So many stars have come through Major League Baseball in the last three decades that it's hard to count them all, much less make sense of their place in baseball history.

Instead, the B/R MLB staff settled on ranking the 50 greatest players of the modern era.

The timeline for this era begins after the 1994 strike, which halted the regular season in August and resulted in the cancellation of the World Series. The subsequent season in 1995 ushered in the start of MLB's wild-card era, and it's now been going for 30 seasons.

Here is the panel who voted on the greatest players of this era:

• Eric Ball:  @EBall_BR
• Jay Dunbar: @JayDunOnTheRun
• Tim Kelly: @TimKellySports
• Kerry Miller: @kerrancejames
• Joel Reuter: @JoelReuterBR
• Zachary D. Rymer: @zachrymer
• Vince Samperio @Vincesince91
• Brandon Scott: @brandonkscott

The resulting list is meant to honor and celebrate the players from the last 30 years who have permanent places in baseball fans' memories. Whether or not they were beloved by everyone, they amazed us, wowed us and ultimately left a lasting mark on the game itself.

Click here for a roundtable discussion on some of the hottest debates around the top 50.

What Makes a Player One of the 50 Greatest of MLB's Modern Era?

In what was far from a random exercise, the panelists for this project had to adhere to certain guidelines as they cast their votes:

• Emphasis on Modern: Players who debuted before 1995 were eligible, but only if they didn't peak in prior years. This ruled out Tony Gwynn and Cal Ripken Jr., among others.
• MLB Only: Minor league and international statistics and achievements were not considered.
• Longevity and Peak: How long did the player perform like a superstar? And how good was he in his best years?
• Postseason Performance: How well, if at all, did the player perform in October?
• Cultural Impact: For good or ill, is the player's legacy about more than just his stats?
• Juice or No Juice: Was the player connected to performance-enhancing drugs? 

Save for the first two, how much weight to give each of these guidelines was up to the individual panelist. In the end, only the voting for the No. 1 spot was unanimous.

Honorable Mentions

These 12 players received at least one vote from our panel but ultimately fell short of cracking the Top 50:

C/2B Craig Biggio: When the term "compiler" is used, Biggio is generally one of the first players mentioned. However, he had seven straight seasons with at least 4.0 WAR in his prime, including a 9.3 WAR peak in 1997. Only six new members have joined the 3,000-hit club since he reached that milestone in 2007.

SP Kevin Brown: Baseball's first $100 million man, Brown should have won the 1996 NL Cy Young (17-11, 1.89 ERA, 233.0 IP) before serving as ace for a pair of unlikely pennant winners in the 1997 Marlins and 1998 Padres. He ranks in the top 50 all-time in pitcher WAR (76.5, 25th) and strikeouts (2,397, 50th), and deserved better than one-and-done on the Hall of Fame ballot.

2B Robinson Cano: Two separate PED suspensions cost Cano a shot at 3,000 hits and will likely keep him out of Cooperstown, but he still stands as one of the most productive offensive second basemen in MLB history. He hit .301/.351/.488 for a 124 OPS+ with 2,639 hits, 335 home runs and 1,306 RBI over 17 seasons, and his 57.5 WAR ranks 18th all-time at the position.

SP Félix Hernández: A 19-year-old phenom who developed into a bona fide ace, "King Felix" made 11 straight Opening Day starts in Seattle. He finished in the Top 10 in AL Cy Young voting six times, taking home the hardware during a 2010 season that helped galvanize the idea pitcher wins don't matter, as he finished 13-12 but posted an AL-leading 2.27 ERA in 249.2 innings.

RP Trevor Hoffman: Nine 40-save seasons and 601 career saves jump off the page for Hoffman, but arguably even more impressive is the fact he nailed down 88.8 percent of his career save chances, which ranks behind only Mariano Rivera (89.1%) among Hall of Fame relievers. He's also arguably the greatest pitcher in San Diego Padres history and did it not with a blazing fastball but with one of the best changeups the game has ever seen.

C Joe Mauer: Only four catchers in MLB history have ever won a batting title, and Mauer won three in a span of four years at his peak with the Minnesota Twins. Concussion issues cut into his career numbers, but he still hit .306/.388/.439 with 2,123 hits over 15 seasons. He won AL MVP in 2009 when he batted .365/.444/.587 with 30 doubles, 28 home runs and 95 RBI, and lived up to the hype of being the No. 1 overall pick in the 2001 draft.

1B Rafael Palmeiro: The image of Palmeiro wagging his finger at Congress, only to later test positive for PEDs himself, will likely be his enduring legacy. However, he is also one of only seven players who are members of both the 3,000-hit and 500-HR clubs, with 3,020 hits and 569 home runs over 20 seasons.

SP Andy Pettitte: Pettitte is the all-time leader in postseason wins (19) and postseason innings pitched (276.2), as he won five rings as part of the Yankees' homegrown "Core Four" in the late 1990s and early 2000s. He also went 256-153 with a 3.85 ERA in 3,316 regular-season innings. An admission of HGH use might be all that is keeping him out of Cooperstown and a spot on the top 50.

OF Gary Sheffield: With a batting stance that '90s kids universally imitated and some of the most electric bat speed the game has ever seen, Sheffield crushed 509 home runs across 22 seasons. He played for eight different teams and was a nine-time All-Star, five-time Silver Slugger winner and another player whose on-field accomplishments have largely become overshadowed by his ties to the BALCO scandal.

OF Sammy Sosa: The '98 home run race is often credited with bringing baseball back from the '94 strike, and Sosa was at the center of it alongside fellow Steroid Era slugger Mark McGwire. He is the only player in baseball history with three 60-homer seasons, and his 609 career-long balls are good for ninth on the all-time list. He hit 292 of those homers during a five-year span from 1998 through 2002.

OF Juan Soto: With a skill set that should age well, Soto has laid the groundwork for a potential Hall of Fame career and is somehow still only 25 years old. Despite his age, he has already racked up 33.2 WAR over seven seasons, hitting .285/.422/.527 for a 158 OPS+ that ranks 21st on the all-time list. How much will he sign for this winter?

1B Joey Votto: An elite on-base threat who sports a .409 on-base percentage and 15.6 percent walk rate over 17 seasons, Votto was not the traditional power-hitting first baseman, but his 144 OPS+ speaks to his elite offensive production. The six-time All-Star won 2010 NL MVP when he hit .324/.424/.600 with 37 home runs and 113 RBI to help the Cincinnati Reds snap a 14-year playoff drought.

50. Todd Helton, 1B

Career Stats: .316 BA, 1,401 runs, 1,406 RBI, 369 home runs, 61.8 WAR, 133 OPS+

Accolades: 5-time All-Star, 3-time Gold Glove, Hall of Fame

The Rockies don't have a lot to show for their 31 years of existence, but at least they have a defining image:

Todd Helton, arms raised in triumph upon securing the out that sent the Rockies to their first and heretofore only World Series in 2007.

With a 13.5-WAR gap between him and the franchise's No. 2 player, Helton's place as the best player in Rockies history is beyond dispute. That distinction comes with an obligatory "Coors" caveat, but Helton himself once offered a solid defense of his work in Denver.

"Is Coors Field a good park to hit in? Yeah," he said. "So are Wrigley Field and Camden Yards. I didn't design Coors Field, I just play there."

Coors Field or no Coors Field, video game numbers are video game numbers. Helton had a 10-year run from 1998 to 2007 in which he averaged a .333/.432/.585 slash line and 30 home runs. He's one of only two players with two seasons of 50 doubles and 40 homers, and he did so in back-to-back seasons in 2000 and 2001.

Though he won three Gold Gloves in 17 seasons, Helton's defense might be underrated. Per Fielding Runs, he's one of the 10 best defensive first basemen in history.

Thank goodness Helton sustained a knee injury while playing quarterback for the Tennessee Volunteers in 1994. It may have led to his Hall of Fame baseball career and Peyton Manning's Hall of Fame football career.

—Zach Rymer

49. Barry Larkin, SS

Career Stats: .295 BA, 1,329 runs, 960 RBI, 198 home runs, 67.0 WAR, 116 OPS+

Accolades: 12-time All-Star, 3-time Gold Glove, 9-time Silver Slugger, 1-time MVP (1995), 1 World Series, Hall of Fame

For a brief window in the 1990s, after Cal Ripken Jr. was in his prime but before Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, and Nomar Garciaparra took the league by storm, Barry Larkin was the best shortstop in baseball.

He is one of only three shortstops in MLB history with at least 150 home runs and 300 steals, and his combination of power, speed and defense made him the face of the franchise for the Cincinnati Reds throughout his 19-year career spent entirely with the team.

He made the NL All-Star team 11 times during a 13-year stretch in the prime of his career, and he led the 1990 Reds to an unlikely World Series title over the heavily favored Oakland Athletics, going 6-for-17 with a double and a triple in the Fall Classic.

During the 1995 season, which was shortened to 144 games on the other side of the 1994 strike, he hit .319/.394/.492 with 50 extra-base hits and 51 steals to edge out Dante Bichette, Greg Maddux, and Mike Piazza for NL MVP honors.

That was one of eight seasons in which he recorded at least 5.0 WAR in his career, and Larkin's 67.0 WAR overall is good for 10th all-time among shortstops.

He became Hall of Fame eligible for the first time on a crowded 2010 ballot that featured 11 future inductees, and finally got over the hump with 86.4 percent support in 2012 to take his rightful place in Cooperstown.

—Joel Reuter

48. Edgar Martínez, 3B/DH

Career Stats: .312 BA, 1,219 runs, 1,261 RBI, 309 home runs, 65.5 WAR, 147 OPS+

Accolades: 7-time All-Star, 5-time Silver Slugger, Hall of Fame

Edgar Martínez spent the bulk of his career as a designated hitter, and that made his Hall of Fame case a unique one when he first became eligible. It took him 10 years on the ballot to finally be enshrined, and that gave baseball fans plenty of time to debate his career accolades.

In the end, there was little doubt he was one of the best pure hitters of his era.

He batted over .300 on 10 separate occasions in his career, winning the AL batting title in 1992 (.343) and 1995 (.356). He wrapped up his 18-year career with more walks (1,283) than strikeouts (1,202) while still hitting for power in the middle of some potent Seattle lineups.

He's one of only 20 players in MLB history to record at least 5,000 plate appearances and finish his career with a .300/.400/.500 batting line, hitting .312/.418/.515 in 8,674 trips to the dish.

Go back and read that last paragraph again. It's worth taking an extra few seconds to fully absorb the significance of those numbers.

He may have spent his career playing in the shadows of Ken Griffey Jr., Alex Rodriguez and later Ichiro Suzuki, but Martínez was a legitimate offensive superstar and one who rarely gets the respect he deserves as an all-time great.

