Behold: Your League Leaders - MLB

I realize that one or two clicks can get you this information just about anywhere, but I used to dig the league-leader cards back in the day, and creating this post gave me a decent fraction of the kind of enjoyment I used to get perusing them, so what the hell?

Batting
AL: Josh Hamilton: .359
NL: Carlos Gonzalez: .336
Commentary: This is the seventh time a Rockies hitter has led the NL in average in the eighteen seasons the team has been in existence. Rockies hitters have never led the AL in average. That would be really somethin’, though, eh?

Home Runs
AL: Jose Bautista: 54
NL: Albert Pujols: 42
Commentary: Damn steroids. Just like George Foster in 1977 and Cecil Fielder in 1990!

RBI
AL: Miguel Cabrera: 126
NL: Albert Pujols: 118
Commentary: Each leader won their league’s RBI crown by a single RBI.

Stolen Bases
AL: Juan Pierre: 68
NL: Michael Bourn: 52
Commentary: Pierre was only 14th in success rate. Bourn was 5th. Coco Crisp and Carlos Gomez took the prize in those categories.

OPS
AL: Josh Hamilton: 1.043
NL: Joey Votto: 1.021
Commentary: I wonder if any of the voters who used to mindlessly give their first place MVP vote to the RBI champ have switched to mindlessly giving their vote to the OPS leader? Not a smart way to go about things, even if it would make for a pretty smart vote this year.

Wins
AL: CC Sabathia: 21
NL: Roy Halladay: 21
Commentary: I wonder if anyone made the argument that Dave Goltz should have won the Cy Young award in 1977 due to tying for the most wins in the league. I mean, hell, he had seven more wins than Sparky Lyle did that year. Sparky Lyle just didn’t know how to win I guess.

ERA
AL: Felix Hernandez: 2.27
NL: Josh Johnson: 2.30
Commentary: Jeremy Bonderman (5.53) and Paul Maholm (5.10) bring up the rear among qualifiers.

Strikeouts
AL: Jered Weaver: 233
NL: Tim Lincecum: 231
Commentary: Relax, all right? Don’t try to strike everybody out. Strikeouts are
boring! Besides that, they’re fascist. Throw some ground balls – it’s
more democratic.

Saves
AL: Rafael Soriano: 45
NL: Brian Wilson: 48
Commentary: Wilson also led the league in bad hair, ugly shoes, sloppy uniforms, Just For Men consumption and douchey looking beards.

SAN DIEGO — The scuffling San Diego Padres claimed catcher Gary Sánchez off waivers from the New York Mets.

The two-time All-Star was designated for assignment after playing in three games for the Mets. He went 1 for 6 with three strikeouts and an RBI, looking shaky at times behind the plate.

With the disappointing Padres (24-29) getting meager offensive production at catcher, they hope Sánchez can provide a boost. Austin Nola is batting .131 with three extra-base hits and a paltry .434 OPS in 39 games. His part-time platoon partner, second-stringer Brett Sullivan, is hitting .170 with four extra-base hits and a .482 OPS in 21 games since getting called up from the minors April 16.

Luis Campusano has been on the injured list since April 17 and is expected to be sidelined until around the All-Star break following left thumb surgery.

San Diego is responsible for just over $1 million in salary for Sánchez after assuming his $1.5 million, one-year contract.

The star-studded Padres have lost seven of 11 and are 3-3 on a nine-game East Coast trip. They open a three-game series at Miami.

San Diego becomes the third National League team to take a close look at the 30-year-old Sánchez this season. He spent time in the minors with San Francisco before getting released May 2 and signing a minor league contract a week later with the Mets, who were minus a couple of injured catchers at the time.

After hitting well in a short stint at Triple-A Syracuse, he was promoted to the big leagues May 19. When the Mets reinstated catcher Tomás Nido from the injured list last week, Sánchez was cut.

Sánchez’s best seasons came early in his career with the New York Yankees, where he was runner-up in 2016 AL Rookie of the Year voting and made the AL All-Star team in 2017 and 2019.

He was traded to Minnesota before the 2022 season and batted .205 with 16 homers and 61 RBIs in 128 games last year.

With the Padres, Sánchez could also be a candidate for at-bats at designated hitter, where 42-year-old Nelson Cruz is batting .245 with three homers, 16 RBIs and a .670 OPS, and 37-year-old Matt Carpenter is hitting .174 with four homers, 21 RBIs and a .652 OPS.