Major League Baseball Could See Two Triple Crown Winners in 2024

By Benjamin Chase

Ahead of Tarik Skubal’s home start against the New York Yankees on Sunday night, Skubal and the Atlanta Braves’ Chris Sale were each on track to do something that’s only been done 39 times previously in the history of the game, and even more rare that the top pitchers in each league would do so in the same year - win the pitching Triple Crown.

What Is the Pitching Triple Crown?

While many could recite that the hitting Triple Crown is when one player leads the league in batting average, home runs, and runs batted in all in the same season, many fans would struggle to quickly recall the statistics that make up the pitching version. In the pitching version, a pitcher that leads his league in wins, earned run average, and strikeouts qualifies.

This year, both Skubal of the Detroit Tigers and Sale are in position to end the season with a Triple Crown. Entering Sunday’s action, Skubal led the American League with 14 wins, a 2.53 ERA, and 180 strikeouts. Sale paced N.L. hurlers with 14 victories, a 2.62 ERA, and 187 strikeouts.

Chris Sale pitches for the Atlanta Braves against the Boston Red Sox on May 8, 2024.Photo byWikimedia Commons

Some Triple Crown Numbers

The pitching Triple Crown has been achieved 39 times in Major League Baseball history, most recently by Shane Bieber in the shortened 2020 season. The significant majority of the occurrences, however, happened before integration in 1947, with 25 of the 39 occurrences taking place before that season.

Seven pitchers have recorded multiple Triple Crown. The most recent was Roger Clemens, who had back-to-back Triple Crown seasons for the Toronto Blue Jays in 1997 and 1998. The most by one pitcher is three, achieved by three pitchers: Sandy Koufax (1963, 1965, 1966), Walter Johnson (1913, 1918, 1924), and Grover Alexander (1913, 1916, 1920).

While the era is highly-regarded for its pitching prowess, that commonality of elite arms may have led to less pitching Triple Crowns from integration until the beginning of the Wild Card era, as just five of the 39 were recorded in that 46-year period. From 1994 to current, it’s happened nine times.

With Skubal and Sale both lefties, they’d join 14 times that a lefty had achieved the mark, though just 10 pitchers have achieved the notoriety, as three lefties have pitched to multiple Triple Crowns. The four righties who have achieved multiple Triple Crowns are among 18 right-handers who have recorded 24 Triple Crowns.

If Sale and Skubal are able to both reach the mark, they would be just the fifth pair to achieve a Triple Crown in the same season. While it doesn’t seem as impressive that it last occurred in 2011 when Justin Verlander and Clayton Kershaw each recorded a Triple Crown, before Verlander and Kershaw did it, it was 87 years since Walter Johnson and Dazzy Vance each recorded a Triple Crown in 1924.

Whether a fan of Skubal and/or Sale, it would be really fun to see both pitchers achieve the mark this season, and now you know more about just how rare a feat it truly is!

Benjamin Chase is a newspaper reporter in rural South Dakota with a passion for baseball. He is one of the co-editors of the Here’s the Pitch newsletter, writes for his Medium site (among other spots), and is the co-host of the Pallazzo Podcast weekly prospects show. He can be found on most social media platforms under the username biggentleben.