Arraez denies Ohtani NL Triple Crown, set to win batting title for 3rd team
Luis Arraez held off Shohei Ohtani’s bid to win the National League Triple Crown and was set to become the first player since the 1800s to earn batting titles with three teams
NEW YORK (AP) — Luis Arraez held off Shohei Ohtani's bid to win the National League Triple Crown and was set to become the first player since the 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, the 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 the sixth inning to reach 200 hits for the second straight season. He was pulled for a defensive replacement in the bottom half.
Arraez won the 2022 AL title at .316 for Minnesota and the 2023 NL title at .354 for Miami, which traded him to the Padres in May. He became the first NL player with 200 hits in consecutive seasons since Juan Pierre in 2003 and '04.