—Joel Reuter

47. Nolan Arenado, 3B

Career Stats: .285 BA, 904 runs, 1,095 RBI, 332 home runs, 48.7 WAR, 121 OPS+

Accolades: 8-time All-Star, 10-time Gold Glove

Nolan Arenado is one of the greatest defenders in MLB history at any position. Combine that with 40-home run power at his peak, and he's the type of player you would tell a kid to model their game after.

Hall of Famer Brooks Robinson has the most career Gold Glove Awards at third base with 16, but the 10 Arenado has won are tied for second among players at the hot corner with another player enshrined in Cooperstown, Mike Schmidt.

If that doesn't impress upon you how dominant Arenado is defensively, he's also won the Platinum Glove Award—which has been given to the top overall defender in each league since 2011—six times. And in terms of defensive runs saved, which have been tracked since 2003, Arenado's 152 DRS are the fourth-most of all defenders.

In addition to his defensive prowess, Arenado has won five Silver Slugger Awards, while leading the NL in home runs three times (2015, 2016, 2018) and RBI twice (2015, 2016). He certainly benefited from playing his home games at Coors Field during eight seasons with the Colorado Rockies. Yet Arenado proved over the final years of his peak with the St. Louis Cardinals that he was hardly just a product of the mile-high elements.

Arenado has never won an NL MVP, but has finished in the top five on four occasions (2016-2018, 2022) and is a pretty safe bet to one day add a Hall of Fame plaque to his resume.

—Tim Kelly

46. Johan Santana, SP

Career Stats: 139-78 record, 3.20 ERA, 2,025.2 innings, 1,988 strikeouts, 45.6 WAR, 136 ERA+

Accolades: 4-time All-Star, 1-time Gold Glove, 2-time Cy Young (2004, 2006)

It's always tough to know where to slot pitchers who had short, elite peaks among the all-time greats, and Johan Santana is a prime example.

With 139 wins and 2,025.2 innings pitched, it's hard to compare his career to guys who put together double the workload and spent a decade-plus as front-line starters, but at his peak, Santana was a strong candidate for the title of the best pitcher in baseball.

Consider the following five-year stretch, with league-leading marks in bold:

• 2004: 34 GS, 20-6, 2.61 ERA, 0.92 WHIP, 265 K, 228.0 IP, 6.8 WAR
• 2005: 33 GS, 16-7, 2.87 ERA, 0.97 WHIP, 238 K, 231.2 IP, 7.1 WAR
• 2006: 34 GS, 19-6, 2.77 ERA, 1.00 WHIP, 245 K, 233.2 IP, 6.7 WAR
• 2007: 33 GS, 15-13, 3.33 ERA, 1.07 WHIP, 235 K, 219.0 IP, 4.0 WAR
• 2008: 34 GS, 16-7, 2.53 ERA, 1.15 WHIP, 206 K, 234.1 IP, 5.2 WAR

His 29.8 WAR during that span led all pitchers and accounted for roughly two-thirds of his career WAR total, making him an extreme peak-over-longevity case.

He won 2004 and 2006 AL Cy Young honors, and while he may not have done it long enough to be a Hall of Famer, he was as good as any pitcher in the last 50 years at his best.

Not bad for a guy who started his MLB career as a Rule 5 pick and spent his first four seasons in a swingman role out of the bullpen.

—Joel Reuter

45. Scott Rolen, 3B

Career Stats: .281 BA, 1,211 runs, 1,287 RBI, 316 home runs, 70.1 WAR, 122 OPS+

Accolades: 7-time All-Star, 8-time Gold Glove, 1 World Series, Hall of Fame

It's possible that nothing has ever hit the nail on the head like Baseball America's scouting report on Scott Rolen from 1997.

"Rolen is one of the most well-rounded prospects in baseball," it read. "He has the ability to hit .290-20-95 within three years while providing above-average range and arm strength on defense."

Beginning with his NL Rookie of the Year-winning season in '97, Rolen averaged almost those exact offensive numbers for the next decade. He peaked with a 34-homer, 9.2-WAR season in 2004, the latter of which is a feat only he and nine other third basemen have achieved.

Yet as good as Rolen's bat was, his glove was better.

He won eight Gold Gloves in 17 seasons, along the way racking up countless "How did he do that?" moments with his range, arm strength and frequent disregard for how many bruises he was going to wake up to the next morning.

The two-sidedness of Rolen's stardom at the hot corner is rare indeed. Alongside Nolan Arenado and Adrián Beltré, he's one of only three players to ever hit 300 home runs and rack up 150 fielding runs as a third baseman.

It took five years longer than it should have, but Rolen was rightfully voted into the Hall of Fame in his sixth year on the ballot in 2023. As one of only 19 third basemen, he's part of the smallest contingent of non-DH position players in Cooperstown.

—Zach Rymer

44. Gerrit Cole, RHP

Career Stats: 147-76 record, 3.19 ERA, 1882.1 innings, 2,178 strikeouts, 40.7 WAR, 129 ERA+

Accolades: 6-time All-Star, 1-time Cy Young (2023)

Save for the incomparable Nolan Ryan, there might not be another storied right-hander whose legacy screams "Power pitcher!" as loudly as Gerrit Cole's.

Cole has fanned 28.8 percent of the batters he's faced during his 12-year major league career. Among all pitchers who have made at least 300 starts, that places him above the likes of Randy Johnson and Pedro Martinez and below only Max Scherzer.

Cole was never nastier than in 2019 when he faced 817 batters and struck out 326 of them. At 39.9 percent, it's the highest strikeout rate a pitcher has ever achieved in a season featuring at least 30 starts.

Because pitch-tracking technology hasn't been around forever, it's impossible to say just how favorably Cole's arm compares to those of Ryan and the other great fastballers from history.

Among his contemporaries, though, Cole stands alone. Including the playoffs, he's thrown 15,935 fastballs of at least 95 mph. Or, exactly 1,927 more than the next-closest pitcher.

We're still years away from determining whether Cole had a Hall of Fame career, and the question remains whether he'll help his own cause by adding a World Series ring to his accolades. He has a 2.93 ERA in 17 career playoff starts with the Astros and Yankees, but The Big One has thus far remained elusive.

Still, Cole will go down as one of the most consequential pitchers in history regardless. Not just because of what he's done on the field, but also because of how dramatically he elevated the earning potential for aces with his record-setting $324 million contract.

—Zach Rymer

43. Zack Greinke, RHP

Career Stats: 225-156 record, 3.49 ERA, 3,389.1 innings, 2,979 strikeouts, 72.4 WAR, 121 ERA+

Accolades: 6-time All-Star, 6-time Gold Glove, 1-time Cy Young (2009)

Zack Greinke probably likely certainly does not care that he's on this list.

There are things he does care about, such as his decorative samurai sword, The Shawshank Redemption and the price of guacamole at Chipotle. But baseball honors have never really been his thing, whether we're talking Gold Gloves, no-hitters or even the Cy Young Award.

"Not really," he once said when asked if he was anticipating winning the award for his 2009 season. "I've been playing this 'World of Warcraft' game."

An interesting dude, clearly. And also one of the great pitchers of his era.

For a career spanning 2004 through 2023, Greinke ranks fourth among all pitchers in WAR since the turn of the century. He's also the last pitcher to reach 10 WAR in a single year (in 2009) and to record a sub-1.70 ERA in a full season (in 2015).

His pitching style evolved over the years, as it indeed had to as he lost 5 mph off his fastball throughout the course of his career. One constant, though, was his defensive prowess, which earned him six Gold Gloves and the most Defensive Runs Saved of any pitcher since the stat debuted in 2003.

Why Greinke over Cole, you ask? Well, the 32-WAR gap between the two certainly favors the former. And even if you want to compare where Cole is now to where Greinke was at the same age, we're still talking nearly a 20-WAR gap.

The Hall of Fame should beckon for Greinke eventually. And if it does, his acceptance speech promises to be an all-timer.

—Zach Rymer

42. Buster Posey, C

Career Stats: .302 BA, 663 runs, 729 RBI, 158 home runs, 44.8, 129 OPS+

Accolades: 7-time All-Star, 1-time MVP (2012), 1-time Gold Glove, 3 World Series

It's not often one can say this about a guy who only played 12 seasons in the majors, but Buster Posey retired with nothing left to prove.

He was a sensation amid an NL Rookie of the Year-winning season in 2010. Then, after missing most of 2011 with a literally game-changing leg injury, in 2012 he won the NL MVP.

Posey is one of three catchers to win a Rookie of the Year and an MVP, with the others being Johnny Bench and Thurman Munson. And whereas each of them won "just" two World Series apiece, Posey was the beating heart of Giants teams that won it all in 2010, 2012 and 2014.

You could say it was the Giants' pitching that won those three titles, but it was Posey who was the glue that bound the club's great hurlers together.

He caught the likes of Madison Bumgarner, Tim Linceum and Matt Cain and thus shares the credit for some of their greatest performances. He notably caught three no-hitters, including Cain's perfect game in 2012.

Not bad for a guy who's also one of the greatest offensive catchers ever. Posey is one of only six backstops to hit over .300 for his career and, at the age of 34, ended his run in 2021 as one of the oldest catchers to achieve a 140 OPS+ in a season.

Posey stands to appear on the Hall of Fame ballot for the first time in 2027. If all goes well, he'll get a plaque in Cooperstown before he gets a chance to appear on another.

—Zach Rymer

41. Andruw Jones, OF

Career Stats: .254 BA, 1,204 runs, 1,289 RBI, 434 home runs, 67.0 WAR, 111 OPS+

Accolades: 5-time All-Star, 10-time Gold Glove, 1-time Silver Slugger

Andruw Jones wrapped up his 17-year career with 434 home runs and 10 Gold Gloves. Here is a full list of every player in MLB history who has at least 400 home runs and 10 Gold Glove wins:

• Willie Mays
• Ken Griffey Jr.
• Mike Schmidt
• Andruw Jones

It's worth saying that Gold Glove wins are not always the best gauge of a player's defensive prowess, but anyone who watched Jones patrol center field in his prime knows he was one of the best to ever roam the position.

So why is it taking him so long to get the call to Cooperstown?

One of the most hyped prospects ever, Jones sent already lofty expectations soaring even higher when he hit two home runs in Game 1 of the 1996 World Series as a 19-year-old rookie.

He went on to rack up 342 home runs, 1,023 RBI, 61.0 WAR, and nine of his 10 Gold Glove wins, all before his 30th birthday.

However, he played just six seasons in his 30s, hitting .214 with a 92 OPS+ and 3.0 WAR in 589 games while battling injuries and suiting up for the Dodgers, Rangers, White Sox and Yankees.

That less-than-stellar end to his career ultimately soured his overall legacy and kept him from putting up the no-doubt Hall of Fame numbers he appeared to be on track for in his 20s, but he still stands as one of the best two-way center fielders to ever play the game.

