Nolan Arenado led the majors with 130 runs batted in. The AL leader was Josh Donaldson with 123 RBI. The pair also went 40/40, each tallying 40 home runs and 40 doubles. In case you missed it, they both play third base.
Jake Arrieta had a phenomenal season. A couple notes: He won 22 games and became the first Cubs hurler to lead the majors in wins since Larry Jackson had 24 wins in 1964. Arrieta also had a 1.77 ERA on the year, becoming the first pitcher to hit both of the marks – 22 wins and a 1.77 ERA – since Dwight Gooden had 24 wins with a 1.53 ERA in 1985. Arrieta also totaled the lowest post-All Star break ERA (0.75) in the history of the league.
Kris Bryant and Bryce Harper both had 99 RBIs while Prince Fielder had 98.
Madison Bumgarner just barely missed a double digit WHIP mark at 1.01.
Miguel Cabrera was hurt for a good chunk of time but he still led baseball with a .338 batting average (his 18 homers, 76 RBIs and 64 runs scored were all miles from expectations, though his .974 OPS was still well above his .961 career mark). It is Miggy’s fourth batting title, making him the 14th man to pull off that trick. All the other 13 are in the Hall of Fame—except for Bill Madlock.
Chris Davis led baseball with 47 home runs. He also led baseball with five of his potential homers getting snagged by opposing outfielders. That’s right—he could have had 52 homers if defenders weren’t running all over the place making great catches against his blasts.
Dee Gordon (.333) had three hits on the final day of the season to win the NL Batting Tittle over Bryce Harper (.330). He is the first man to win the title on the last day of the season on the strength of three hits since Tony Gwynn in 1989. Harper did lead the NL in homers with 42 as he tied with Arenado.
Bryce Harper led baseball with a 1.109 OPS. Paul Goldschmidt (1.005) and Joey Votto (1.000) were the only two others to hit 1.000. Harper also led all of MLB with a .460 OBP while Votto was one point behind at .459. Harper led the league with a .649 SLG mark—no one else was at .600—while runner-up Mike Trout finished at .590.
Trout finished the season hitting .299. Yep, one hit away from a .300 average, and Votto fell one homer short of 30.
Zack Greinke (1.66), Jake Arrieta (1.77) and Clayton Kershaw (2.13) will all have a spirited battle for the NL Cy Young award in one of the most heated races in MLB history. They are also the top three men in baseball in ERA. Moreover, the trio became the first group of three arms in the NL who all hurled 162 innings while finishing with WHIP marks under 0.90 since, well, ever: Greinke (0.84), Arrieta (0.86) and Kershaw (0.88).
Greinke had the lowest ERA in baseball since Greg Maddux had a 1.63 ERA in 1995. He was able to break the four-year run of Kershaw. Greinke and Arrieta became the third duo of arms in NL history to both have an ERA under 1.80 since 1914: Dean Chance (1.65) and Sandy Koufax (1.74) in 1964, and Bob Gibson (1.12) and Luis Tiant (1.60) in 1968.
Kershaw struck out 301 batters in 2015. He is the first hurler to hit that number since 2002 (teammates Curt Schilling and Randy Johnson pulled off the trick). Kershaw threw 232.2 innings, meaning he hit the 300 milestone in the second-fewest innings ever (213.1 for Pedro Martinez in 1999).
David Price led the AL with a 2.45 ERA. He is the first AL hurler to lead the circuit in ERA while pitching for two teams since Saul Rogovin in 1951.
Chris Sale led the AL in strikeouts with 274 in 208.2 innings to break the White Sox season record. Ed Walsh was the previous record holder with 269 strikeouts in 1908. It only took him 464 innings to hit that mark…
Danny Salazar was five strikeouts short of 200, finishing with 195 punch outs.
Here is the list of the top jersey sales of 2015. A rookie led the way.
Eddie Rosario led baseball with 15 triples. He also had 13 homers and 11 steals. Kevin Kiermaier also hit triple-digits in all three categories as well with 12 triples, 10 homers and 18 steals.
Three players stole 40 bases: Dee Gordon (58), Billy Hamilton (57) and Charlie Blackmon (43). Gordon and Hamilton both hit four homers while Blackmon was three homers short of a 20/40 season.
Finally, here is the list of players who made their big league debuts in 2015.
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