Trea Turner finishing the 2021 season with a .328 “batting average” is the National League champion. Right? And Yuli Gurriel finishing with a .319 “batting average” is the American League champion. Right? Only if you continue accepting the fraudulence of the traditional batting average.

Yes, I wrote “fraudulence.” There’s a reason for it. The “batting champion” is determined by dividing hits by official at-bats, but it also treats all hits as equal. The champion is also determined based on having had a minimum number of plate appearances—and yet those PAs that don’t end in base hits don’t count otherwise. No matter what he did in them.

Can you really determine a batting champion without giving him due credit for bases on balls, too? For sacrifice flies? For being hit by pitches? “Official at-bats” make those types of plate appearances vanish. Thin air. Why on earth are we not allowing the whole picture of a man at the plate to factor into his “batting championship?”

Is it truly fair to anoint a “batting champion” when mere hits divided by mere official at-bats treats his singles equal to his doubles, his triples, his home runs? When that quotient treats his doubles like his triples and home runs? His triples equal to his home runs? When it says his home runs are worth nothing more than his singles, his doubles, his triples? When it says his triples are worth nothing more than his singles and doubles? When it says his doubles are worth nothing more than his singles?

Do you really watch a baseball game and believe every hit a player gets is equal? Well, they’d be equal if he goes 4-for-4 with four singles, or four doubles, or four triples, or four home runs. If he hits for the cycle, that’s a remarkable achievement. But you know bloody well that each hit in the cycle was not equal.

Here, we’re going to determine the real batting champions by—you guessed it—my concept of a Real Batting Average. For those ten of you who’ve read my prior writings about it, bear with me for the sake of those new to it.

Real Batting Average (RBA) adds total bases, walks, intentional walks, sacrifice flies, and hit-by-pitches, and divides that total by total plate appearances. We begin with total bases because that number most accurately credits a batter’s hits they way they deserve to be credited—unequally.

Why intentional walks, especially when the other pitcher doesn’t have to throw four wide ones deliberately to make it stick anymore? Very simple: why shouldn’t that batter get credit when the other guys would rather he take his base than their pitcher’s head off?

Why sacrifice flies, since the batter’s making an out? Well, a runner on third scores on the fly, right? That batter didn’t check in at the plate planning to make an out for any reason. So yes, he gets the credit for the only really, truly productive offensive out in any baseball game.

Why are you leaving sacrifice bunts out of the formula?!? Why, I reply, do you insist on a batter getting credit for a pre-meditated out? I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again—outs to work with are the most. precious. commodity. a lineup has to work with when it’s their turn to bat in an inning. Handing the other guys a free defensive out relieves them of one full third of the responsibility of trying to get your lineup out of an inning without damage.

Sacrifice bunts don’t just waste precious offensive outs. In four out of six known sac bunt situations, a team is generally worse off, not better off, after that bunt, in terms of how likely it is for a run to score as a result of that bunt. In only one such situation (men on first and second and nobody out) is a team mostly better off after that bunt; in one more such situation (man on second, nobody out) is a team no better or worse off after that bunt.

I’m going to say it again: the only times any batter should even think about dropping a bunt are a) when he’s being overshifted defensively and has the gift of all that succulent free territory to work with (even and especially if the other guys are stupid enough to give it to him while protecting their pitcher’s no- or one-hitter); or, b) when he sees an infield full of stone hands he can exploit accordingly.

But I digress. If you’re unfamiliar with RBA, you want to know why I’m counting hit by pitches in the equation. Very simple—they want to plunk you, you ought to get extra credit for taking one for the team. They put you on base with malice aforethought, you take your RBA credit with cheerful afterthought. Hopefully, without taking a concurrent hole in the head the way Bryce Harper damn near did in April.

Now that you know (or remember) the thinking behind RBA, here’s the formula once again: TB + BB + IBB + SF + HBP / PA.

So, how about we get to the good part—determining each league’s real batting champions according to RBA. Since Trea Turner’s .328 hitting average led the entire Show among qualifiers, who needed 501 PA or more to qualify, let’s begin with the National League—where Turner comes out number fifteen:

2021 NL Qualifiers	PA	TB	BB	IBB	SF	HBP	RBA
Bryce Harper	599	300	100	14	4	5	.706
Juan Soto	654	268	145	23	5	2	.677
Fernando Tatis, Jr.	546	292	62	6	4	2	.670
Joey Votto	533	252	77	6	4	4	.644
Nick Castellanos	585	306	41	5	6	7	.624
Max Muncy	592	262	83	5	1	11	.611
Tyler O’Neill	537	270	38	0	4	13	.605
Bryan Reynolds	646	292	75	9	4	8	.601
C.J. Cron	547	249	60	3	4	13	.601
Freddie Freeman	695	302	85	15	2	8	.593
Will Smith	501	205	58	4	11	18	.591
Brandon Crawford	549	252	56	6	5	5	.590
Pete Alonso	637	291	60	6	4	12	.586
Austin Riley	662	313	52	2	8	12	.585
Trea Turner	646	319	41	2	4	6	.576
Paul Goldschmidt	679	310	67	2	5	4	.571
Mookie Betts	550	227	68	2	5	11	.569
Manny Machado	640	276	63	10	11	2	.566
Trevor Story	595	262	53	2	5	11	.560
Nolen Arenado	653	293	50	8	7	3	.553
Kris Bryant	586	247	62	4	2	9	.553
Avisail Garcia	515	226	38	5	5	11	.553
Jonathan India	631	244	71	1	4	23	.544
Josh Bell	568	237	65	2	3	2	.544
Justin Turner	612	251	61	0	6	12	.539
Andrew McCutchen	574	214	81	2	7	4	.537
Javier Baez	547	248	28	2	3	13	.537
Adam Duvall	555	252	35	1	3	4	.532
Mike Yastrzemski	532	214	51	4	3	9	.528
Ozzie Albies	686	307	47	2	7	3	.523
Jesus Aguilar	510	206	46	4	7	3	.522
Jake Cronenworth	643	261	55	6	3	10	.521
Luis Urias	570	218	63	3	3	10	.521
Eduardo Escobar	599	259	48	1	1	1	.518
Ryan McMahon	596	237	59	2	5	4	.515
Chris Taylor	582	222	63	2	3	8	.512
J.T. Realmuto	537	209	48	5	2	11	.512
Dylan Carlson	619	237	57	2	8	11	.509
Dansby Swanson	653	264	52	4	7	5	.508
Ian Happ	535	202	62	0	1	5	.505
Eugenio Suarez	574	216	56	0	5	8	.497
Francisco Lindor	524	186	58	4	3	5	.489
Trent Grisham	527	191	54	2	4	6	.488
Tommy Pham	561	182	78	3	4	4	.483
Charlie Blackmon	582	211	54	1	3	11	.481
Josh Rojas	550	199	58	1	3	0	.475
Jonathan Villar	505	189	46	2	0	3	.475
Jazz Chisholm	507	197	34	0	3	4	.469
Kyle Farmer	529	201	22	1	5	18	.467
Adam Frazier	639	237	48	2	1	10	.466
David Peralta	538	196	46	3	2	3	.465
Eric Hosmer	565	201	48	2	2	5	.457
Pavin Smith	545	201	42	1	1	4	.457
Miguel Rojas	539	194	37	0	1	5	.440
Jean Segura	567	224	39	3	4	9	.439
Tommy Edman	691	248	38	1	4	6	.430
Raimel Tapia	533	181	40	2	4	1	.428
Kevin Newman	554	160	27	3	3	1	.350

So, considering Yuli Gurriel’s .319 hitting average, how do the American League title qualifiers stack according to RBA? Fair warning: Gurriel isn’t in the top twenty.