After receiving just 7.3 percent of the vote in his first year on the Hall of Fame ballot in 2018, he made it all the way up to 61.6 percent in the 2024 balloting. Will he get over the hump with three years of eligibility remaining?

—Joel Reuter

40. Freddie Freeman, 1B

Career Stats: .301 BA, 1,270 runs, 1,196 RBI, 333 home runs, 60.2 WAR, 143 OPS+

Accolades: 7-time All-Star, 1-time MVP (2020), 1-time Gold Glove, 1 World Series

Freddie Freeman made his MLB debut for the Atlanta Braves during the 2010 season when he was only 20 years old. He was a very good player across five-and-a-half seasons, but since 2016, the 2007 second-round pick has emerged as a likely Hall of Famer.

Since the start of the 2016 season, Freeman has hit .311 with a .943 OPS. During that period, he's led all of baseball in doubles (335), including setting a new Los Angeles Dodgers franchise record with 59 doubles in 2023.

It once seemed impossible to imagine Freeman playing for any organization other than the Braves, the team with which he won the NL MVP in 2020 and a World Series in 2021.

But for as much as Freeman accomplished during 12 seasons with the Braves, he really hasn't skipped a beat since inking a six-year, $162 million deal to join the Dodgers prior to the 2022 campaign. In many ways, joining a team across the country and showing another fanbase just how tremendous of a hitter he is only enhanced Freeman's legacy.

Sure, Freeman's NL MVP came during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season. But during his excellent career, Freeman has finished fifth or better in voting for the Senior Circuit's top honor on four other occasions. Before his career concludes, it's not hard to imagine Freeman winning another MVP or coming close.

—Tim Kelly

39. Jacob deGrom, SP

Career Stats: 84-57, 2.53 ERA, 1,356.1 innings, 1,652 strikeouts, 42.6 WAR, 155 ERA+

Accolades: 4-time All-Star, Rookie of the Year, 2-time Cy Young (2018, 2019)

Jacob deGrom's career is one of the hardest in MLB history to put in proper context. He's got arguably the greatest arsenal of pitches of anyone who has ever taken a mound. But the electricity deGrom has pitched with at his best has likely also contributed heavily to a maddening inability to stay healthy.

There's no debate about deGrom's greatness when healthy, though. He won the NL Rookie of the Year Award while with the New York Mets in 2014. The four-year stretch that deGrom had from 2018 to 2021—albeit a span that included a pandemic-shortened 2020 season and only 15 starts in 2021—was one of the most dominant baseball has ever seen. DeGrom posted minuscule marks in terms of ERA (1.94) and FIP (2.14) over the four seasons that will likely be looked back upon as the peak of his career.

Unfortunately, deGrom has made just 17 starts since the beginning of the 2022 campaign. He joined the Texas Rangers on a five-year, $185 million deal before the 2023 season but ultimately missed the team's World Series run as he recovered from Tommy John surgery. There's hope deGrom can return in the second half of the 2024 season, but it's difficult to bet on his health after years of injuries.

Now 36, deGrom is under contract with the Rangers through the 2027 season, so certainly they hope he has a second act in him. It would be great for baseball if deGrom returns to the mound in his late 30s and reclaims the dominance that made him must-watch TV at his best.

If not, though, deGrom is still one the greatest pitchers in Mets history and someone whose peak will be worth discussing for a long time to come, even if it feels like injuries cheated him out of being an all-time great.

He offers an interesting contrast with No. 38, who wasn't a better pitcher at the height of his powers but had much more sustained success.

—Tim Kelly

38. CC Sabathia, SP

Career Stats: 251-161 record, 3.74 ERA, 3,577.1 innings, 3,093 strikeouts, 66.5 WAR, 116 ERA+

Accolades: 6-time All-Star, 1-time Cy Young (2007), 1 World Series

CC Sabathia was a first-round pick in 1998 by the franchise now known as the Cleveland Guardians. While with Cleveland, Sabathia won the 2007 AL Cy Young Award. He then helped the New York Yankees win a World Series title in 2009, his first of 11 seasons in the Bronx.

Yet, the defining stretch of Sabathia's career may have come in 2008, when the Milwaukee Brewers acquired him prior to the trade deadline from Cleveland. Sabathia proved to be one of the greatest trade-deadline additions in MLB history, going 11-2 with a 1.65 ERA. Seven of his 17 starts with the Brewers were complete games, three of them of the shutout variety. Sabathia willed the Brewers to their first postseason appearance since 1982.

Having previously seen Sabathia pitch in the AL for parts of eight seasons with Cleveland, the Yankees inked the workhorse lefty to a seven-year, $161 million deal in free agency, which was the largest deal ever for a pitcher at the time. Across more than a decade in pinstripes, Sabathia entrenched himself in the history of the most successful franchise the sport has ever seen.

Sabathia led baseball in wins in both 2009 and 2010, finishing fourth or better in AL Cy Young voting in each of his first three seasons with the Yankees. His 1,700 strikeouts are fourth in Yankees history.

Having last pitched in 2019, Sabathia will become eligible for the Hall of Fame ballot for the first time in 2025. He's unlikely to be a first-ballot selection, but as one of the most accomplished pitchers of his era, he's unquestionably going to have enough proponents who believe he's worthy of induction to the Hall of Fame.

—Tim Kelly

37. Mark McGwire, 1B

Career Stats: .263 BA, 1,167 runs, 1,414 RBI, 583 home runs, 62.1 WAR, 163 OPS+

Accolades: 12-time All-Star, AL ROY (1987), 1 World Series

One fundamental question we kept returning to in putting together this list was: Can you tell the story of Major League Baseball's past three decades without including that player?

With Mark McGwire, it's a resounding, 500-feet-in-the-direction-of-Big-Mac-Land, heck no.

Plenty of sluggers and known/suspected steroid users didn't quite make the cut, including guys like José Canseco, Sammy Sosa and Rafael Palmeiro, who immediately spring to mind when you think back on McGwire's legacy.

What sets Big Mac—an admitted steroid user himself—apart from that crowd is A) considerably more All-Star honors, B) a more memorable peak and C) a laughably superior OPS.

While Canseco, Sosa and Palmeiro all ended up in the very respectable .865-.885 OPS range, McGwire landed at .982. That puts him five points ahead of both Mickey Mantle and Joe DiMaggio on the all-time list and has him trailing only Barry Bonds, Aaron Judge, Manny Ramirez, and Mike Trout in the pool of players eligible for this list.

Mostly, though, it was the pantheon levels of homering greatness from 1996 to '99 that mandated McGwire get a spot in the top 50.

He led the majors in home runs in each of those four seasons—which he also did as a rookie in 1987, by the way—mashing a combined total of 245 moonshots during that stretch.

That's 61.25 per season.

He averaged one home run for every 8.13 at-bats for those four years.

His record-breaking 62nd home run during the summer of 1998 is easily one of the biggest "I remember where I was when..." moments for baseball fans over the age of 35.

As powerful as McGwire was, though, he wasn't quite as complete a hitter as the next name on the list.

—Kerry Miller

36. Larry Walker, OF

Career Stats: .313 BA, 1,355 runs, 1,311 RBI, 383 home runs, 68.7 WAR, 141 OPS+

Accolades: 5-time All-Star, 7-time Gold Glove, 3-time Silver Slugger, 1-time MVP (1997), Hall of Fame

A lazy argument against Larry Walker—and a big reason it took the full 10 years on the Hall of Fame ballot to finally get inducted into Cooperstown—is that he spent the prime of his career playing half his games at Coors Field.

However, he was no product of his environment.

Here's a quick look at the home/road splits from his 1997 NL MVP season, when he posted a career-high 9.1 WAR and hit .366/.452/.720 with 46 doubles, 49 home runs, 130 RBI and 33 steals in 153 games:

• Home: 350 PA, .384/.460/.709, 1.169 OPS, 20 HR, 68 RBI
• Road: 314 PA, .346/.443/.733, 1.176 OPS, 29 HR, 62 RBI

That MVP performance was followed by a run of three NL batting titles in four years, as he paced the NL in 1998 (.363), 1999 (.379) and 2001 (.350). He was still going strong as a 38-year-old with the St. Louis Cardinals in his final season when he batted .289/.384/.502 for a 130 OPS+ over 100 games in 2005.

On top of his dynamic offensive game, Walker was also an elite defensive outfielder, winning seven Gold Gloves and racking up 154 outfield assists in his career thanks to an 80-grade throwing arm in right field.

—Joel Reuter

35. Carlos Beltrán, OF

Career Stats: .279 BA, 1,582 runs, 1,587 RBI, 435 home runs, 67.4 WAR, 119 OPS+

Accolades: 9-time All-Star, 3-time Gold Glove, 2-time Silver Slugger, 1 World Series

Carlos Beltrán kicked off his MLB career with 1999 AL Rookie of the Year honors for the Kansas City Royals, hitting .293/.337/.454 with 22 home runs, 108 RBI and 27 steals, giving a glimpse of the power-speed combination that would become his calling card.

He ultimately priced himself out of Kansas City and was traded to Houston midway through the 2004 season. He would go on to be one of the most productive rental bats of all time. He posted a 135 OPS+ with 23 home runs and 28 steals in 90 games to help the Astros make the playoffs, then hit .435/.536/1.022 with 20 hits, eight home runs and 14 RBI in 12 playoff games.

He parlayed that stellar contract season into a seven-year, $119 million deal with the New York Mets. It ended up being one of the better nine-figure deals ever handed out, as he tallied 149 home runs, 100 steals and 29.3 WAR while earning five All-Star selections and winning three Gold Gloves before being flipped to the San Francisco Giants for a young Zack Wheeler in the final year.

With 435 home runs and 312 steals, he joins Barry Bonds, Willie Mays, Alex Rodriguez and Andre Dawson as the only members of the 400-homer, 300-steal club, and he has eight years left on the Hall of Fame ballot after garnering 57.1 percent of the vote in the 2024 cycle.

His role in the Houston Astros' sign-stealing scandal might be the only reason he was not a first-ballot selection, and there is a reasonable case to be made he is one of the 10 best center fielders in baseball history.

—Joel Reuter

34. Mike Mussina, SP

Career Stats: 270-153 record, 3.68 ERA, 3,562.2 innings, 2,813 strikeouts, 81.2 WAR, 123 ERA+

Accolades: 5-time All-Star, 7-time Gold Glove, Hall of Fame

Outside of Nolan Ryan, there is a solid case to be made that Mike Mussina is the best pitcher to never win a Cy Young since the award's inception in 1956.

He was the eighth pitcher taken at No. 20 overall in the 1990 draft after a standout collegiate career at Stanford. A year after his draft, he joined the Baltimore Orioles' rotation.

