NEW YORK — Shohei Ohtani topped Major League Baseball’s jersey sales for the third straight year heading into the end of the regular season as Paul Skenes and Cal Raleigh entered the top 20.
MLB’s top seven remained unchanged from its listing at the All-Star break. Ohtani, the Los Angeles Dodgers’ two-way star, was followed by New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge, Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman and shortstop Mookie Betts, New York Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor and outfielder Juan Soto, and San Francisco third baseman Rafael Devers.
Ohtani is just the fourth player to lead in three consecutive years after Derek Jeter (2010-12), Judge (2017-19) and Betts (2020-22). MLB started keeping track of sales in 2010.
Skenes, set to win the NL ERA title in his second season with Pittsburgh, was 18th. Raleigh, a Seattle catcher who entered Friday leading the major leagues with 60 home runs, was 20th. Both failed to make the top 20 list at the All-Star break.
Also finishing among the top 20 for the first time were Boston outfielder Jarren Duran at 13th and Chicago Cubs outfielder Pete Crow-Armstrong at 16th.
Philadelphia first baseman Bryce Harper moved up two slots to eighth, dropping Houston second baseman Jose Altuve and San Diego outfielder Fernando Tatis Jr. each down one.
Atlanta outfielder Ronald Acuña Jr. was 11th, followed by Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw, who plans to retire after the postseason and finished among the top 20 for the 12th time.
Cincinnati shortstop Elly De La Cruz was 14th, Toronto first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. 15th, New York Mets first baseman Pete Alonso 17th and San Diego third baseman Manny Machado 19th.
MLB’s list tracked sales on Fanatics’ sites, including MLBShop.com, since opening day.
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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/mlb
