shane Bieber in 2020.
Nobody added his name to the roster this year. Justin Verlander of the Astros came closest by topping the American League with 18 wins and a 1.75 ERA. But he finished 11th in strikeouts with 185. (Gerrit Cole of the Yankees led that category with 257 strikeouts.)
National League pitchers distributed the wealth among three different champions: Julio Urias of the Dodgers with a 2.16 ERA, Kyle Wright of the Braves with 21 wins, and Corbin Burnes of the Brewers with 243 strikeouts. (The ERA title is limited to pitchers who worked at least 162 innings, while the other two categories are open to everybody.)
Tuesday’s story, as you may recall, featured a Triple Crown rating system that assigned 14 points to the league leader in each category, with the nine runners-up getting points on a descending scale from nine to one. (This distribution plan is identical to the one employed in voting for the Most Valuable Player Award.)
I used the same Triple Crown scoring system for pitchers. Verlander naturally won the AL title with 28 points, based on his two 14-point hauls for wins and ERA. Second place was a tie between Dylan Cease of the White Sox and Shohei Ohtani of the Angels at 22 points apiece.
Urias emerged as the NL champion. He not only took the ERA crown, but also finished second in wins and 18th in strikeouts. Grand total: 23 points. Next was Sandy Alcantara of the Marlins with 18 points.
You’ll find the complete standings for this version of the Triple Crown rankings below. Each pitcher is followed in parentheses by his wins, earned run average, and strikeouts.
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American League
1. Justin Verlander, Houston Astros (18/1.75/185), 28 points
2. Dylan Cease, Chicago White Sox (14/2.20/227), 22 points
2. Shohei Ohtani, Los Angeles Angels (15/2.33/219), 22 points
4. Framber Valdez, Houston Astros (17/2.82/194), 18 points
5. Gerrit Cole, New York Yankees (13/3.50/257), 16 points
5. Alek Manoah, Toronto Blue Jays (16/2.24/180), 16 points
7. Shane Bieber, Cleveland Guardians (13/2.88/198), 11 points
8. Shane McClanahan, Tampa Bay Rays (12/2.54/194), 10 points
9. Robbie Ray, Seattle Mariners (12/3.71/212), 7 points
9. Cal Quantrill, Cleveland Guardians (15/3.38/128), 7 points
9. Luis Garcia, Houston Astros (15/3.72/157), 7 points
12. Kevin Gausman, Toronto Blue Jays (12/3.35/205), 6 points
13. Cristian Javier, Houston Astros (11/2.54/194), 4 points
13. Jameson Taillon, New York Yankees (14/3.91/151), 4 points
15. Triston McKenzie, Cleveland Guardians (11/2.96/190), 3 points
15. Logan Gilbert, Seattle Mariners (13/3.20/174), 3 points
15. Martin Perez, Texas Rangers (12/2.89/169), 3 points
18. Jose Urquidy, Houston Astros (13/3.94/134), 2 points
18. Joe Ryan, Minnesota Twins (13/3.55/151), 2 points
National League
1. Julio Urias, Los Angeles Dodgers (17/2.16/166), 23 points
2. Sandy Alcantara, Miami Marlins (14/2.28/207), 18 points
3. Carlos Rodon, San Francisco Giants (14/2.88/237), 16 points
4. Corbin Burnes, Milwaukee Brewers (12/2.94/243), 15 points
5. Kyle Wright, Atlanta Braves (21/3.19/174), 14 points
6. Yu Darvish, San Diego Padres (16/3.10/197), 12 points
6. Tyler Anderson, Los Angeles Dodgers (15/2.57/138), 12 points
8. Zac Gallen, Arizona Diamondbacks (12/2.54/192), 10 points
8. Max Fried, Atlanta Braves (14/2.48/170), 10 points
8. Logan Webb, San Francisco Giants (15/2.90/163), 10 points
11. Aaron Nola, Philadelphia Phillies (11/3.25/235), 8 points
11. Tony Gonsolin, Los Angeles Dodgers (16/2.14/119), 8 points
13. Charlie Morton, Atlanta Braves (9/4.34/205), 6 points
13. Chris Bassitt, New York Mets (15/3.42/167), 6 points
13. Carlos Carrasco, New York Mets (15/3.97/152), 6 points
16. Spencer Strider, Atlanta Braves (11/2.67/202), 5 points
17. Joe Musgrove, San Diego Padres (10/2.93/184), 4 points
18. Jose Quintana, Pittsburgh Pirates-St. Louis Cardinals (6/2.93/137), 3 points
19. Brandon Woodruff, Milwaukee Brewers (13/3.05/190), 2 points