Over 10 seasons in Baltimore, he went 147-81 with a 3.53 ERA, 1.18 WHIP and 1,535 strikeouts in 2,009.2 innings, making five All-Star teams and finishing in the top 10 in Cy Young balloting seven different times.

That production came at the peak of the Steroid Era, and he continued to serve as a front-line starter after joining the New York Yankees in free agency ahead of his age-32 season, pitching eight more seasons in the Bronx.

He went 20-9 with a 3.37 ERA in 200.1 innings as a 39-year-old in 2008 to close out his MLB career, retiring on top rather than continuing to chase an elusive World Series ring. Despite pitching to a 3.42 ERA in 139.2 career postseason innings, he never won a title and only twice appeared in the World Series.

He ranks in the top 50 in wins (270) and strikeouts (2,813), but the most surprising stat of all is his 81.2 WAR, which is good for 18th all-time among all pitchers. He may not have ever been the best pitcher in baseball at any point in his career, but he was a legitimate ace for the bulk of his 18-year run in the big leagues.

—Joel Reuter

33. Vladimir Guerrero, RF

Career Stats: .318 BA, 1,328 runs, 1,496 RBI, 449 home runs, 181 stolen bases, 59.5 WAR, 140 OPS+

Accolades: 9-time All-Star, AL MVP (2004), Hall of Fame

Vladimir Guerrero never met a pitch that he didn't like.

He got one hit on a pitch that literally bounced before reaching the plate. He also once homered on a curveball that was going to bounce off the plate if he hadn't golfed it around 130 yards into the left-field seats.

He could hit fastballs that came in at roughly eye level and had the arm extension to flare pitches from the other batter's box into right for opposite-field singles.

Basically, if he made up his mind that he was swinging, good luck getting the ball past him.

Players who are that free-swinging aren't supposed to be this successful. Take Javier Báez, for instance, who occasionally thinks he's Vlad Sr., only to miss the ball by a country mile.

But Guerrero strung together a dozen consecutive seasons with a batting average north of .300 and became one of just six players in MLB history with at least 2,500 hits, 400 home runs and a batting average north of .315, joining Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, Lou Gehrig, Stan Musial and Jimmie Foxx in that exclusive club.

His arm might have been even better than his bat, though.

Guerrero never won a Gold Glove, but he did rack up 126 assists with a cannon in right field that runners quickly learned was not to be tested.

—Kerry Miller

32. Jose Altuve, 2B

Career Stats: .307 BA, 1,115 runs, 786 RBI, 222 home runs, 306 stolen bases, 52.0 WAR, 129 OPS+

Accolades: 8-time All-Star, AL MVP (2017), three-time batting champ, 2 World Series

Plenty of baseball players have become namesakes for awards and feats over the years.

You've got the Cy Young. The Hank Aaron Award. The Lou Gehrig Memorial Award. There's an Edgar Martínez Award for the best designated hitter. And, of course, there's the "Maddux," which needs fewer than 100 pitches to record a complete game.

How many players have become measurements, though?

Standing a diminutive 5 feet 6 inches "tall," when he first got to the majors, José Altuve's height (or lack thereof) inspired broadcasters to start talking about home run distances in terms of how many Altuves the ball traveled. This resulted in an Astros fan creating a simple web calculator where you could figure out, say, how many Altuves tall the Eiffel Tower is, or how many Altuves wide the state of Texas is.

What no one could have measured at the time was how big of a star the pint-sized second baseman was going to become.

A light-hitting speedster early in his career, Altuve became the best hitter in the big leagues by the age of 24, racking up at least 200 hits in four consecutive seasons—during which time the Astros improved from a laughingstock to a World Series champion.

After combining for 21 home runs and 131 stolen bases in his first four seasons, he became much more of a slugger starting in 2015.

In fact, with 27 career postseason home runs, he's only two away from tying Manny Ramírez (29) for the all-time record in that department. And possible buzzers/trash cans aside, it's hard to argue with two World Series rings.

Not too shabby for a small fry.

—Kerry Miller

31. Jeff Bagwell, 1B

Career Stats: .297 BA, 1,517 runs, 1,529 RBI, 449 home runs, 80.2 WAR, 149 OPS+

Accolades: 4-time All-Star, 1-time Gold Glove, 3-time Silver Slugger, 1-time MVP (1994), Hall of Fame

Jeff Bagwell sometimes gets lost in the shuffle of an era that was absolutely stacked at first base, with Frank Thomas, Jim Thome, Mark McGwire, Fred McGriff, Rafael Palmeiro, Carlos Delgado, Mo Vaughn, Cecil Fielder, John Olerud, Mark Grace, Andres Galarraga, Tino Martinez, Eric Karros and others serving as his contemporaries.

Fun fact: His 80.2 career WAR is higher than any of those guys.

In fact, it's the sixth-highest total in MLB history by a first baseman, behind only Lou Gehrig (115.9), Jimmie Foxx (101.4), Cap Anson (91.2), Albert Pujols (89.9) and Roger Connor (86.2).

With a unique crouched stance and an unorthodox load that started with a step away from the pitcher—something plenty of '90s kids perfected in their backyards—Bagwell was one of the most feared run producers of his era, but he was more than just a potent bat.

He is also the only first baseman with multiple 30-30 seasons, accomplishing that feat in 1997 (43 HR, 31 SB) and 1999 (42 HR, 30 SB), and finished his 15-year career with 202 steals.

Bagwell won 1991 NL Rookie of the Year and 1994 NL MVP in the days before the Houston Astros moved to the American League, hitting .368/.451/.750 with 39 home runs and 116 RBI in just 110 games during the strike-shortened '94 season.

Even with Houston's recent run of success, he still leads the franchise in WAR (80.2), home runs (449), and RBI (1,529).

—Joel Reuter

30. Aaron Judge, OF

Career Stats: .285 BA, 681 runs, 655 RBI, 289 home runs, 46.6 WAR, 169 OPS+

Accolades: 6-time All-Star, Rookie of the Year, 1-time MVP (2022)

Aaron Judge didn't have his first full MLB season until he was 25 and has, at times, struggled to stay healthy in his career. But when Judge has been on the field, he's produced like a first-ballot Hall of Famer.

Judge may have had to wait until his mid-20s to get an opportunity with the New York Yankees, but he crushed 52 home runs in 2017 en route to winning the AL Rookie of the Year Award and finishing runner-up to Jose Altuve in the AL MVP race.

Injuries limited Judge to 242 of a possible 384 games between 2018 and 2020. However, he returned with authority in 2021, homering 39 times and finishing fourth in AL MVP voting.

Judge finally got over the hump and won the AL MVP in 2022, putting up one of the greatest power seasons in MLB history. Judge set a new AL record in home runs in 2022, clubbing 62 of them. He also led baseball in runs scored (133), RBI (131), on-base percentage (.425), slugging percentage (.686), OPS (1.111), OPS+ (210), total bases (391) and WAR (11.2).

After signing a new nine-year, $360 million deal to remain with the Yankees following his MVP season, Judge was limited to 106 games in 2023 but still managed to hit 37 home runs, a full season's worth of production for an All-Star-level player.

It's taken Judge just over half a season to nearly match his 2023 production. At the time of publication, Judge is the heavy favorite to win AL MVP, having already won Player of the Month for the Junior Circuit in May and June. If he's able to stay healthy, not only could Judge add a second MVP in three years, but he might be able to challenge his own AL single-season home run record.

Between a later career debut and some injuries, Judge hasn't had the typical path to superstardom. But his No. 99 is overwhelmingly likely to be retired by the Yankees one day, perhaps as a precursor to the larger-than-life slugger being inducted into the Hall of Fame.

—Tim Kelly

29. Curt Schilling, RHP

Career Stats: 216-146 record, 3.46 ERA, 3,261.0 innings, 3,116 strikeouts, 80.5 WAR, 127 ERA+

Accolades: 6-time All-Star, 3 World Series

You don't have to like Curt Schilling to appreciate what an amazing pitcher he was. Especially when it counted.

Schilling made 19 starts in the postseason during a 20-year career that spanned 1988 to 2007, and in those starts, he authored a 2.23 ERA. This is the lowest such mark among all pitchers who've made at least 15 playoff starts.

Schilling's run through the 2001 playoffs with the Diamondbacks is one of only two cases of a pitcher logging at least seven innings six times in a single postseason. And while Schilling himself is not represented in Cooperstown, one of his socks got a display in 2005.

It's not actually the one you're thinking of. But let's face it, you knew there would be a mention of Schilling's bloody sock from his legendary performance for the Red Sox in Game 6 of the 2004 American League Championship Series.

The regular-season version of Schilling was none too shabby either. He's 27th all-time among pitchers in WAR and 10th on the all-time K/BB list. He might have won three Cy Young Awards if it hadn't been for then-teammate Randy Johnson in 2001 and 2002 and Johan Santana in 2004. He was second in the voting all three years.

Schilling's tireless insistence on picking unsavory hills to die on had the effect of him digging his own grave with Hall of Fame voters, many of whom basically granted his wish to be spared from the voting altogether. It's a sad, messy story that nobody wants.

Yet for Diamondbacks and Red Sox fans, at least, the memories that Schilling helped make are forever.

—Zach Rymer

T-28. Tom Glavine, SP

Career Stats: 305-203 record, 3.54 ERA, 4,413.1 innings, 2,607 strikeouts, 66.7 WAR, 118 ERA+

Accolades: 10-time All-Star, 4-time Silver Slugger, 2-time Cy Young (1991, 1998), 1 World Series, Hall of Fame

He may have been Robin to Greg Maddux's Batman for all those years atop the Atlanta Braves rotation, but Tom Glavine is in the Hall of Fame for a reason, and stands as one of the most accomplished left-handed pitchers in the history of the sport.

Here's a quick rundown of where he sits on the all-time leaderboards among southpaws:

• Starts: 682, 3rd
• Wins: 305, 4th
• Strikeouts: 2,607, 8th
• Innings: 4,413.1, 7th
• WAR: 66.7, 10th

Unlike Maddux, who was signed as a free agent, and John Smoltz, who was acquired in a trade with the Detroit Tigers, Glavine was a homegrown arm for the Braves, selected in the second round of the 1984 draft.

He won NL Cy Young in 1991 (20-11, 2.55 ERA, 246.2 IP) and 1998 (20-6, 2.47 ERA, 229.1 IP), and that was two of the five times he won 20 games in his 22-year career back when that was still a major milestone.

With a 3.30 ERA in 218.1 postseason innings and 1995 World Series MVP honors on his mantle, he was also arguably the best of Atlanta's "Big Three" when it came to playoff performance.

He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2014, fittingly sharing the stage with Maddux after receiving an impressive 91.9 percent voting support.