2021 AL Qualifiers	PA	TB	BB	IBB	SF	HBP	RBA
Shohei Ohtani	639	318	96	20	2	4	.689
Vladimir Guerrero, Jr.	698	363	86	7	2	6	.665
Matt Olson	673	305	88	12	11	9	.632
Jose Ramirez	636	297	72	10	5	7	.615
Kyle Tucker	567	282	53	5	5	1	.610
Aaron Judge	633	299	75	2	5	3	.607
Rafael Devers	664	318	62	7	4	7	.599
Brandon Lowe	615	280	68	4	3	9	.592
Marcus Semien	724	351	66	0	3	3	.584
Yordan Alvarez	598	285	50	3	3	8	.584
Salvador Perez	665	337	28	4	4	13	.580
Giancarlo Stanton	579	263	63	1	3	3	.575
J.D. Martinez	634	295	55	6	5	3	.574
Cedric Mullins	675	312	59	3	4	8	.572
Joey Gallo	616	228	111	5	1	6	.570
Nelson Cruz	584	255	51	10	9	7	.568
Jared Walsh	585	270	48	6	3	4	.566
Josh Donaldson	543	217	74	2	8	4	.562
Teoscar Hernandez	595	288	36	1	2	7	.561
Xander Bogaerts	603	261	62	2	7	5	.559
Jose Abreu	659	272	61	3	10	22	.558
Carlos Correa	640	269	75	2	6	4	.556
Jose Altuve	678	294	66	3	6	4	.550
Jorge Polanco	644	296	45	0	6	5	.547
Hunter Renfroe	572	261	44	0	6	1	.545
Mitch Haniger	691	301	54	2	8	9	.541
Ryan Mountcastle	586	260	41	2	7	4	.536
Randy Arozarena	604	243	56	4	5	14	.533
Yuli Gurriel	605	245	59	2	12	4	.532
Miguel Sano	532	219	59	2	1	2	.532
Austin Meadows	591	237	59	3	8	6	.530
Bo Bichette	690	310	40	0	4	6	.522
Enrique Hernandez	585	228	61	0	7	9	.521
Robbie Grossman	671	231	98	3	6	8	.516
Ty France	650	254	46	1	6	27	.514
Jeimer Candelario	626	247	65	1	0	4	.506
Lourdes Gurriel, Jr.	541	233	32	1	6	2	.506
Yoan Moncada	616	214	84	1	2	10	.505
Kyle Seager	670	264	59	2	4	4	.497
Austin Hays	529	225	28	0	1	9	.497
Nathaniel Lowe	642	231	80	2	3	2	.495
Trey Mancini	616	240	51	4	1	8	.494
Tim Anderson	551	247	22	1	1	1	.494
Alex Verdugo	604	232	51	6	5	4	.493
Matt Chapman	622	213	80	0	9	4	.492
Mark Canha	625	201	77	0	2	27	.491
Adolis Garcia	622	264	32	0	4	5	.490
Andrew Benintendi	538	218	36	0	6	2	.487
Michael Brantley	508	205	33	1	1	5	.482
Yandy Diaz	541	180	69	4	4	3	.481
Jonathan Schoop	674	271	37	0	8	6	.478
Joey Wendle	501	194	28	4	3	10	.477
Jed Lowrie	512	182	49	1	4	2	.465
Randal Grichuk	545	216	27	0	4	3	.459
Hunter Dozier	543	192	43	0	6	7	.457
Cesar Hernandez	637	220	59	2	3	5	.454
Miguel Cabrera	526	182	40	0	9	5	.449
Amed Rosario	588	225	31	0	4	3	.447
Whit Merrifield	720	262	40	1	12	4	.443
D.J. LeMahieu	679	216	73	2	5	4	.442
Carlos Santana	659	193	86	3	5	3	.440
J.P. Crawford	687	233	58	1	4	5	.438
Gleyber Torres	516	168	50	1	4	1	.434
Nicky Lopez	565	188	49	0	3	4	.432
Jose Iglesias	511	189	21	0	1	6	.425
Nick Solak	511	166	34	0	2	15	.425
Myles Straw	638	196	67	0	4	2	.422
Michael A. Taylor	528	172	33	0	5	5	.407
David Fletcher	665	203	60	1	1	1	.400
Isiah Kiner-Falefa	677	227	28	2	2	11	.399
Elvis Andrus	541	159	31	2	4	6	.373

You knew Ohtani was having a season so far off the charts for its unicorn nature—a pitcher who could hit well enough to be a designated hitter on the days he didn’t pitch? a hitter who could pitch well enough to lead his team’s starting pitchers in both earned run average (3.18) and fielding-independent pitching (3.52), not to mention strikeouts per nine (10.8)? You knew he could and did hit for breathtaking power enough to finish third in the American League home run race with his 46.

But did you realise Ohtani really was that good at the plate all year? Would you have expected him to beat Vladimir Guerrero, Jr. out among qualifying American League batters and finish second in Show among them with a .689 RBA? Now do you get why Ohtani wasn’t just the most must-see-television among the otherwise hapless (and still pitching-challenged) Angels in the too-long injury-compelled absence of Mike Trout?

What about Harper? Isn’t it time for his critics to shut the hell up once and for all? The guy who led the entire Show in on-base plus slugging (OPS) with his 1.044 this year also led the entire Show with his .706 RBA. Not to mention all but dragging his Phillies back to where they got thatclose to sneaking off with the National League East title—until they met the Braves last week, and ran out of gas or whatever, letting the Braves pin them to the mats and out of the runnings.

Harper opened the season with a lifetime .610 RBA. He closed it pushing his career RBA to (wait for it!) .620. That was despite that pitch off his nose and onto his batting-side wrist taking something off his swing for almost a month.

(It’s also to lament that that torn calf killed Trout’s 2021 after just 36 games played in April and May. When he went down for keeps, his RBA was .733. I’m pretty sure that allowed a full season he would have kept pace and finished with an RBA in the .700+ range. It wouldn’t have done the Angels any good so long as they still couldn’t build a viable full pitching staff, but think about a full season Trout and Ohtani combining for a .650+ RBA.)

So meet your real 2021 batting champions—Bryce Harper and Shohei Ohtani. Everything else considered, it may not be unrealistic to say that you’ve just met your 2021 Most Valuable Players as well.