Pete Alonso is on the doorstep of a piece of MLB history nobody has ever managed in 106 years.
For all the RBI titles that have been handed out since the stat became official in 1920, not a single player has ever finished as the league leader in both the American League and the National League. Alonso is set to break that streak.
In his first season with the Orioles, Alonso has 108 RBIs with less than a week left in the year. That leaves him nine clear of Yordan Alvarez, who sits at 99 and would need a huge finish to catch him. Unless Alvarez goes on a truly monster run, Alonso is going to end up on top in the AL.
That would come after he already owned the National League RBI race back in 2022, when he drove in 131 for the Mets to lead both the NL and all of MLB. He’d become the first player ever to pair an AL RBI title with an NL RBI title, even though 41 different players have won multiple RBI crowns in their careers.
Alonso has a second landmark within reach, too. He hit his 40th home run on Monday, putting him one behind Junior Caminero for the AL lead. If he gets there, he’d add another rare achievement to a résumé that already includes the NL and MLB home run crown from his rookie season with the Mets in 2019, when he blasted 53 homers.
Winning the home run title in both leagues has happened before, but not often. Since 1900, the only players to do it are Shohei Ohtani (2023 in the AL, 2024 in the NL), Mark McGwire (1987 and ’96 in the AL, 1998 and ’99 in the NL), Fred McGriff (1989 in the AL, 1992 in the NL) and Sam Crawford (1901 in the NL, 1908 in the AL).
In Other News...
Orioles Wild Card Push Just Got A Brutal Late Twist
Steady rain washed out Tuesdays game against the Blue Jays at Camden Yards, pushing the Orioles into a split-admission doubleheader Wednesday at a point in the season when every game seems to carry postseason weight. Baltimore holds a two-game margin in the Wild Card race, so the lost night matters less as a standalone postponement than as another test of a schedule that has already been cramped by weather.
It is the fourth time this season the Orioles have been forced into a doubleheader because of a postponement, a grind that can ripple through a pitching staff and a lineup trying to stay fresh down the stretch. On the front office side, Baltimore also added Ty Holub as a senior analyst in domestic scouting, another move aimed at sharpening the organizations long view even as the present keeps demanding attention. [Read more 🡒]
Orioles Now Have A Real Aron Estrada Roster Decision
Aron Estrada put himself on the map at Double-A Chesapeake this season, and not just as another name tucked into the Orioles farm system. The 21-year-old switch-hitting infielder hit .281/.325/.482 with 25 home runs over 128 games, enough to make him one of the more intriguing internal breakout stories in the organization as Baltimore continues sorting through its infield pipeline.
The next step is where things get interesting for the Orioles. Estrada is expected to open next season at Triple-A Norfolk, but he is also Rule 5 Draft eligible this offseason, which puts him firmly in the conversation for a spot on the 40-man roster. Baltimore now has to decide how much stock to put in a power spike that came during a broader surge in minor league offense, and how aggressively it wants to protect a player whose upside is starting to demand real attention. [Read more 🡒]
Orioles May Be Facing The Mike Elias Question Fans Dread
Mike Elias has been the Orioles top baseball voice since November 2018, and in that time he has helped steer the club from rebuild mode into a stretch that has included playoff appearances. He has earned credit for turning the organizations prospect pipeline into a real major league foundation and for making trades that fit the long-view plan, which is no small thing for a franchise that spent years trying to climb out of the basement.
Still, the bigger question hanging over Camden Yards is whether that success has been enough to get Baltimore from contender to true force. Elias has said he expects to be back next season, but there remains a growing sense that the Orioles may need a different kind of leadership push if they are going to break through to the next level rather than keep circling around it. [Read more 🡒]