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Trea Turner had two more hits on Saturday night, his sixth multi-hit game in his last seven. His 18-game hit streak is a nice finishing kick for what will almost certainly the Dodgers first recognized batting title in 58 years.
Turner enters Sunday with a .328 batting average, with a sizable lead on his former Nationals teammate Juan Soto, who is hitting .315. Even if Soto has six hits in six at-bats on Sunday (to end at .3234), Turner would need to go hitless in eight at-bats to lose the batting title (at .3233).
“It would obviously be pretty special just because there’s so many good players,” Turner said of the batting title on Tuesday. “When you’re leading in any category, at least a good category, that’s a good thing, and you should take pride in it.”
Dodgers-Brewers lineups
| Pos | Brewers | Pos | Dodgers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pos | Brewers | Pos | Dodgers |
| 2B | Peterson (L) | RF | Betts |
| SS | Adames | SS | Seager (L) |
| 1B | Tellez (L) | 2B | Turner |
| RF | García | 3B | Turner |
| 3B | Urías | 1B | Muncy (L) |
| C | Narváez (L) | C | Smith |
| LF | Taylor | LF | Pollock |
| CF | Bradley Jr. (L) | CF | Taylor |
| P | Anderson (L) | P | Buehler |
Since moving to Los Angeles, only twice has a Dodger officially won a batting title. Tommy Davis led the National League with a .346 batting average in 1962, then did so again by hitting .326 in 1963.
Turner at .328 also has a big lead over the American League average leader Yuli Gurriel at .318. Turner could be the first Dodger to lead the majors in batting average since Eddie Murray in 1990.
Murray did lead the major leagues with a .330 average that year, but did not win a batting title. He lost out in the NL batting title to Willie McGee, whose .335 NL batting average held up after he was traded to the A’s and lowered his overall batting average on the season to .324. I’m contractually obligated to bring this up whenever possible.
Batting average isn’t the only stat Turner will potentially lead the NL in this season.
His 194 hits are 15 more than Freddie Freeman, so that one is locked up. Turner’s 32 stolen bases also leads the NL, two ahead of Cardinals outfielder Tommy Edman. Turner is atop the NL with 315 total bases as well, a five-base lead over Paul Goldschmidt and Austin Riley. Turner is tied with Adam Frazier for the NL lead in 130 singles.
Turner also enters Sunday with a slight lead atop the NL in FanGraphs WAR (6.7), with Soto (6.6), Bryce Harper (6.5), and Fernando Tatis Jr. (6.3) close behind.