Christian Yelich is a beast. He came into yesterday’s tie-breaker game needing one home run and two RBIs to be the first triple-crown winner in the National League since 1937 when the Cardinals’ Joey Medwick hit .374 while slugging 37 home runs and knocking in 154. (Just four years earlier, both leagues had triple crown winners.)
It was Game 163, and those count toward the regular season. He was given new life and one last chance at immortality.
Yelich went 3-for-4 to up his league leading average to .346. He had an RBI in the first inning to give him 110. Unfortunately, he fell one RBI short. He went homerless, to end the year one shy, at 36.
He is almost a shoo-in for N.L. M.V.P, carrying the Brewers on his back as they overcame being five games back on September 1. He hit .352, with ten home runs, 33 RBIs and an astronomical 1.307 OPS in September. Yelich was a nightly highlight reel.
His last at-bat yesterday came with bases loaded, eighth inning, his team clinging to a 2-1 lead, no outs and the bases loaded.
Disney would have him hit a grand slam there. Life is not Disney. Yelich struck out. The next batter, Ryan Braun, picked him up with a run-scoring single.
In the end, the Milwaukee Brewers celebrated their first division championship since 2011, a team led by Prince Fielder.
So the Brewers ended 2018 with the most wins in the National League. They await the winner of the Cubs/Rockies wild card game.
They say October makes heroes. Yelich proved he was every bit that in September.
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TODAY’S GAME: