Mookie Betts’ 2018 campaign wasn’t so much a baseball season as it was a journey through history.

The Boston right fielder’s accomplishments were so vast, he kept bumping up against Red Sox Hall of Famers, from Jim Rice to Ted Williams and Carl Yastrzemski until, Thursday night, he was shoulder to shoulder with Tris Speaker. 

Betts on Thursday was named the overwhelming choice for American League Most Valuable Player, capping a season in which he dominated the major leagues across several statistical categories. 

Come October, the Red Sox put a cap on their fourth World Series championship since 2004, with Betts hitting a home run in the Game 5 clincher. 

Betts won the 12th MVP award in Red Sox history, but he and Speaker now stand alone: The only Sox to claim an MVP and World Series championship in the same season. 

Speaker pulled that double in 1912, when the Red Sox won the World Series in eight games and Speaker batted .383. 

Betts didn’t have such a singularly absurd stat as that. His body of work, however, was second to none. 

He led the major leagues in batting average (.346) and slugging (.640), the first Red Sox to lead both those categories in one season since Williams in 1946. He hit 32 home runs as part of a startling 79 extra-base hits. His 10.9 Wins Above Replacement, as measured by Baseball-Reference, are the most by a position player since Barry Bonds’ 11.8 in 2002.

He also stole 30 bases, and according to the Elias Sports Bureau, is the only major leaguer to win a batting title while also posting a 30-homer, 30-steal season. 

Little wonder, then, that he received 28 of 30 first-place votes to easily out-point Los Angeles Angels outfielder Mike Trout, who along with Betts’ teammate J.D. Martinez received the other first-place votes. 

Trout, a two-time MVP, joins Ted Williams, Albert Pujols and Stan Musial as the only players with four runner-up MVP finishes.

Cleveland’s Jose Ramirez finished third and Martinez finished fourth.

Betts and Martinez did damage all season and reached several historic benchmarks. Perhaps most impressively, they were the first set of teammates since 1903 to finish 1-2 in the major leagues in both slugging and batting average; the Pirates’ Honus Wagner and Fred Clarke were the last to do so.

In the end, though, Betts stood alone.

Follow Lacques on Twitter @GabeLacques