MLB: Records Possible for the 2021 Season

As the calendar turns from the Super Bowl to Spring Training, players and fans alike are excited for the start of the new MLB season.  While the goal remains to win a World Series title, some players are also chasing individual milestones.  

Miguel Cabrera

The eleven-time All-Star will turn 38-years old in April.  Cabrera could see himself the member of two historic clubs come season’s end.

He’s 13 homers shy of 500 for his career.  Cabrera would become the 28th player in MLB history to reach the milestone.  The two-time American League MVP is also 134 hits shy of becoming the 33rd member of the 3,000 hit club.  Cabrera would be the first Venezuelan-born player to accomplish either of those milestones.  In fact, he’s also 12 hits shy of passing Omar Vizquel (2,877) for the most hits by a Venezuelan-born player.

Only six players in MLB history have finished careers with 500+ homers and 3,000+ hits; Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, Eddie Murray, Albert Pujols, Alex Rodriguez, and Rafael Palmeiro.

Jon Lester

The 37-year old lefty is entering his 16th season in the show–and first with the Washington Nationals.  He enters the 2021 campaign seven wins shy of 200 for his career.  Lester would become the third active pitcher to reach 200+ victories, joining Justin Verlander and Zack Greinke.

Lester would also be the 30th left-handed pitcher to win 200+ games.  For the sake of comparison, there have been 1,867 lefty pitchers to record an MLB victory.  As of now, only 29 of them (1.6%) have reached 200+ wins.

Albert Pujols

Time flies when you’re having fun.  Who could be having more fun than Pujols? 2021 will mark his 21st major league season.  Think about it this way.  When Pujols was drafted by the Cardinals in the 13th round of the 1999 MLB Draft, Juan Soto wasn’t even a year old!

This is the final year of the slugger’s 10-year, $240-million deal with the Angels.  Could 2021 be the final season of his career? Pujols hasn’t said anything about retiring, but one has to wonder if this is the final year in the career of a living legend.

Pujols is 38 homers shy of 700.  It’s unlikely he’ll be able to get there in 2021.  If he played another year, then 700 homers could be doable.  But, Pujols just turned 41.  He hasn’t hit 38 homers in a season since 2015 (40), which is already more than half a decade ago.  Anything’s possible in baseball, but 38 homers would border on miraculous.

84 more hits would give the righty 3,320 for his career.  That would be good enough to put him in the top ten all-time.  Pujols enters 2021 with the 15th-most hits in Major League history.

Mike Trout

One of my favorite Trout statistics–among the many–is how high his WAR is.  At age 29, Trout (74.6) has a higher career WAR than many Hall of Famers, including Reggie Jackson (74.0), Frank Thomas (73.8), Jim Thome (72.9), and Derek Jeter (71.3).

From 2015-2019, Trout averaged a 9.0 WAR per season.  He had a 1.9 WAR in 53 games in 2020 (but all numbers from last year should be taken with a grain of salt).  If Trout has another 9.0 WAR season in 2021, he would pass 18 Hall of Famers!

Again.  18 Hall of Famers.  Just in 2021 alone! That’s mind boggling!

The following are among the Hall of Famers Trout would pass: Johnny Bench, Paul Molitor, Ozzie Smith, Joe DiMaggio, Tom Glavine, Nolan Ryan, Mike Mussina and Rod Carew.