I know that title doesn’t really sound like I’m going out on a limb. Albert Pujols is the best hitter in baseball, after all. But it’s not as safe a statement as you might think. Here, just … right now, I’m doing the “measuring” gesture with my hand, and putting it at about neck level. This is “best hitter in the league” territory. Hold on. Okay, I’m … right now I’m climbing a ladder and doing the “measuring” gesture again. This is “Triple Crown winner” territory. The two aren’t mutually exclusive. Hold on, I need to climb down from this ladder. There. I have just climbed down from the ladder. This concludes my visual demonstration.

Last night Pujols hit two more home runs; he now leads the major leagues with 30 and is on pace to hit 62. He also leads the National League with 77 RBI and is sixth in the league in batting average (.332, behind David Wright’s .345). Keep in mind, Pujols has only won one batting title, and he’s never led the league in home runs or RBI.

Three things work in his favor this year, though. First, he’s hitting home runs and knocking in RBI like he never has before. Second, his career second-half batting average is 18 points better than his first-half average (.344 to .326). And third, there isn’t some other jerk who is clearly running away with the batting title, like a Barry Bonds or Ichiro Suzuki.

It’s been 42 years since a player won a Triple Crown. Long-time baseball fans have been waiting for this. You know what would be awesome? If Pujols does win a Triple Crown, and sniveling nerds like me ruin it by saying, “well, RBI are completely circumstantial. The real story here is that his OPS+ is 207.”