Here are your 2024 stat leaders

Another stellar regular season of Major League Baseball has ended. In just a few days, the 2024 postseason will be here. Before we prepare for the memorable month of playoff baseball, let’s look at the players who led their respective leagues in notable statistics in the regular season.

From home runs to strikeouts to barrels, here's a look at your 2024 league leaders.

• Full 2024 MLB stats leaderboards

BATTING

Home runs:

AL/MLB: Aaron Judge (NYY), 58
After a sluggish start -- for his standards -- Judge went on a tear for the better part of the rest of the year. It looked like Judge was going to possibly break his AL-record-setting 62 home runs he hit in 2022 but instead settled for 58 home runs, tied for the 12th most in an MLB season.

NL: Shohei Ohtani (LAD), 54
Ohtani had an otherworldly first season with the Dodgers, becoming the first player to reach 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases. The Dodgers star reached that feat in a 6-for-6 game for the ages, including three home runs, two stolen bases and 10 batted in. Ohtani also finished his season with an NL-leading and Dodgers-record 54 home runs.

Batting average:

AL/MLB: Bobby Witt Jr. (KC), .332
Thanks to Judge’s outlandish season, there’s a good chance Witt might have to settle for one of the best non-MVP seasons ever. On top of becoming the first shortstop with multiple 30-30 seasons and his superb shortstop defense, Witt became the first Royal to win the batting title since George Brett in 1990.

NL: Luis Arraez (SD), .314
Arraez already made history by becoming the first player to win American League (Twins) and National League (Marlins) batting titles in consecutive seasons from 2022-23. Not only did he make it three straight league titles, he is the only player to win the batting title for three different teams since 1900. Arraez was comfortably in the lead until Ohtani made things interesting during the last few weeks.

RBIs:

AL/MLB: Aaron Judge (NYY), 144
Judge became the first player since Prince Fielder in 2009 (141 RBI) to drive in 140 or more runs in a season. The Yankees slugger also became the ninth Yankee to drive in that many runs since the stat became official in 1920 and the first since Alex Rodriguez in 2007 (156 RBI).

NL: Shohei Ohtani (LAD), 130
Ohtani became the seventh Dodger with 130 or more RBIs in a season and the first since Tommy Davis drove in 153 runs in 1962, the club’s fifth season in Los Angeles and the first at Dodger Stadium. Ohtani joined Matt Kemp (2011) as the only Dodgers to lead the National League in both home runs and RBIs in the same season.

Stolen bases:

AL: José Caballero (TB), 44
This marks the fifth time that a Rays player has outright led or tied for the American League lead in steals since their inaugural season in 1998. Carl Crawford was the outright leader from 2003-04 and in ’06 and tied Brian Roberts (Orioles) for the AL lead in 2007. Caballero did so in his first year with the Rays after Tampa Bay acquired him from the Mariners in January.

NL/MLB: Elly De La Cruz (CIN), 67
De La Cruz has dazzled since debuting for the Reds in June 2023 and the electric shortstop put it all together this season. De La Cruz could finish top three in NL MVP voting thanks to his 6.2 Wins Above Replacement (FanGraphs), .808 OPS, 25 home runs and 67 stolen bases. Those 67 steals are the most by a Red since Eric Davis swiped 80 bags in 1986.

Statcast barrels:

AL/MLB: Aaron Judge (NYY), 104
Judge is arguably the game’s premier power threat and overall hitter. He’s also been the undeniable king of barrels -- batted balls with an optimal combination of exit velocity and launch angle (typically extra-base hits) -- since debuting in 2017. Judge’s 104 barrels led the Majors in 2024, and his 531 barrels are by far the most since ’17 -- Ohtani is next closest at 404.

NL: Shohei Ohtani (LAD), 103
Ohtani joined Judge (2022 and ’24) as the only players with 100 or more barrels in a season since Statcast began tracking in 2015. It’s also 25 more barrels than Ohtani’s previous high of 78 with the Angels during his first MVP season in 2021. Many stats exemplify Ohtani’s excellent season (see above) and this is just another metric that does the same.

PITCHING

Wins:

AL/MLB: Tarik Skubal (DET), 18
Skubal joined Justin Verlander (2007, 2009-11) and Max Scherzer (2013-14) as the only Tigers starters in the 21st century with 18-plus wins in a season. Skubal also became the first Tigers pitcher to outright lead the American League in wins since Scherzer in 2013 (21 wins).

NL/MLB: Chris Sale (ATL), 18
Surprisingly, this was the first time that Sale led his respective league in wins. This was also the third straight year a different Braves starter led the National League in wins, as Spencer Strider won 20 games last year and Kyle Wright won 21 in 2022. The last team to have different starters outright lead their league in wins in three or more straight seasons? The 1995-98 Braves saw Greg Maddux ('95), John Smolts ('96), Denny Neagle ('97) and Tom Glavine ('98) each claim the mantle four years running.

ERA:

AL: Tarik Skubal (DET), 2.39
Skubal’s 2.39 ERA was the lowest by a Tigers starter (min. 150 innings) in nearly a half-century. The eccentric Mark Fidrych was the last Detroit starter with an ERA this low when he posted a 2.34 mark in 1976. Skubal became the first Tigers pitcher to lead the American League in ERA since Aníbal Sánchez’s 2.57 ERA in 2014.

NL/MLB: Chris Sale (ATL), 2.38
Not since the dominant Braves pitching staffs of the ’90s have we seen this kind of all-around excellence from an Atlanta starter. Sale’s 2.38 ERA was the best by a Braves starter since Maddux ran an ERA of 2.36 or lower in five different seasons in the '90s. It was also Sale’s lowest ERA since his minuscule 2.11 mark for the World Series champion Red Sox in 2018.

Strikeouts:

AL/MLB: Tarik Skubal (DET), 228
Skubal joined Verlander (2011) and Hal Newhouser (1945) as the only Tigers to win the pitching Triple Crown (leading in wins, ERA and strikeouts). There was fierce competition until the end in the strikeout category, as Cole Ragans (223 strikeouts) was just five punchouts short of tying Skubal. Originally penciled in to start Sunday’s season finale, Ragans ended up not pitching so the Royals could save him for the AL Wild Card Series.

NL: Chris Sale (ATL), 225
A year after Spencer Strider struck out a Braves Modern Era-record 281 batters, Sale led the National League with 225 strikeouts ... barely, as Dylan Cease finished one strikeout shy at 224. The Braves were the third team with whom Sale led the league in strikeouts, as the lefty struck out an AL-leading 274 batters for the White Sox in 2015 and an MLB-leading 308 batters for the Red Sox in 2017.

Saves:

AL: Emmanuel Clase (CLE), 47
For most of the season, Clase looked primed to lead the Majors in saves for a third straight season, something that hadn’t been done since saves became an official stat in 1969. Clase ultimately couldn’t pull off that feat, but he did lead the American League in saves for a third straight season. Clase is the first pitcher to outright lead the American or National League in saves for three straight seasons since Dan Quisenberry did it from 1982-85.

NL/MLB: Ryan Helsley (STL), 49
Helsley stole some of Clase’s thunder by finishing the season with 49 saves, the most in a season since Edwin Díaz’s 57 saves for the Mariners in 2018 and the most by a Cardinals pitcher since saves became official. Helsley saved more games in 2024 than he did in his first five seasons combined (35).