—Joel Reuter

T-28. Jim Thome, 1B

Career Stats: .276 BA, 1,583 runs, 1,699 RBI, 612 home runs, 73.1 WAR, 147 OPS+

Accolades: 5-time All-Star, Hall of Fame

Jim Thome was maybe the toughest player to rank in this entire exercise.

Five All-Star seasons are impressive by usual standards but just about the bottom of the barrel among players considered here.

He never won an MVP.

Heck, he never finished in the top three in an MVP vote and only once (2003) landed in the top five, for his lone time leading the league in home runs. Thome was never a batting champ, either.

However, he was sort of the unofficial founding father of the "three true outcomes" approach to hitting, either walking, homering or whiffing in 46.7 percent of his career plate appearances.

He was a more powerful version of Joey Votto, a more strikeout-prone version of Ken Griffey Jr. and a better walk-drawing (and less bat-corking) version of Sammy Sosa.

More than anything, for more than two decades, Thome was just kind of always there with an affinity for mashing. He was considerably better than average, with a dozen seasons of 30 or more home runs, but he was never quite the best in the business.

It was huge that he reached 612 home runs without ever being connected to PEDs, though.

There are only a handful of sluggers who made it out of that era of baseball without being implicated in that seedy underbelly, and so be it if we slightly overvalued the few players we clung to as our bastion of hope that not every single player we grew up idolizing was a cheater or at leas a suspected one.

—Kerry Miller

27. Frank Thomas, 1B

Career Stats: .301 BA, 1,494 runs, 1,704 RBI, 521 home runs, 72.0 WAR, 156 OPS+

Accolades: 5-time All-Star, 4-time Silver Slugger, 2-time MVP (1993, 1994), Hall of Fame

There is little question that Ken Griffey Jr. was the face of baseball during the 1990s, but Frank Thomas was not far behind.

He had countless endorsement deals, made appearances in movies and TV shows, and even served as the cover athlete for an underrated video game called Frank Thomas Big Hurt Baseball that got a lot of run in my Super Nintendo as a kid.

He also helped spark the insert-card craze in the card collecting space with his 1992 Fleer Rookie Sensations insert, which was one of the first chase cards that ignited national interest in the hobby.

The "Big Hurt" exploded onto the scene in 1990, hitting .330/.454/.529 with seven home runs and 31 RBI in 60 games after making his debut on Aug. 2. He was just a year removed from going No. 7 overall in the 1989 draft.

In his first full season in the big leagues the following year, he hit .318/.453/.553 for an AL-leading 180 OPS+ while tallying 31 doubles, 32 home runs and 109 RBI to finish third in AL MVP balloting in his age-23 campaign.

Over his first seven full seasons in the majors, he batted .330/.452/.604 for a 182 OPS+ with 250 home runs and 823 RBI, winning back-to-back AL MVP awards in 1994 and 1995 and capping off that impressive stretch with an AL batting title in 1997.

He ranks in the top 30 all-time in home runs (521, 20th) and RBI (1,704, 26th), yet he was also a .301 career hitter who racked up far more walks (1,667) than strikeouts (1,397) over the course of his 19 seasons in the majors, essentially serving as the '90s version of Albert Pujols in his prime.

It's shocking that he only made five All-Star teams and won four Silver Slugger Awards, but that speaks to the depth of talent at first base in the 1990s. He goes down as one of the most well-rounded right-handed hitters in baseball history.

—Joel Reuter

26. Bryce Harper, RF/1B

Career Stats: .282 BA, 1,049 runs, 947 RBI, 326 home runs, 51.2 WAR, 144 OPS+

Accolades: 8-time All-Star , Rookie of the Year, 2-time MVP (2015, 2021)

At age 16, Bryce Harper was billed as "Baseball's Chosen One" on the cover of Sports Illustrated, with the magazine dubbing him "the most exciting prodigy since LeBron."

Harper hasn't been the equivalent of James in the NBA, but perhaps that's an unfair standard. He was the Washington Nationals' No. 1 overall pick in 2010 and has since been one of the sport's faces for over a decade.

In his age-19 season, Harper won the 2012 NL Rookie of the Year Award. Three years later, when he was only 22, Harper captured the NL MVP by having one of the better offensive seasons in recent memory. Harper hit .330 with 42 home runs, a 1.109 OPS and a staggering 9.3 WAR en route to becoming the first player for the Nationals/Montreal Expos to win an MVP.

While the Nationals did win the World Series in 2019—their first season after allowing Harper to depart in free agency for a 13-year, $330 million deal with the division-rival Phillies—he's gone on to have a ton of success both in the regular season and playoffs.

Harper won his second career NL MVP in 2021, leading baseball in doubles (42), slugging percentage (.615), OPS (1.044) and OPS+ (179) during his third season with the Phillies.

A year later, he won the NLCS MVP, as the Phillies went on a rather shocking run to the World Series in 2022. Harper essentially punched the Phillies' ticket to the Fall Classic with a go-ahead home run in the bottom of the eighth inning, which Phillies radio voice Scott Franzke dubbed "Bedlam at the Bank." It's arguably the most iconic moment in the history of the Phillies franchise and will no doubt be at the forefront of Harper's highlight reel when he's inevitably inducted into the Hall of Fame.

The story for Harper is still being written, though. He's not only chasing his third career NL MVP in 2024 but also trying to lead the Phillies to a World Series title, which is the only thing missing from his resume.

—Tim Kelly

25. Roy Halladay, SP

Career Stats: 203-105 record, 3.38 ERA, 2,749.1 innings, 2,117 strikeouts, 65.4 WAR, 131 ERA+

Accolades: 8-time All-Star, 2-time Cy Young (2003, 2010), Hall of Fame

Roy Halladay spent the bulk of his career with the Toronto Blue Jays, establishing himself as the game's most dominant ace over 12 seasons north of the border. As he said in his retirement press conference in December 2013, the final four seasons of his career spent with the Philadelphia Phillies were "the icing on the cake."

A first-round pick by Toronto in 1995, Halladay won the AL Cy Young Award in 2003, one of five times he finished in the top five in voting for the top pitching honor in the league. As a Blue Jay, Halladay led the AL in complete games four times (2003, 2005, 2007, 2008) and innings pitched three times (2002, 2003, 2008).

He is, by just about any metric, the greatest player in Blue Jays history.

Still, the Blue Jays were never able to reach the postseason during 12 seasons with Halladay, and he was traded to the Phillies in advance of the 2010 season as he chased a chance to be part of October baseball.

All Halladay did in his first season with the Phillies was throw the second perfect game in franchise history and toss an MLB-leading nine complete games, en route to winning the NL Cy Young Award. In October, he finally got the chance to pitch in the postseason, and in what probably shouldn't have been that surprising of a development, he no-hit the Cincinnati Reds in Game 1 of the NLDS, in the first playoff start of his illustrious career.

It was just the second postseason no-hitter in MLB history, and the first since Don Larsen did so for the New York Yankees in Game 2 of the 1956 World Series.

Halladay never did win a World Series, but he put the finishing touches on his Hall of Fame career during his first two seasons in Philadelphia. He finished runner-up to Clayton Kershaw in the 2011 NL Cy Young Award despite setting career-best marks in terms of ERA (2.35), FIP (2.20) and WAR (8.7).

Halladay tragically died in a plane crash in November 2017, but his legacy on the mound is constantly revisited. The Blue Jays retired No. 32 in honor of Halladay, and the Phillies followed suit with his No. 34. With an incredible 67 career complete games, he was posthumously inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2019 after being elected on the first ballot.

—Tim Kelly

24. John Smoltz, SP/RP

Career Stats: 213-155 record, 154 saves, 3.33 ERA, 3,473 innings, 3,084 strikeouts, 69.0 WAR, 125 ERA+

Accolades: 8-time All-Star, NL Cy Young (1996), 1 World Series, Hall of Fame

It's been said that you can't teach an old dog new tricks, but how about John Smoltz coming back from Tommy John surgery and becoming an elite closer at the age of 34?

And then going back to the starting rotation at age 38 to win 44 more games with a 3.22 ERA over the next three seasons?

"Smoltzie" was already damn good for the first half of his career, most notably during that Cy Young campaign in 1996 with a 2.94 ERA and MLB-best marks of 24 wins and 276 strikeouts.

But he almost won another Cy Young in 2002, racking up 55 saves for the lone top-10 finish in an MVP vote (eighth place) of his career. And he was even better the following year, saving 45 games with a 1.12 ERA.

It was that combination of longevity and proven dominance as both a starter and a closer that made him a first-ballot Hall of Famer in 2015—presently the only pitcher inducted into the Hall of Fame after having Tommy John surgery.

Smoltz is also the only player in MLB history with at least 200 wins and 100 saves—though fellow broadcaster and Hall of Famer Dennis Eckersley (197 wins, 390 saves) sure is close.

Smoltz was quite a force in the postseason, too, making 41 career appearances with a 2.67 ERA. He even recorded a quality start in seven of his eight appearances in the World Series, notably the hard-luck loser of that all-time classic in Game 7 of the 1991 World Series, when his 7.1 scoreless innings weren't enough to overcome Jack Morris' 10-inning shutout.

—Kerry Miller

23. Iván Rodríguez, C

Career Stats: .296 BA, 1,354 runs, 1,332 RBI, 311 home runs, 127 stolen bases, 68.7 WAR, 106 OPS+

Accolades: 14-time All-Star, 13-time Gold Glove, AL MVP (1999), 1 World Series, Hall of Fame

As far as value-added on defense is concerned, there aren't many players—and zero catchers—in MLB history who were worth more than Iván Rodríguez.

"Pudge" ranks eighth all-time in defensive WAR, per Baseball Reference. And among position players, only Brooks Robinson (16 at third base) has won more Gold Gloves than Rodríguez's baker's dozen.

Rodríguez was involved in 158 double plays as a catcher, good for fifth-most all-time. He also had 90 successful pick-off attempts and caught 661 base stealers (better than 45 percent of attempts) over the course of his career.

Pudge was every bit as valuable at the plate as he was behind it, too.

There were seven seasons (including six consecutively from 1994-99) in which he won both the Gold Glove and Silver Slugger among American League catchers. The MVP campaign in '99 is when he put up his most remarkable numbers, setting career highs in home runs (35), RBI (113) and stolen bases (25).

Long-term consistency was what he did best, though, hitting at least 10 home runs in 15 straight seasons. Rodríguez was also a career .300 hitter with an OPS north of .800 until his age-37 through age-39 seasons dropped him just below those thresholds.

Plenty of catchers in MLB history have been great hitters or great fielders, but Rodríguez was one of a select few backstops who thrived at both.

He narrowly missed out on being the top catcher in this ranking, though, because the next guy on the list had a career OPS 124 points higher.

