In 2012, Detroit Tigers slugger Miguel Cabrera had an historic season. Not only did he lead his team to an AL Pennant, but he won the first Triple Crown in 45 years, beat out rookie phenom Mike Trout for the AL MVP and played solid defense after moving to third base. Following the team's disappointing World Series effort, Tigers fans looked back on Cabrera's season and tried to truly appreciate what he did, thinking it would likely be the greatest season they'd see in a lifetime.
10 months later, Cabrera is proving them wrong.
[caption id="attachment_572" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="All of 2012 wasn't smooth for Cabrera, as he hit an 0-22 slump in the month of April."]
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At one point during the 2012 campaign, the best hitter in baseball couldn't even get on base. No one expected the man mired in an 0-22 slump to come back and have anything close to the type of season Cabrera had. Except for, maybe, Miguel Cabrera.
On April 17, 2012, Cabrera hit a popup that was caught by Royal's first baseman Eric Hosmer on the foul side of first base at Kauffman Stadium. At the time, Tigers fans were throwing up their hands in frustration and disbelief at the terrible at bats their top hitter was giving them. Cabrera's average dipped below .250, and there were few signs that things would turn around.
Then, in the third inning, he hit a single to left field. While the Venezuelan native stood on first base for the first time in what must have felt like months, he looked back at the dugout and raised his arms over his head in mock surprise and celebration, glad that the streak was over, yet frustrated that it had lasted so long. Fans were relieved to see Cabrera having fun again, after the absence of his familiar jokes and smiles for over a week.
It was a simple single, but also the spark that started the fire. A fire that has continued to grow; and in the 16 months since that night in Kansas City, Miguel Cabrera's inferno has torched Major League pitching in a way that would send Smokey the Bear running for the hills with tears in his eyes.
[caption id="attachment_574" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Cabrera's impressive Triple Crown numbers in 2012 helped him win the AL MVP award."]
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The Tigers' third baseman finished that season with 44 home runs, 139 RBI and a .330 batting average. He scored over 100 runs, collected over 200 hits and even roped 4o doubles for the fifth time in his career. On the final day of the season, at the same spot in Kansas City, Cabrera was removed from the game to a standing ovation from Royals fans acknowledging his then-inevitable new crown. This was the greatest season of our generation, experts said; Miguel Cabrera was making history.
Then, between late October and early April, everyone forgot to tell Cabrera that after a long offseason to think about that elusive Triple Crown, he was supposed to experience some kind of regression. The 29-year old started 2013 on a tear and hasn't slowed down since.
Currently, Cabrera is batting .365 with 36 home runs and 110 RBI while 46 games remain on the Tigers' schedule. He plays his home games in Comerica Park, one of the biggest stadiums in the Major Leagues, and Prince Fielder is having a much more average season than he did while protecting Cabrera in 2012. Yet still, the MVP is having a better season than he did last year.
For the past few weeks, Cabrera has been playing with a bum hip and sore abdominal. He can hardly get to ground balls hit more than a few feet to either side of him at third base, but the production at the plate is the same as ever. Though the Tigers lost two out of three games to the New York Yankees in their most recent series, Cabrera continued to showcase his inhuman offensive abilities.
[caption id="attachment_575" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Mariano Rivera looks back in disbelief as Cabrera hits a game-tying home run in the ninth inning."]
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With two outs in the ninth inning of game one, Cabrera fouled off some tough two-strike pitches from the greatest closer ever, Mariano Rivera. Down to their final strike, the Tigers still had hope, knowing that the best hitter in the game was at the plate as the tying run. Then, as a happy ending to one of the best at bats of the season, Cabrera deposited the final pitch over the center field wall for a two-run home run to tie the game.
The next day Cabrera added three hits and another home run, this one to left field, in Detroit's only win of the series. He continued to labor around the base paths, but his swing was unaffected.
In the final game of the series, Cabrera burned Rivera again, crushing a solo blast to right field en route to the closer's second blown save in as many appearances. Detroit's star finished the series 7-13 with three home runs (one to each field) and five RBI, doing it all while dealing with his injuries.
These are the moments when the difference between a great hitter and a legendary hitter are most clear. Great hitters finish every season with sparkling statistics and make fantasy owners and statisticians drool over box scores. While Cabrera's statistics are always among the best in baseball, he provides something more. He does things that amaze viewers on a nightly basis, giving people moments to remember in a way that seems so effortless. Just by stepping on the field and enjoying the game he loves, Cabrera can drive the perfect pitch and come through in the clutch moment. The series against New York was just another of these shining moments, as the injured Cabrera twice handled one of the greatest pitchers ever.
Though he trails the Orioles' Chris Davis in home runs, Miguel Cabrera is having his best season in every facet. Impossibly, the numbers are better, the team is having more success and the big man is having more fun than ever before.
[caption id="attachment_576" align="alignright" width="150" caption="Cabrera is one of the players that has the most fun playing the sport he loves."]
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It's easy for Cabrera to be the happiest, funniest, most talkative player in baseball while he is making the game look so easy. When he steps up to the plate, he knows what pitchers are going to throw to him because he is smarter than any other hitter. When they pitch around him, he can hit the ball anyways because he is more talented than any other hitter. At the end of the day, it is impossible to explain what Cabrera is doing because when experts try, he simply takes it to another level.
As the Yankees and Mariano Rivera now know, Cabrera is equipped with an offensive arsenal unlike any other in the game. He can hit the ball over the fence in right, left, or anywhere in between. He'll hit a good pitch up the middle, serve an outside pitch into right, or rip a ball way inside down the left field line. He is comfortable taking a walk, converting a sac fly, or advancing a runner to third base. There are no other hitters like him in the game today, and have been very few in the past.
Between now and October, who knows what will happen? Cabrera could easily catch Davis in home runs and win another Triple Crown, or continue his current pace and win the AL MVP award for the second straight year. He may dominate more future Hall Of Famers on the mound, and amaze more peers in the dugout. Much like last season, baseball fans will pay attention to what is happening, and enjoy watching one of the greatest seasons the sport has ever seen.
Just remember, when it looks like this man has hit his peak, he may have a whole other gear in him.
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