Chicago Cubs: On opposite ends of the spectrum: Christian Yelich is on fire
While Baez was busy slumping, Christian Yelich was red-hot for the Brewers down the stretch. Over his last seven games of the season Yelich hit .429 with four long balls and 14 RBI. While he wasn’t receiving intentional walks, pitchers decided they wanted no part of him as Yelich also drew 11 walks. During that stretch Yelich posted a .607 on-base percentage and a 1.235 slugging percentage.
Yelich single-handedly won the Brewers some games amidst their eight-game winning streak to close out the season. Most notably Yelich hit two home runs and drove in three runs in the Brewers 6-5 win over the Detroit Tigers on Saturday.
In the Brewers victory over the Cubs on Monday, Yelich went 3-for-4 at the plate with one RBI. He got the scoring started in the third inning when he singled back up the middle to drive in Orlando Arcia. He had a chance to do even more damage and something much more historic in the eighth inning but he struck out swinging.
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Yelich was already leading the NL with a .326 batting average but trailed Baez in RBI and Nolan Arenado in home runs. Yelich entered his at-bat in the eighth inning with 110 RBI, one behind Baez, and 36 home runs, one behind Arenado. With two runners on base, had Yelich hit a home run, he would have been the first NL Triple Crown winner since Joe Medwick in 1937.
Despite coming up short of the Triple Crown, Yelich will likely still come away with some hardware in the form of an MVP trophy. He posted a 7.4 WAR which is by far the highest in the NL. Anthony Rendon is the next closest with a 6.1 WAR.
This has been a breakout, career-year for Yelich and he completely changed the dynamic for the Brewers. After acquiring the outfielder in the offseason from the Miami Marlins he turned the Brewers into legitimate playoff contenders and, arguably, World Series favorites in the NL.