—Kerry Miller

22. Mike Piazza, C

Career Stats: .308 BA, 1,048 runs, 1,335 RBI, 427 home runs, 62.5 WAR, 143 OPS+

Accolades: 12-time All-Star, Rookie of the Year, Hall of Fame

Mike Piazza's offensive output would have been Hall of Fame-worthy at any position. That he posted a .922 career OPS while catching for the overwhelming majority of his career gives you an idea of why he's considered the most dominant offensive force in the history of the position.

A 62nd-round pick in the 1988 draft, Piazza hit 35 home runs and drove in 112 runs in 1993 en route to winning NL Rookie of the Year for the Los Angeles Dodgers. As a Dodger, Piazza won six Silver Sluggers and made six All-Star appearances. He was the runner-up in NL MVP voting in both 1996 and 1997. And for as legendary as the Dodgers franchise is, Piazza's 160 OPS+ is tied with Gary Sheffield for the best mark in franchise history.

But for as great as Piazza was in Los Angeles, his Hall of Fame plaque features a New York Mets cap. Across eight seasons in Flushing, Piazza made six All-Star Games and won four Silver Sluggers.

The most iconic hit of Piazza's career came on Sept. 21, 2001, when he hit a go-ahead home run late in the first game back at Shea Stadium following the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Not only is it a legendary moment in baseball history, but really in the story of the United States of America.

Piazza's No. 31 was retired by the Mets in July 2016, a month before he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

—Tim Kelly

21. Adrian Beltré, 3B

Career Stats: .286 BA, 1,524 runs, 1,707 RBI, 477 home runs, 93.5 WAR, 116 OPS+

Accolades: 4-time All-Star, 5-time Gold Glove, Hall of Fame

It's wild to think there was a point in Adrian Beltré's career when he was a bust.

It was on the heels of his 48-homer season as a mere 25-year-old in 2004 that he signed a five-year, $64 million deal with the Mariners. Though not a total disaster, it resulted in five years of average-ish offense and not a single All-Star nod.

Whatever anyone expected to happen next, it probably wasn't Beltré becoming an icon.

By WAR, his run through 2010 and 2016 is the 11th-best span ever for a hitter between his age-31 and age-37 seasons. He averaged a 133 OPS+, 28 home runs and 6.2 WAR, the latter of which is a mark he didn't hit once in Seattle.

It's in large part because of this stretch that Beltré ended up in a space reserved for the rarest of hitters. He's one of only nine to rack up at least 3,000 hits and 470 home runs.

Far from misleading anyone, Beltré's five Gold Gloves undersell how good he was in the field. He's second to only Brooks Robinson among third basemen in Fielding Runs, as well as second to only Andrelton Simmons among all fielders in Defensive Runs Saved.

Though Beltré's career lacks a signature moment—he did have a three-homer game in the 2011 playoffs, but October generally wasn't as much of a playground for him as it was for the next player on this list—it's a good case study in why "Entertainment Above Replacement" should be a thing.

Beyond inventing the one-knee home run, Beltré often comported himself as if he was the long-lost fourth member of the Three Stooges. Honestly, it's a shame that his Hall of Fame plaque doesn't portray Elvis Andrus touching his head.

—Zach Rymer

20. Manny Ramirez, LF

Career Stats: .312 BA, 1,544 runs, 1,831 RBI, 555 home runs, 69.3 WAR, 154 OPS+

Accolades: 12-time All-Star, 2 World Series

"Manny Being Manny" sounds like the title of a wacky sitcom. And, to be fair, one need only set a laugh track to Manny Ramirez's more colorful moments to achieve that effect.

He was an odd one, alright, and fans mostly loved him for it. Sure, his effort level wasn't always 100 percent and his grasp of the fundamentals was loose at the best of times. But how can anyone stay mad at a guy who's so willing to dish out smiles and high-fives?

Especially, of course, when said guy is also such a fearsome hitter.

Arrange baseball's 500-home run club by batting average, and you'll find Ramirez fourth from the top of the list. He's also one of only five hitters to record 30 homers and 100 RBI in a season on at least 12 different occasions.

Ramirez also occupies several special places in MLB playoff lore. One is the all-time leader with 29 postseason home runs. Another is as the guy who won MVP honors when the Red Sox finally snapped the Curse of the Bambino in 2004.

There's nonetheless a reason that Ramirez has lasted eight years on the Hall of Fame ballot. If one failed PED test is hard to forgive, it stands to reason that two failed tests would be even harder to forgive. And that isn't even counting another semi-unofficial failed test.

Yet as much as a Cooperstown plaque would solidify Ramirez as a legend, no official sanction is necessary to remember him as one of a kind. He is Dr. Thompson's high-powered mutant: never considered for mass production and too weird to live, yet also too rare to die.

—Zach Rymer

19. Mookie Betts, RF/2B/SS

Career Stats: .304 BA, 1,046 runs, 796 RBI, 262 home runs, 181 stolen bases, 68.9 WAR, 154 OPS+

Accolades: 7-time All-Star, 6-time Gold Glove, AL MVP (2018), 2 World Series

Anything you can do, Mookie Betts can probably do it better.

Betts was a standout basketball player in high school. He's still an avid bowler, with a few documented 300s in the PBA portion of his career. Even in the "hosted by a professional athlete" podcast genre, he's already one of the best in that business.

But he's mostly known for being a great hitter who can thrive no matter where he is asked to take his mitt on defense.

In each of his 11 years in the big leagues (including 2024), Betts has posted an OPS north of .800, peaking in 2018 with what may have been the most incredible individual season since Barry Bonds' outlandish reign from 2001 to '04.

Betts hit .346 and slugged .640, racking up 32 home runs and 30 stolen bases despite missing 26 games. Coupled with his Gold Glove work in right field, it was a 10.7 WAR campaign, which is a mark that otherwise hasn't been reached in more than two decades.

Betts is already fifth in MLB history with 52 leadoff home runs, and assuming he remains in that role, it won't be long before he leapfrogs Craig Biggio (53), Alfonso Soriano (54) and George Springer (57) to jump to No. 2 on that list.

Catching Rickey Henderson at 81 is a tough ask, but Betts is already one of the five greatest leadoff hitters of all time.

—Kerry Miller

18. Ichiro Suzuki, OF

Career Stats: .311 BA, 1,420 runs, 780 RBI, 117 home runs, 57.5 WAR, 107 OPS+

Accolades: 10-time All-Star, 10-time Gold Glove, 3-time Silver Slugger, 1-time MVP (2001)

Cultural impact was part of the conversation when compiling our Top 50 list, and few players have had a more profound impact on the game as we know it today than Ichiro Suzuki.

When he made his MLB debut on April 2, 2001, after signing a three-year, $14 million deal with the Seattle Mariners, he became the first Japanese-born position player to ever set foot on an MLB field, paving the way for an entire generation of talent to descend on Major League Baseball.

Already 27 years old when he made his stateside debut, Suzuki spent nine seasons with the Orix Blue Wave in the Japanese League to begin his pro career, hitting .353/.421/.522 with 1,278 hits during that time.

His transition to the MLB game was seamless. In 2001, he led the AL in batting average (.350), hits (242), and steals (56), becoming just the second rookie ever to win MVP honors while leading the Mariners to a 116-win season.

That marked the first of 10 straight seasons in which he hit .300 and tallied at least 200 hits, including a single-season record 262 knocks in 2004 to break a record that had stood since 1920.

Despite his late start, he still tallied 3,089 hits over 19 MLB seasons, and his 4,367 total hits between Japan and the majors surpass the 4,256 hits that Pete Rose racked up during his big league career.

Simply looking at his 107 OPS+ does not tell the full story of his offensive impact. He embraced his role as a table-setter atop the lineup, slapping singles, stealing bases, and scoring runs.

Aside from his on-field impact, Ichiro was a bona fide international superstar off the field. He was voted to start the All-Star Game nine times and received the most votes of any player in 2001, 2002, and 2003.

His cultural impact ultimately gave him an additional boost in the rankings, pushing him ahead of Mookie Betts who arguably has a better overall statistical case even with his career still in the works.

—Joel Reuter

17. David Ortiz, DH

Career Stats: .286 BA, 1,419 runs, 1,768 RBI, 541 home runs, 55.3 WAR, 141 OPS+

Accolades: 10-time All-Star, 3 World Series, Hall of Fame

This space might as well be dedicated to Matt LeCroy, specifically to the Twins' bullishness toward him in the winter of 2002.

It was so strong that they deliberately made way for LeCroy to occupy the designated hitter slot in 2003 by non-tendering the guy who had been their de facto starter at DH. It was a risky move, considering the guy had just hit 20 homers. But potentially one that would work out.

Here's what actually happened: LeCroy hit 43 homers over the next three seasons for the Twins, and David Ortiz hit 483 homers over the next 14 seasons for the Red Sox.

Say what you will about the merits of the designated hitter, but nobody has ever understood the assignment like Ortiz. "Big Papi" hit 485 of his 541 career home runs as a DH, placing him more than 200 homers above the next guy on that list.

Yet to focus on what Ortiz did in the regular season is to miss the forest for the trees.

The Red Sox owe the World Series titles they won in 2004, 2007 and 2013 to him above anyone else. His literal greatest hits include three postseason walk-offs and one of the most impactful grand slams of all time. His 1.372 OPS is the highest ever for a hitter with at least 50 plate appearances in the World Series.

There is the matter of Ortiz's supposed positive PED test from 2003, but he played the bulk of his career after MLB officially implemented testing procedures in 2005 and was never caught using anything. As he said in 2022, "What does that tell us?"

Even with all this said, it's downright dumbfounding that the next player on this list accomplished even more in the postseason than Ortiz did.

—Zach Rymer

16. Derek Jeter, SS

Career Stats: .310 BA, 1,923 runs, 1,311 RBI, 260 home runs, 71.3 WAR, 115 OPS+

Accolades: 14-time All-Star, 5-time Gold Glove, 5 World Series, Hall of Fame

Not that he doesn't have any worth boasting of, but it almost feels pointless to use statistics to capture what made Derek Jeter so special.

His career was defined by his feel for the moment, which was always on and never wide of the mark. That the same guy is responsible for such wonders as the flip play, the "Mr. November" blast, the tumble into the first row, the home run for No. 3,000 and the career-capping walk-off boggles the mind.

Even "Mr. October" himself, Reggie Jackson, once said this about Jeter: "In big games, the action slows down for him where it speeds up for others. I've told him, 'I'll trade my past for your future.'"

It doesn't get any more preternatural than Jeter's ability to slow the action down in October. He was often the tip of the spear in the 16 playoff appearances he made with the Yankees, notably amassing 72 more playoff hits than anyone else in history.

