By NOAH TRISTER AP Baseball Writer
As the season winds down, Houston slugger Yordan Alvarez will have to worry about two sets of spoilers.
The first is the more traditional type — teams that will try to beat the Astros in key games and deny them a spot in the postseason.
The other includes individual spoilers — players who could prevent Alvarez from making history as baseball’s next Triple Crown winner.
Alvarez currently leads the American League with a .320 average, 36 home runs and 90 RBIs. If he holds onto the top spot in all three categories, he’d be the first batter to win the Triple Crown since Miguel Cabrera in 2012. The biggest threats Alvarez faces all come from the AL East.
The next-highest batting averages in the AL both belong to Tampa Bay players — Chandler Simpson at .310 and Yandy Díaz at .306. Fortunately for Alvarez, there aren’t any stealth candidates — players with high averages who don’t currently have enough plate appearances to qualify, but would by the end of the season.
The home run race is currently the tightest, with Tampa Bay’s Junior Caminero just one behind with 35. Ben Rice of the New York Yankees has 34. There are times when Alvarez seems like Houston’s only major threat offensively, and he’s been intentionally walked 28 times — way more than Caminero (10) and Rice (four). Those lost opportunities could matter in a close race.
Alvarez’s closest competition in RBIs is Baltimore’s Pete Alonso, who has 85. Alonso recently went on a 14-game hitting streak. Caminero is also in the mix with 83 RBIs.
When Cabrera pulled off the Triple Crown in 2012, he had to hold off Hall of Famers Joe Mauer and Adrian Beltre in batting average, as well as likely Hall of Famer Mike Trout. He finished one homer ahead of Josh Hamilton and Curtis Granderson.
Trivia time
Alvarez broke Jeff Bagwell’s franchise record for intentional walks in a season. Bagwell drew 27 in 1997. Who is in third place on that list for Houston?
Performance of the week
Pete Crow-Armstrong hit a leadoff homer in the bottom of the first and a walk-off shot in the 10th to give the Chicago Cubs a 7-5 win over the White Sox on Monday night.
The Cubs then won in walk-off fashion again a night later against the White Sox, but were beaten via the walk-off twice in a row by Seattle later in the week. The Cubs have 13 walk-off wins this year, the most in baseball, but the White Sox and Mariners aren’t far behind with 11.
Comeback of the week
Philadelphia was down 4-0 with two outs in the bottom of the ninth Sunday before rallying for a 6-4 victory over St. Louis. Edmundo Sosa hit a three-run double, and Bryan De La Cruz hit a single that tied the game. Then Kyle Schwarber won it with his major league-leading 39th homer of the season.
It was the ninth straight victory for the Phillies, who now trail first-place Atlanta by only three games in the NL East. The Braves were 9 1/2 games up less than two weeks ago.
It’s been a bizarre season for Philadelphia, which was 8-18 by late April, then went 48-27, then lost eight of its last games in July before going 16-5 so far in August.
Team of the week
Kansas City was the lone team to go 7-0 over the past week, although the Phillies and Los Angeles Dodgers both went 6-0. The Royals took advantage of four games against the dreadful Athletics before sweeping three in a row from a Detroit team that’s chasing a playoff berth.
Last-place Kansas City is actually 36-30 at home this year but has gone 22-44 on the road.
Trivia answer
Rusty Staub drew 24 intentional walks for the Astros in 1968.
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