NEW YORK — Luis Arraez held off Shohei Ohtani’s bid to win the National League Triple Crown of hitting and was set to become the first player since the 1800s to earn batting titles with three teams.
Kansas City Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. won his first American League batting championship, finishing with a .332 average that was the best in all of Major League Baseball for the 2024 regular season that isn’t quite over yet, with the Atlanta Braves and New York Mets playing a Monday doubleheader that’s vital to the playoff picture.
Everyone else, though, wrapped up Sunday, with the finales settling most of the remaining statistical battles.
Arraez went 1-for-3 on Sunday and posted a .314 average for the San Diego Padres, the lowest for an NL batting champion since Tony Gwynn’s record-low .313 for the same franchise 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 the Minnesota Twins and the 2023 NL title at .354 for the Miami Marlins, who traded him to the Padres in May. He became the first NL player with 200 hits in consecutive seasons since Juan Pierre in 2003-04 for the Marlins.