Since we're finally into statistics now, a tip of the ol' "Re2pect" hat is also owed to Jeter's record 3,371 hits as a shortstop and his 15 seasons with at least 10 home runs and 10 stolen bases. Only Barry Bonds has more if you can believe it.

Despite his five Gold Gloves, the only real blemish on Jeter's record concerns his defense. His minus-253 Fielding Runs is the worst of any fielder ever. It helps explain why he's "only" ninth among shortstops in WAR.

Is this the reason one voter left Jeter off their Hall of Fame ballot in 2020, thus preventing him from joining fellow Yankees icon Mariano Rivera as the only unanimous inductees in history? Well, only that one voter can say for sure.

Tell you this, though: At least one person is never going to forget it.

—Zach Rymer

15. Max Scherzer, SP

Career Stats: 215-110 record, 3.14 ERA, 2,851.1 innings, 3,378 strikeouts, 75.5 WAR, 134 ERA+

Accolades: 8-time All-Star, 3-time Cy Young (2013, 2016, 2017), 2 World Series

Four seasons into a career that has spanned 17 years (and counting), who could've guessed that Max Scherzer was going to become one of the best pitchers of the modern era?

Through his age-26 season, "Mad Max" had career marks of 3.92 ERA, 1.31 WHIP and 8.7 K/9—numbers on par with the careers of Erik Bedard and Frankie Montas, neither of whom has ever been named an All-Star.

But starting in 2012, Scherzer became an even more dominant version of then-teammate Justin Verlander.

Over the course of that next decade, he was both a workhorse and a strikeout machine, racking up nearly 500 more strikeouts (2,422) than his closest challenger (Chris Sale had 1,948) and recording a quality start in 207 of his 297 outings (69.7 percent).

Those are only regular-season numbers, too. From 2012 to '21, Scherzer also made 22 postseason appearances with a 2.87 ERA, 1.04 WHIP and 11.6 K/9, including a great run through October 2019 alongside Stephen Strasburg for the World Series champion Washington Nationals.

And who can ever forget that one performance on June 19, 2019, when the ace who was born with one brown eye and one blue eye was also wielding a black eye from a broken nose, yet went seven shutout innings en route to one of his 118 career starts with at least 10 strikeouts?

https://youtu.be/5OW7X1p1us0

That's right up there with his 20-strikeout game on May 11, 2016, and pair of no-hitters in 2015.

When he inevitably lands in the Hall of Fame, one can only hope that Scherzer begins his induction speech by angrily stomping a big circumference around the podium since that was his signature move when he was dialed in. (Before the implementation of the pitch clock of course.)

—Kerry Miller

14. Chipper Jones, 3B

Career Stats: .303 BA, 1,619 runs, 1,623 RBI, 468 home runs, 84.6 WAR, 141 OPS+

Accolades: 8-time All-Star, 2-time Silver Slugger, 1-time MVP (1999), 1 World Series, Hall of Fame

The No. 1 overall pick in the 1990 draft and a top-five prospect in baseball prior to his 1995 debut, Chipper Jones had as much hype as any up-and-comer from the prospect era and more than lived up to it during his Hall of Fame career.

He hit .265/.353/.450 with 23 home runs and 86 RBI as a rookie in 1995, finishing runner-up to Hideo Nomo in the NL Rookie of the Year balloting while helping to lead the Atlanta Braves to what would be their only World Series ring during their run of 14 straight division titles.

From there, he developed into a perennial All-Star and one of the most consistent offensive performers in the game, winning 1999 NL MVP when he hit .319/.441/.633 with 41 doubles, 45 home runs, 110 RBI, 25 steals and a career-high 7.3 WAR.

He continued to play at a high level into his late 30s, winning the 2008 NL batting title as a 36-year-old when he hit .364/.470/.574 in 128 games and wrapped up his big league career with a .287/.377/.455 line and 124 OPS+ during his age-40 season.

There is a solid case to be made that he belongs on the Mt. Rushmore of third basemen and the Mt. Rushmore of switch-hitters. He batted .303 as a left-handed hitter and .304 as a right-handed hitter over 19 seasons.

He could have stuck around to chase 3,000 hits and 500 home runs and likely have reached both milestones with ease, but instead, he retired while still playing at a high level, and he coasted into the Hall of Fame with 97.2 percent voting support in 2018.

—Joel Reuter

T-13. Miguel Cabrera, 1B/3B/DH

Career Stats: .306 BA, 1,551 runs, 1,881 RBI, 511 home runs, 67.1 WAR, 140 OPS+

Accolades: 12-time All-Star, 2-time AL MVP (2012, 2013), 4-time Batting Champ, 2012 Triple Crown, 1 World Series

The latter stages of Miguel Cabrera's career were...rough.

From 2017 to '23, Detroit paid him $212 million for 2.7 wins below replacement.

As a result, Miggy was a staple in any "Worst Contracts in Baseball" article for a few years, and there's a non-zero chance that clouded our judgment in ranking one of the greatest hitters in recent history.

Before 2017, Cabrera was a god-tier player. He earned MVP votes in 14 consecutive seasons, including a rookie campaign in which he only played 87 games before keying the Marlins' run to the 2003 World Series title.

He hit .321 and slugged .562 for those 14 years, putting up numbers on par with the careers of Stan Musial (.331 and .559) and Joe DiMaggio (.325 and .579).

At the peak of his peak?

Mercy.

Cabrera had a four-year stretch (2010-13) in which he hit .337, averaging 39 home runs and 127 RBI.

In 2012, he became the first batter to win a Triple Crown (leading the league in batting average, home runs and RBI) since Carl Yastrzemski 45 years prior. Then, he was even better the following year but finished second in the AL in both home runs and RBI behind Chris Davis. (Speaking of epic contract fails...)

So, yeah, it was painful to watch those last few seasons.

Guess what, though?

The Rolling Stones still go on tour, and people love it for some reason. And it was awesome watching Cabrera finally get that 500th dinger late in the 2021 season.

—Kerry Miller

T-13. Mariano Rivera, RP

Career Stats: 652 saves, 2.21 ERA, 1,283.2 innings, 1,173 strikeouts, 39.1 WAR, 205 ERA+

Accolades: 13-time All-Star, 5-time Rolaids Relief Man, 5 World Series, Hall of Fame

New York Yankees legend Mariano Rivera is the greatest relief pitcher in MLB history.

That's not a subjective opinion or a topic open for further discussion and debate. It's a fact, and there is a long list of accolades to back it up.

The Panama native is baseball's all-time leader with 652 saves. His 89.1 percent conversation rate is also the highest career mark among all Hall of Fame relievers. He had nine seasons with at least 40 saves and was the first player ever to receive 100 percent voting support when he was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2019.

He broke out during the 1996 season, serving as the primary setup man to closer John Wetteland. He went 8-3 with five saves and 26 holds in 61 appearances, posting a 2.09 ERA, 1.00 WHIP, and 10.9 K/9 while tossing 107.2 innings out of the bullpen. He tallied a career-high 4.3 WAR and finished third in the AL Cy Young balloting.

The following year he moved into the ninth-inning role. Armed with a lethal cutter that he threw almost exclusively, he mowed down hitters with the game on the line for the next 17 seasons.

Outside of his record-setting regular-season numbers, he also pitched to a 0.70 ERA and 0.76 WHIP over 141 innings in the playoffs. While he did have some high-profile blown saves against the Diamondbacks in 2001 and the Red Sox in 2004, he also nailed down 42 playoff saves and won the 2003 ALCS MVP and 1999 World Series MVP.

Does the Yankees dynasty happen without Mariano Rivera?

Probably not, and that's a level of impact that no other relief pitcher has come close to achieving during his playing career.

Everyone in the ballpark knew the cutter was coming, and no one could hit it.

—Joel Reuter

12. Justin Verlander, RHP

Career Stats: 260-143 record, 3.25 ERA, 3,382.1 innings, 3,393 strikeouts, 82.0 WAR, 131 ERA+

Accolades: 9-time All-Star, 1-time MVP (2011), 3-time Cy Young (2011, 2019, 2022), 2 World Series

Are we sure that Justin Verlander isn't secretly a superhuman? Or an alien, for that matter?

By all rights, the 41-year-old's right arm should have turned to dust years ago. He's thrown 4,908 more pitches than anyone since his debut in 2005. He's averaged at least 94 mph on his fastball 11 times, three more than any other starter on record. Having Tommy John surgery in 2020 felt like it was overdue, if not the end of the line altogether.

Instead, it's saying something that authoring the greatest Tommy John comeback ever in 2022 is one of his lesser accomplishments.

Only Verlander and Don Newcombe have ever won the Rookie of the Year, a Cy Young Award and an MVP, and Newcombe stopped at one Cy Young and one World Series ring. He also never pitched a no-hitter, whereas Verlander is one of six pitchers with three.

Verlander's playoff history is supposedly the weak part of his resume, but it's better than you might think. He's the all-time postseason strikeout leader, and it's not as if he's devoid of legendary performances.

Only Verlander and Madison Bumgarner have ever pitched at least eight scoreless innings in an elimination game...twice. He's also struck out at least 10 batters in eight playoff games, two more than any other pitcher in history.

The only real drama concerning Verlander's legacy at this point is whether he'll stay in the top 10 on the all-time strikeout leaderboard, or if Max Scherzer will inevitably erase the 15-strikeout gap that separates them. And it's a good bet he will.

No matter what, though, Verlander is going to be a first-ballot, inner-circle Hall of Famer. Unless, of course, he decides to just keep pitching forever.

—Zach Rymer

11. Shohei Ohtani, DH/RHP

Career Hitting Stats: .280 BA, 503 runs, 506 RBI, 200 home runs, 24.9 WAR, 153 OPS+

Career Pitching Stats: 38-19 record, 3.01 ERA, 481.2 innings, 608 strikeouts, 15.1 WAR, 143 ERA+

Accolades: 3-time All-Star, 2-time MVP (2021, 2023)

Just as a reminder, what players have done in leagues other than MLB is not relevant here.

Which means we judged Shohei Ohtani solely on the seven seasons he's played in the States since making the move from Japan in 2018. Which, in turn, means that anyone thinking "Geez, overrated much?" right now has a gripe.

It cannot, however, be stressed enough that there has never been a player like Ohtani.

The 30-year-old is one of 41 hitters to ever amass 3,000 plate appearances and an OPS+ over 150. He's also one of 14 pitchers to make at least 80 starts with an ERA+ over 140. Here's a complete list of players who are on both lists:

• Shohei Ohtani

It's just him, alright, and this has much to do with the unreal run he went on between 2021 and 2023. He was second among hitters with a .964 OPS and third among pitchers with a .607 OPS allowed. He hit and pitched as if Yordan Alvarez and Corbin Burnes were melded into a single person.

As he's had both Tommy John surgery and another elbow operation, how much Ohtani has left to give on the mound is an open question. If the answer proves to be "nothing," well, there goes a big aspect of his appeal forever.

