Pete Alonzo Sets Rookie Home Run Record; Justin Verlander Gets 3000th Career Strikeout

As baseball’s regular season comes to an end, some milestones were passed.

The New York Mets’ Pete Alonzo hit his 53rd home run of the season on September 28th, setting a new rookie home run record. The blast was a solo homer off the Braves’ Mike Foltynewicz in the third inning of New York’s 3-0 win over Atlanta. Alonzo will be the National League home run champ; with one game left in the regular season, he led Cincinnati’s Eugenio Suarez 53-49. He’s also driven in 120 runs and is an absolute lock as the N.L. Rookie of the Year. The Mets were in the playoff chase until the last week of the season, thanks in part to the club having some bats in the lineup for a change to help out the usual good pitching staff.

On the same night that Alonzo set his record, Houston Astros righthander Justin Verlander struck out 12 in the Astros’ 6-3 win over the Los Angeles Angels. In the process, Verlander reached 300 strikeouts in a season for the first time in his career, and also passed 3000 career strikeouts, ending the regular season with 3006, the 18th pitcher in major league history to achieve over 3000 career strikeouts. Verlander is 21-6 with a 2.58 ERA to go with those 300 strikeouts, and those 21 wins lead the majors.

Elsewhere on the last day of the regular season, the Chicago Cubs and manager Joe Maddon are parting company after five years and the first Cubs World Series championship in 108 years. The Cubs had September swoons the last two years, and didn’t make the post season at all this year. The parting was said to be by mutual agreement. Sometimes, shakeups just need to occur to get a team back on track. We look for the Cubs to do some overhauling of the roster this offseason. In another managerial move, the Pittsburgh Pirates fired Clint Hurdle.