There are always a few personal milestones that are accomplished during each MLB season. Last season, Miguel Cabrera got his 500th homer and Max Scherzer reached the 3,000 strikeout plateau, among others.
This season, there’s a chance that there will be a few milestones that happen. A lot of them involve Albert Pujols so we created a totally separate article for him so this won’t have any of his possible milestones.
Here are 10 other MLB milestones that could happen in 2022 with players or with managers.
Max Scherzer gets 200 wins
New York Mets’ starter Max Scherzer has 190 starts entering the 2022 season so if he is healthy, he will get to 200 wins. The last non-pandemic season in which he didn’t have 10 wins was in 2009.
Clayton Kershaw (185 wins) and Adam Wainwright (184 wins) could also get this done too but Scherzer is a lock for it. Kershaw and Wainwright are not. But speaking of Kershaw …
Clayton Kershaw becomes the Dodgers’ all-time strikeout leader
Hall of Famer Don Sutton is the all-time strikeout leader for the Los Angeles Dodgers with 2,690. Clayton Kershaw has 2,670 so he could achieve this as soon as his second start of the season.
And speaking of Wainwright …
Adam Wainwright and Yadier Molina become the most common battery in MLB history
Yadier Molina has caught 304 games for Adam Wainwright. The all-time leaders in this are former Detroit Tigers catcher Bill Freehan and pitcher Mickey Lolich in the 1960s and 1970s with 324.
So if Wainwright and Molina combine for 21 starts, they will be the new leaders in the category.
Miguel Cabrera gets 3,000 hits
Miguel Cabrera is only 13 hits away from 3,000 hits so he should achieve this sometime in the first few weeks of the season. However, last April, he only went 6-for-48 so if he has a slow start again, maybe it happens in mid-May.
Paul Goldschmidt gets 300 career homers
St. Louis Cardinals’ first baseman Paul Goldschmidt has 280 career homers so (barring any major injuries), he will get to 300 sometime this season. In the last four full seasons, he has had at least 31 homers.
Joey Votto plays in his 2,000th career game with the Cincinnati Reds
Joey Votto has played 1,900 games in his career and all have been with the Cincinnati Reds. If he plays 100 more games with them and he never plays with another team in his career, he will become only the 38th player in MLB history to play at least 2,000 games and only play for one team.
The only other players who have achieved this that played in the 21st century are Derek Jeter, Bernie Williams, Cal Ripken, Jr., Tony Gwynn, Jeff Bagwell, Craig Biggio, Barry Larkin, Yadier Molina, Todd Helton, and Edgar Martinez. The only non-Hall of Famer on the list (who isn’t on the ballot currently or active) is Bernie Williams.
The Philadelphia Phillies win their 10,000th game
The Philadelphia Phillies have lost more than 11,000 games in their history but they have won 9,935. So if they win 65 or more games in 2022 (which they certainly do), they will achieve their 10,000th win in 2022.
Craig Counsell becomes the manager with the most wins in Milwaukee Brewers history
Craig Counsell has 529 career wins as the manager of the Milwaukee Brewers. Currently, he is second behind Phil Garner, who managed the team from 1992 to 1999.
Counsell is only 34 wins shy of Garner for the all-time record as Brewers manager so this feat will certainly be accomplished in 2022.
Bud Black gets his 1,000th career win
Colorado Rockies manager Bud Black has 998 career wins as a manager so this feat should be achieved within the first week of the season.
When this happens, Black will become only the 66th manager in MLB history to get 1,000 career wins.
Dusty Baker gets his 2,000th career win
Only 66 managers have won 1,000 games in their career but when Houston Astros manager Dusty Baker gets his 2,000th win in 2022, he will become only the 12th manager in baseball history to win 2,000 games.
10 of the 11 ahead of him are Hall of Famers and the only one who isn’t is Bruce Bochy, and he hasn’t been on an Era Committee ballot for induction yet. Coincidentally, for his first two seasons managing (the 1993 and 1994 Giants), Bud Black was a starting pitcher on those teams.