Will Mike Trout lead the league in anything in 2020?

Mike Trout enters the season’s final weekend not leading the American League in any particular notable statistic. If that holds up after these three games, it would be a first for the Angels superstar.

In his first eight full seasons, Trout led the league in at least 52 categories:

• 2012: runs (129), stolen bases (49), OPS+ (168), wRC+ (167), bWAR (10.5), fWAR (10.1)
• 2013: runs (109), walks (110), bWAR (8.9), times on base (309), fWAR (10.2)
• 2014: runs (115), RBI (111), total bases (338), extra-base hits (84), strikeouts (184), fWAR (8.3)
• 2015: slugging percentage (.590), OPS (.991), OPS+ (176), wRC+ (171), bWAR (9.6), fWAR (9.3), times on base (274)
• 2016: runs (123), walks (116), on-base percentage (.441), OPS+ (173), wRC+ (170), bWAR (10.5), times on base (300), fWAR (9.7)
• 2017: OBP (.442), SLG (.629), OPS (1.071), OPS+ (186), wRC+ (180), intentional walks (15)
• 2018: walks (122), OBP (.460), OPS (1.088), OPS+ (198), wRC+ (190), intentional walks (25), times on base (279)
• 2019: OBP (.438), SLG (.645), OPS (1.083), OPS+ (182), wRC+ (180), intentional walks (14), fWAR (8.6)

Even though Trout isn’t leading the league in anything at the moment (except for adjusted Deserved Runs Created, DRC+, at Baseball Prospectus), he’s still having another excellent season. He’s hitting .282/.392/.595 with 16 home runs and a 167 OPS+. Trout is five home runs behind Luke Voit for the AL lead so that gap probably won’t be closed. But there are still several categories in which Trout can lead the league:

• 40 runs scored (4th): Tim Anderson leads with 44
• 163 wRC+ (4th): Jose Abreu leads with 172
• 167 OPS+ (4th): Nelson Cruz leads with 178
• .392 OBP (4th): teammate Anthony Rendon leads with .417; this one’s a long shot, since Trout would need to reach base 12 times in 14 PA would to move to .418.
• 4 intentional walks (2nd): Cruz leads with 5; this might be Trout’s best chance, even though Rendon’s presence has greatly reduced opponents’ willingness to give Trout a free pass.
• 93 times on base (t-3rd): Rendon and Cavan Biggio lead with 95; okay, this might be Trout’s real best chance, with a busy final weekend he could surpass the two ahead of him.
• 4 sacrifice flies (t-4th): Kyle Seager leads with 6; this would be obscure, but still counts!

Trout is also fourth in the AL in FanGraphs WAR (2.5), but a good bit behind league-leader Jose Ramirez (3.2). Trout’s defensive ratings are down this year, and his WAR has suffered, especially so in the Baseball-Reference version (1.5), which is well behind the league leaders.

But with a strong final weekend, Trout could vault himself to the top of one or more of the categories above, adding even more black ink to his Baseball-Reference page.