Miguel Cabrera. Photo/AP
Rogers Hornsby and Ted Williams. By most people’s estimations, they are the greatest right and left-handed hitters in baseball history.
They are the only two players to have ever captured two Triple Crowns (amazingly, Williams did not win the MVP in either season). Miguel Cabrera has a realistic chance of joining this most exclusive of lists.
He is also hobbling around with a variety of ailments that have him moving with the grace and fluidity of a late-career Pete Incaviglia. The question becomes; is it worth it?
Second Best Record
Let’s start with the facts.
The Detroit Tigers have 30 regular season games remaining in 2013. Just over a month of baseball. They have the second best record in the American League (77-55). They hold a comfortable 5.5 game lead over the second place Cleveland Indians.
Miguel Cabrera is running away with the batting title for the third consecutive year. He has driven in 130 runs, 12 better than his 2013 Triple Crown nemesis, Chris Davis. Barring a catastrophe, these categories are in the bag.
In the home run department, he creeps closer and closer to Davis every day. The Orioles’ slugger has out-launched Cabrera to this point, 46 to 43. Keep in mind, in the event of a tie, the Crown would still be valid. In Carl Yastrzemski’s historic 1967 campaign, he tied Mr. Killebrew in dingers, and still earned full credit for the accomplishment (pat yourself on the back, Trivia Master, if you knew this fact already).
Sure Thing?
There are many layers to this discussion and subsequent debate.
With the Tigers’ stellar starting pitching, lengthy losing streaks and week-long funks are a near-impossibility. With or without Miguel Cabrera, the AL Central in 2013 will almost assuredly belong to Detroit.
The Indians have been pesky, outperforming expectations throughout the year, but they are competing for a wild-card spot and they know it. All of which would lead you to believe that Jim Leyland would have no problem letting Cabrera grab some bench, receive treatment for a couple of weeks, and get primed and ready for a championship run in October.
Just one problem. The guy won’t stop hitting. Try to jam one in on his hands and he sends it screaming inside the left field foul pole (right, Phil Hughes?)
Try to sneak a breaking ball over the outside corner and he flips it into the right field bleachers (right, A.J. Griffin?) Heck, Mariano Rivera got him to foul two balls in the same at-bat off his lower extremities, and he still walloped that hall-of-fame cutter over the fence. He’s locked in like never before.
The fact that he continues to perform at an elite level defies any logical explanation. Because, as any and all can see, the man is in pain. He rips a single to the outfield and basically walks to first. Any grounder to an infielder with a man on is an automatic twin killing. Cabrera recently hit one deep in the hole, the shortstop ranged over, made a nice backhand stop, then almost did a double take realizing how much time he still had.
This play is typically made for highlight reels; a rapid-fire, cross-body throw in midair like Derek Jeter. With Cabrera moseying down the line, though, there is no highlight. Just a crow hop and a lazy toss across the diamond to nail the big fella by 20 feet.
Tricky Decision
The decision is a tricky one.
Would 15-20 days of rest make a difference for Cabrera, or are these nagging injuries only going to really benefit from a full off-season’s worth of healing? Is he risking further, more serious injury by playing, possibly endangering his status for an eventual postseason run?
How important is the pursuit of such an esteemed baseball record? If successful, Cabrera would join Hornsby and Williams in the “Double Triple Crown Club,” and would become the first player in history to do it in back-to-back years. These are milestones that players look back on with great reverence after their careers are done.
It is a unique case. The player is clearly bothered, irritated, pained in all that he does on the field. However, he is also thriving; bashing home runs on a near-nightly basis in the most critical of situations.
The Tigers are going to win the American League Central. They will go to the playoffs.
And the #24 Train keeps chugging along, with a halted gait and wheezing engine. It desperately needs to veer off the track for a moment and head to the fueling station; to catch its breath, reattach the loose parts, and gear up for the final leg of the trip.
Or it can blow right past the split in the tracks and hope that there’s enough gas in the tank to finish the journey.
Wearing a crown makes you feel special for a day. But having a ring lasts you a lifetime.
Perhaps it’s time the Tigers and Miguel Cabrera took such thoughts to heart.
