Tony DeMarco

It's mid-August, and we're still able to talk about it as a possibility. No, not the New York Mets being a contender. Something far more rare than that — a Triple Crown winner.

Usually by this point in the season, the question already has been rendered moot. But funny — in this, the year of the pitcher — there remains not one, but three National League sluggers within reach of something that hasn't been done since Carl Yastrzemski in the Boston Red Sox's surprising run to the 1967 American League pennant.

Albert Pujols is a Triple Crown candidate every year, and now has company in Joey Votto and Carlos Gonzalez. The trio sit among the top six in all three categories, and while winning a Triple Crown is unlikely by definition, each is five weeks away from being the 12th player to do so (Ted Williams and Rogers Hornsby won two apiece).

Here's the breakdown as of Aug. 18:

Batting average: 1, Placido Polanco .325; 2, Joey Votto .324; 3, Carlos Gonzalez .320; 4, Miguel Prado .318; 5, Albert Pujols .315.

This is a wide-open race, as there is no Tony Gwynn around to hit .350-plus and muck up the potential Triple Crown works, as he did by winning eight NL batting titles from 1984-97. Polanco is the potential spoiler, Prado currently sits on the disabled list.

Home runs: 1, Dunn 31; 2, Pujols 31; 3, Votto 28; 4, Dan Uggla 27; 5, Mark Reynolds 26.

There is no more consistent home-run hitter than Dunn, who has gone 46, 40, 40, 40, 40 and 38 the last six seasons. He could end any Triple Crown conversation with one more power burst, and the possibility that he could finish the season in the American League has dwindled.

RBI: 1, Pujols 87; 2, Howard 81; 3, Gonzalez and Votto 79; 5, Dunn 78.

Howard has dominated this category of late, winning twice and sharing another title with Fielder in the last five years. But Howard's total is stuck in neutral as he sits on the disabled list, making Pujols a prohibitive favorite.

Three possibilities doesn't necessarily make a Triple Crown any more likely, but it will add an interesting sidelight to the playoff races — especially with all three playing for contenders. A closer look at the contenders:

Pujols
He's the easy consensus choice for a Triple Crown winner, if anybody is going to do it. That's the way it is when you win a Rookie of the Year award, three Most Valuable Player awards, and five Silver Slugger awards in your first nine big-league seasons.

Pujols' career numbers are more staggering than his hardware collection. He is a .332 lifetime hitter, already is just a few homers shy of 400, and a few RBIs short of 1,200 — numbers that put him in the conversation for the greatest hitter ever. He won a batting title in 2003 and the home run title last season, but hasn't won an RBI title — the one category he currently leads.

Considering Pujols is 19 points off his rather lofty career batting average, and has been a .362 hitter in the last three Septembers — his highest monthly batting average in that period — it's quite likely he could make a push in that category.

Votto
There's no better bargain in baseball, as Votto's salary in his third full big-league season is $525,000. That will change this off-season as he reaches arbitration eligibility, because besides the Triple Crown categories, Votto is first in the NL in runs, on-base percentage and OPS.

That makes him a leading MVP candidate and the key to an offense that leads the NL in runs, batting average, slugging percentage and OPS. And it also puts him in the company of great Canadian-born sluggers Justin Morneau and Larry Walker.

Votto, 26, finished second in the 2008 NL Rookie of the Year award voting behind Geovany Soto, and his power numbers were limited in 2009 when he missed three weeks in June. But he did hit .322 for the 2009 season, and is right there again this season, with an increase in the power numbers. Still, it took the fans' last-man vote to get Votto into the All-Star Game last month in Anaheim.

Votto has raised his average from .314 since the All-Star break, but is hitting only .240 in August

Slideshow   The Week in Sports Pictures The Giants on top of the football world, getting ready for the London Olympics and more. more photos

Gonzalez
Crowds at Coors Field don't chant his nickname when he's at the plate — as they do for the Rockies' other young star, Troy Tulowitzki — but Gonzalez is making quite a name for himself. In fact, he's known simply as CarGo around the mountain time zone — but as Little Pony in his own clubhouse.

This is a 24-year-old blossoming star whose success shouldn't come as a surprise. After all, he already has been traded twice as the prized young player in packages for Dan Haren (from Oakland to Arizona) and for Matt Holliday (from Colorado to Oakland).

Since the All-Star Game snub — he should have had a spot, but lost out to lone representatives Byrd, Michael Bourne and Chris Young — Gonzalez has been on a tear. Through Wednesday, his post-All-Star Game numbers were .354, eight homers, 17 RBI, six steals, .708 slugging percentage and 1.081 OPS.

It's unlikely that Gonzalez will catch Dunn in the home-run race, but he has to be the only Triple Crown candidate in history who spent a decent chunk of the early season hitting in the leadoff spot — which makes his RBI total even more amazing. But with the demise of injury-riddled Todd Helton, who has hit in the three hole in Colorado since the Bill Clinton administration, Gonzalez has dropped to the best-hitter-in-the-lineup spot.

Also on NBCSports.com Beyond the Arc: No. 11 Mich. St. takes big step forward Chandler: Jeremy Lin was special even in 8th grade What NFC teams need this offseason  |  And AFC DeMarco: Dodgers could become a contender Follow us on Twitter: @NBCSports  |  And Facebook