Houston Astros: Alex Bregman set to accomplish something historic

Houston Astros third baseman Alex Bregman is in the midst of an incredible season. In fact, he is about to accomplish something historic.

Alex Bregman carried the Houston Astros through injuries to their three other stars. Alex Bregman carried the Astros when the other three stars were healthy. Alex Bregman has been absolutely outstanding this season.

Coming into this season, the entire baseball world knew who Alex Bregman was. He made a name for himself in the playoffs and we all knew he was a good, solid player for the Astros. However, not many saw the jump his poised to make in the 2018 season.

For his career, prior to this year, he posted a .279/.342/.476 slash line. He also belted 27 homers to pair with 105 RBIs and 52 doubles. Pretty solid numbers for a guy who only played about a season and a third. He was solid but, he hadn’t quite hit that star status.

This season, it was expected to take a jump in his play but, like I said earlier, no one was expecting what he’s done this season. He’s slashing .300/.401/.560, which is a pretty standout line. He’s also mashed 29 home runs, more than doubling his career total. Bregman also collected 48 doubles and 96 RBIs. He also has 11 more walks than he does strikeouts.

He’s also leading the Houston Astros in WAR with 7.3. Including his numbers this year, he is the fourth faster player to 50 HR, 100 doubles, and 200 RBIs behind the likes of Ted Williams and two others and ahead of Alex Rodriguez.

He has firmly placed himself in the conversation for AL MVP. He is right up there with the likes of the Boston duo Mookie Betts and JD Martinez and the Indian’s third baseman Jose Ramirez. Betts and Ramirez are the two favorites of these four as they’ve been good for a long time.

Bregman’s candidacy is probably similar to Martinez’s but for different reasons. Martinez is extremely close to notching the triple crown in the AL but, he suffers from being strictly a DH this year. Bregman will likely get knocked since this is his first truly elite season, whether that’s “fair” or not. In actuality, since June 1st, Bregman and Martinez have nearly identical numbers.

But, regardless, of MVP candidacy, Bregman is on the verge of a truly historic season, for a multitude of reasons, in fact. He’s on pace to do two separate things that haven’t happened in over a decade, one being an Astros record, the other an MLB record, in fact, they both last occurred in 2007.

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Bregman is two home runs away from 30 total this season and he is also four RBIs away from 100 total. The Houston Astros have not had a guy record a 30 homer and 100 RBI season since 2007 when Lance Berkman accomplished this feat. Guys have come relatively close since then but no one has done it. Bregman is uniquely poised to do so and quite honestly, it would be a shock if he didn’t reach those numbers in the 20+ games the Astros have left.

Building off of that, the last time the MLB has had a 30 home run, 50 double, and 100 RBI season was back in 2007 when none other than David Ortiz accomplished this feat. In fact, a few years prior in 2001, Berkman also accomplished this. Bregman is just two doubles away from reaching the 50 double plateau.

So, Bregman just needs two home runs, two doubles, and four RBIs in order to do two things that haven’t been accomplished in 11 years. The Houston Astros have 21 games left in the season, that is a lot of time to collect those last few stats. The past six games, Bregman has collected those numbers more than two times over.

Accomplishing those historic feats is well with the reach of this young superstar. This season will go down in the books as one of the best ever compiled, in a Houston Astros uniform and in the MLB in general. He’s just been that good.