Miguel Cabrera continues to crawl his way up the all-time leaderboards.
The Detroit Tigers designated hitter announced last fall that 2023 would be his final MLB season. Cabrera entered the year having already broken into the 500 home run and 3,000 hit clubs – becoming the seventh player in MLB history to join both – but he clearly had more left to accomplish.
Cabrera blasted his 510th career home run Sunday against the Houston Astros, taking reliever Phil Maton deep to left-center with a no-doubter in the bottom of the eighth.
That three-run shot gave Cabrera sole possession of the No. 26 spot on the all-time home run list, an honor he previously shared with Gary Sheffield.
Next up on the list are Mel Ott, who has 511, followed by Ernie Banks and Eddie Matthews, who hit 512 apiece. It would take Cabrera three home runs in the Tigers' next 32 games to pass all three of those Hall of Famers and snag No. 23, but he has notably only hit three in 254 at-bats this year.
The home run Cabrera hit Sunday was his first since Aug. 15. Before that, his only home run of the season came back on June 14.
Cabrera has also been making moves on the career RBI and hit lists, taking hold of the No. 13 and No. 20 spots in those categories over the past few weeks.
In 77 games this year, Cabrera is batting .248 with a .661 OPS and -0.4 WAR. For his career – which has been spent entirely with the Tigers and the then-Florida Marlins – Cabrera is a .307 hitter with a .902 OPS and 67.3 WAR.
Cabrera's farewell tour and crusade upon the record books have been some of the lone highlights to come out of the Tigers' 2023 campaign.
Detroit is 59-71, sitting 8.5 games back of first place in the AL Central – the worst division in baseball. The club boasts the seventh-worst record in baseball, as well as the fifth-worst run differential, and of the 10 teams with a lower payroll than the Tigers, seven have a higher winning percentage.
Even amid Cabrera's accomplishment Sunday, Detroit lost to Houston by a score of 17-4.
The Tigers are set to open up a series with the New York Yankees on Monday. First pitch is scheduled for 6:40 p.m. ET.
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