As Yordan Alvarez Slugs, Astros Star has Another Triple Crown Feat in Sight

Houston Astros slugger Yordan Alvarez said earlier this week that he no longer wants to talk about any potential triple crown pursuit. He just wants to focus on the season.

That’s understandable. The Astros are still in a race to make the playoffs even though they are under .500 this season. But it’s OK — that doesn’t mean the chatter will stop. It just means he won’t add to the discourse.

Much of the conversation has been about the American League. The last AL player to win a triple crown was Detroit’s Miguel Cabrera in 2012. He was the last player in either league to do it. But, as Underdog MLB on X (formerly Twitter) pointed out, Alvarez could lead the Majors in all three triple crown categories. That’s a whole other kind of record chase.

The “MLB” Triple Crown

“[Yordan Alvarez has the] approach of Freddie Freeman with the power and presence of David Ortiz…”

The @Astros slugger leads MLB in HR, RBI, OBP, SLG and OPS+ 😳#MLBCentral | @markdero7 pic.twitter.com/CaNpfIAo66
— MLB Network (@MLBNetwork) July 23, 2026

Major League Baseball has always defined triple crowns by leagues. That’s because until Interleague play started in the late 1990s, the only time the AL and NL played each other was in the All-Star Game and the World Series. Since 2022, MLB has operated with the universal DH. Before that, pitchers hit in the NL but not the AL.

So while Alvarez is chasing Cabrera, he’s also chasing another legend — Mickey Mantle. Per Underdog MLB, Mantle was the last player to lead the Majors in all three categories. He did it in 1956 when he batted .353 with 52 home runs and 130 RBI. That was confirmed on baseball-reference.com.

When Cabrera won the 2012 AL triple crown, he batted .330 with 44 home runs and 139 RBI. The home runs and the RBI led all of baseball. But the batting average didn’t. San Francisco Giants catcher Buster Posey won the NL batting title with a .336 average, preventing Cabrera from leading MLB in all three categories.

Going into Saturday’s action He was batting .327 with 34 home runs and 77 RBI. Like Cabrera, his home runs and RBI led all of baseball. But his batting average did not. A couple of pesky contact hitters are ahead of him in the NL.

Miami’s Otto Lopez leads all of baseball with a. .331 batting average. He’s followed by San Francisco Giants second baseman Luis Arraez, who could be traded at the deadline. He was batting .326. Arraez already has three career batting titles with three different teams.

Alvarez’s potential to lead all of baseball in all three categories is intriguing. If he wins the AL triple crown but not the MLB triple crown, it doesn’t diminish his accomplishment at all. There have only been 28 triple crown seasons in baseball history. If Alvarez were to get there, his would be No. 29.

But hearing one’s name in the same breath with Mantle does have a nice ring to it.

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