StaTuesday: Brewers’ Yelich makes a little history with another cycle
Ryan Braun called it.
Braun declared Christian Yelich a potential MVP candidate just a few months after his new teammate arrived in Milwaukee.
"I think he's got a chance to be in the running for the MVP race this year. I really think he's that good," Braun said back in March.
Once considered an also-ran in a crowded MVP field, the Milwaukee Brewers outfielder has proven Braun right in the second half.
The damage: .355/.417/.733, a 1.149 OPS, 50 RBI and 20 home runs in 53 games since the All-Star break.
Yelich's huge second half has boosted his averages to .318/.385/.570 on the season with a .955 OPS, 93 RBI and 31 home runs.
He leads the league in slugging percentage, OPS and bWAR (5.8), and is tied for the lead in batting average with Cincinnati's Scooter Gennett.
Also: he hit for the cycle Monday night. Again.
Already responsible for the eighth cycle in Brewers history, Yelich went ahead and added a ninth, going 4-for-4 to lead Milwaukee to a win over the Cincinnati Reds.
Yelich hit a single in the first inning, a double in the second, a home run in the fifth and a triple in the sixth, his second cycle against the Reds this season.
That's a first.
The 26-year-old is the only player ever to hit for the cycle twice in the same season against the same team.
As you'd imagine, his numbers against the Reds are pretty wild: A .500 average with a 1.104 slugging percentage, a 1.660 OPS, 53 total bases, 17 RBI, seven home runs, four doubles and three triples in 12 games.
He mixed things up a bit on his second cycle, getting his four hits in one-pitch, two-pitch, three-pitch and four-pitch at-bats.
He's just the 25th player since 1908 to hit for the cycle multiple times in his career, and the third since then to do it multiple times in the same season.
| Player | Team | Year | AB | 1B | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO |
| Christian Yelich | MIL | 2018 | 10 | 4 | 3 | 10 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 0 | 0 |
| Aaron Hill | ARI | 2012 | 9 | 2 | 5 | 8 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 1 |
| Babe Herman | BRO | 1931 | 10 | 2 | 7 | 8 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 0 | 0 |
Overall, Yelich is the fifth player to have multiple cycles in the same season, but baseball-reference's records only go back 110 years.
The others: John Reilly of the 1883 Cincinnati Red Stockings and Tip O'Neill of the 1887 St. Louis Browns.
Just to clarify: Not the politician. The other Tip O'Neill.
