The American League East race is grabbing plenty of attention in Tampa Bay, with the Rays holding a four-game lead over the New York Yankees entering play on Sept. 9. But there’s another reason the Rays are suddenly central to the season’s late drama: three of their hitters are the main roadblocks between Yordan Alvarez and a Triple Crown.
Alvarez has put together a huge year for the Houston Astros. In 143 games and 628 plate appearances, he is hitting .311/.428/.593 with 38 home runs and 95 RBI, a line that once again underlines how dangerous he is when he stays on the field. With that kind of production in 2026, he has forced his way into the Triple Crown conversation in the American League.
That chase comes with real history attached. Miguel Cabrera was the last player to win a Triple Crown, doing it for the Detroit Tigers in 2012. Since RBI became an official stat in 1920, it has happened 12 times by 10 different players, with Ted Williams and Rogers Hornsby the only ones to pull it off twice.
The catch for Alvarez is that Tampa Bay has three hitters lined up to complicate the run.
Junior Caminero, Yandy Diaz and Chandler Simpson are all sitting in the way. Caminero, after breaking out with 45 home runs in 2025, is now leading the American League with 39 homers, one more than Alvarez.
He’s also right there in the RBI chase with 93, while Alvarez has 95. Pete Alonso of the Baltimore Orioles is ahead of both with 97, and Sal Stewart of the Cincinnati Reds leads MLB with 107.
Caminero’s latest blast only added to the pressure. “A-Town takeoff ✈️No. 39 on the season for Cami! pic.twitter.com/purCv4Lur9”
The batting title race is just as crowded. Alvarez is on top in the AL with a .311 average, but that lead is hardly safe.
Only seven players in MLB are hitting .300 or better, and Tampa Bay has two of them. Simpson is batting .307, Diaz is at .306, and that puts them third and fourth in baseball, behind only Alvarez in the American League.
The overall MLB batting leader is Luis Arraez, who was traded from the San Francisco Giants to the Philadelphia Phillies ahead of the deadline.
If Caminero can hang onto the home run lead and make up ground in RBI, his MVP case would get even louder. For now, though, the Rays are doing more than chasing the division. They’re standing right in the middle of a rare Triple Crown race.
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Against Houston, even the most trusted arm in the group became part of the problem. Jhoan Duran, who had been dependable for most of the year, gave up a go-ahead home run in a tied game and was scored upon in that kind of spot for the second time in three appearances, a sequence that only sharpens the questions around the Phillies ability to trust their bullpen when September tightens. For a team trying to navigate the rest of the regular season, the issue is no longer just whether the relievers are healthy, but whether the group can hold confidence long enough to matter. [Read more 🡒]