It's nonetheless a comfort to look and see that he's only getting better as a hitter.

His first season with the Dodgers has been a roaring success, as he's mashed an NL-leading 29 home runs to go with a .316 average and a 189 OPS+. Even if he doesn't ultimately realize his outside shot at a 40-40 season, he has a real chance to top 40 homers, a .300 average, and a 180 OPS+ for the second year in a row.

Only Barry Bonds, Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and Jimmie Foxx have ever done that.

Yet there may not be a number that better encapsulates the sheer might of Ohtani's stardom than 700, for how many millions of dollars he'll earn in the life of his 10-year contract with the Dodgers. It's a mind-boggling figure that, so far at least, sounds like a bargain.

—Zach Rymer

10. Clayton Kershaw, LHP

Career Stats: 210-92 record, 2.48 ERA, 2,712.2 innings, 2,944 strikeouts, 55.0 WAR, 157 ERA+

Accolades: 10-time All-Star, 1-time Gold Glove, 1-time MVP (2014), 3-time Cy Young (2011, 2013, 2014), 1 World Series

It has been and still is said that Sandy Koufax bore the "Left Arm of God" during his heyday with the Dodgers in the 1950s and 1960s.

Not to get all theological or anything, but Clayton Kershaw is proof that God actually has two left arms and is apparently a big Dodgers fan.

Kershaw's coronation as Koufax's heir might as well have happened in March of 2008 when he was in his first spring training as a mere 19-year-old. He snapped off one curveball that had Vin Scully laughing as he said on the broadcast: "Oh, what a curveball! Holy mackerel! He just broke off public enemy number one!"

It wasn't quite off to the races from there for Kershaw, but he found his stride with sub-3.00 ERAs in 2009 and 2010. And that was just him getting warmed up.

The run Kershaw went on from 2011 to 2017 is ridiculous just in terms of the accolades he racked up. He won all three of his Cy Youngs and an MVP in that span, otherwise picking up a 300-strikeout season and five ERA titles.

At no point in those seven seasons did Kershaw's ERA+ dip below 150. He's one of only two pitchers to keep his ERA+ that high in seven consecutive seasons while making at least 20 starts annually. The other is Greg Maddux.

As for that pubic-nemesis curveball, it wasn't even Kershaw's best pitch during that run. It ranked No. 2 in value among curveballs, whereas his fastball and slider were No. 1.

The absolute pinnacle of Kershaw's pitching prowess occurred on June 18, 2014. An error kept him from a perfect game, but he still dominated the Rockies for the first no-hit, no-walk, 15-strikeout performance in MLB history.

Injuries have unfortunately taken their toll on Kershaw over the last six years, and even his long-awaited World Series ring from 2020 doesn't totally redeem his playoff resume. His 4.49 ERA for the postseason is more than two runs higher than his 2.28 ERA for the regular season.

The latter, nonetheless, translates to the best ERA+ of any pitcher since 1900. As such, never mind just a future Hall of Famer. Kershaw has a case as the greatest starting pitcher ever.

—Zach Rymer

9. Greg Maddux, SP

Career Stats: 355-227 record, 3.16 ERA, 5,008.1 innings, 3,371 strikeouts, 116.7 WAR, 132 ERA+

Accolades: 8-time All-Star, 18-time Gold Glove, 4-time Cy Young (1992-95), 1 World Series, Hall of Fame

Here is an excerpt from the glossary of baseball terms on MLB.com:

"A Maddux describes a start in which a pitcher tosses a complete-game shutout on fewer than 100 pitches. Named after Hall of Famer Greg Maddux, the term was coined by baseball writer Jason Lukehart."

You have to be a special kind of good to literally get a stat named after you.

For the record, Greg Maddux twirled a Maddux 13 times during his career, with no other pitcher since pitch-count data became available in 1988 recording more than seven.

Starting with his final season in a Chicago Cubs uniform in 1992, Maddux won four straight NL Cy Young Awards, including a two-year run sandwiched around the 1994 strike that was some of the best pitching the game has ever seen.

• 1992: 35 GS, 20-11, 2.18 ERA (166 ERA+), 199 K, 268.0 IP, WAR
• 1993: 36 GS, 20-10, 2.36 ERA (170 ERA+), 197 K, 267.0 IP, WAR
• 1994: 25 GS, 16-6, 1.56 ERA (271 ERA+), 156 K, 202.0 IP, WAR
• 1995: 28 GS, 19-2, 1.63 ERA (260 ERA+), 181 K, 209.2 IP, WAR

Relying on pinpoint command and an uncanny ability to dot the outside corner with his two-seam fastball, Maddux was known aptly as "The Professor" on the mound.

He ranks in the top 20 all-time in starts (740, fourth), wins (355, eighth), strikeouts (3,371, 11th), innings pitched (5,008.1, 13th) and pitcher WAR (116.7, third), trailing only Roger Clemens (133.7) and Walter Johnson (131.5) on the WAR leaderboard.

On top of his four Cy Young wins, he also finished in the top five in the balloting five other times, and he set the gold standard defensively on the mound with a staggering 18 Gold Glove Awards in 23 seasons.

The five-year, $28 million deal he signed with the Atlanta Braves prior to the 1993 season will forever stand as one of the best free-agent signings in baseball history.

—Joel Reuter

8. Pedro Martínez, SP

Career Stats: 219-100 record, 2.93 ERA, 2,827.1 innings, 3,154 strikeouts, 83.9 WAR, 154 ERA+

Accolades: 8-time All-Star, 3-time Cy Young (1997, 1999, 2000), 1 World Series, Hall of Fame

At his peak, Pedro Martínez was—to use a highly technical term—unfreakingbelievable.

He didn't have the longevity of Randy Johnson, Roger Clemens or Greg Maddux, but from 1997 to 2003, he was more dominant than any of them.

During that seven-year stretch, Martínez had a cumulative 2.20 ERA, a 0.94 WHIP and an 11.3 K/9 while averaging 5.6 K/BB. In five of those seven years, he led the majors in ERA. He also led his league (and often the majors) in each of FIP, WHIP and K/9 in each of those five seasons. And if he had pitched enough innings to qualify in 2001, he would've led his league in each of those four categories that year, too.

Even by today's standards, those are ridiculous numbers. It's roughly on par with Clayton Kershaw's seven-year peak (2.10 ERA, 0.91 WHIP, 10.1 K/9, 5.7 K/BB from 2011-17) and a bit better across the board than Jacob deGrom's best seven-year run (2.47 ERA, 0.99 WHIP, 10.9 K/9, 5.4 K/BB from 2015-21).

But with Martínez, you've got to remember to apply an "at the absolute apex of the steroid era" multiplier to his supremacy.

When he turned in one of the best pitching seasons of all time in 1999, the MLB-wide batting average was .271 and the K/BB ratio was a modest 1.74—compared to pretty consistently hovering in the vicinity of .243 and 2.65 over the past half-decade.

Yet, there was Martínez, weighing maybe 170 pounds if he's soaking wet and just had a big meal, routinely mowing down hitters who looked like the Monstars in Space Jam. He struck out nearly one-third (31.8 percent) of all batters faced across those seven seasons.

He *only* won three Cy Youngs, though, so we couldn't justify putting him ahead of the next pitcher on the list.

—Kerry Miller

7. Roger Clemens, SP

Career Stats: 354-184 record, 3.12 ERA, 4,916.2 innings, 4,672 strikeouts, 133.7 WAR, 143 ERA+

Accolades: 11-time All-Star, 7-time Cy Young (1986), 1-time MVP (1986, 1987, 1991, 1997, 1998, 2001, 2004), 2 World Series

When you factor in both peak dominance and incredible longevity, there's an argument to be made that Roger Clemens has the greatest resume of any pitcher over the last 100 years.

Clemens won seven Cy Young Awards, two more than any other pitcher in MLB history. He also won the honor with four different teams: three with the Boston Red Sox (1986, 1987, 1991), two with the Toronto Blue Jays (1997, 1998), one with the New York Yankees (2001) and one with the Houston Astros (2005). He also took home the AL MVP in 1986.

Over a 24-season career, FanGraphs says that Clemens accumulated the most WAR of any pitcher in baseball history at 133.7. His 354 career wins are sixth in MLB history and only one behind Greg Maddux for most of any pitcher on this list.

Among other accomplishments in Clemens' illustrious career, Clemens was an 11-time All-Star, won seven ERA titles and twice claimed the pitching Triple Crown.

So what gives? Why is Clemens only No. 7? You're left to conclude that his inclusion on the 2007 Mitchell Report—which connected him to performance-enhancing drug use beginning on the Blue Jays in 1998—continues to haunt him. Not only has it kept him out of the Hall of Fame, but also lower on this list than his resume suggests he should be.

He appeared as high as No. 2 on one ballot, and there's an argument to be made he's been penalized more than anyone connected to PEDs. But that's unquestionably part of Clemens' legacy and the reason he isn't as celebrated as many of the other pitchers on this top 50, despite probably having the best resume.

—Tim Kelly

6. Mike Trout, OF

Career Stats: .299 BA, 1,123 runs, 954 RBI, 378 home runs, 86.1 WAR, 173 OPS+

Accolades: 11-time All-Star, 3-time AL MVP (2014, 2016, 2019), AL ROY (2012)

Before digging our teeth into the ranking process, what to do with Mike Trout was easily one of the biggest conundrums.

When healthy, Trout was (and still is, frankly) other-worldly good.

He led the majors in WAR in every season from 2012 to '16 and had a cumulative WAR of 72.0 from 2012 to '19, winning three MVPs and finishing first runner-up in four of the other five years.

As far as peaks go, that's just outrageous.

9.0 WAR is a mark that only 26 unique players have reached in a single season dating back to 1995, yet that was Trout's average value over an eight-year stretch.

For crying out loud, in just eight years, Trout was worth more wins above replacement than Derek Jeter was (71.3 WAR) in his 20-year career.

Over the past half-decade, though, his legacy—already complicated by MLB's failure to make him a recognizable, marketable figure—has been marred by a seemingly constant string of injuries.

And while there's only so much that one player can control when it comes to the success of an entire team, it's still noteworthy that the Angels haven't won a single postseason game since Trout made his MLB debut in 2011.

No. 6 feels right, though, doesn't it?

Trout simply has to rank in the top 10, and unanimously did so in our voting. However, the top five perhaps would've been a bit much for an active player who has yet to matter in October, who was never any sort of cultural icon, and who may or may not reach 100 WAR when all is said and done.

—Kerry Miller

5. Alex Rodriguez, 3B/SS

Career Stats: .295 BA, 2,021 runs, 2,086 RBI, 696 home runs, 117.6 WAR, 140 OPS+

Accolades: 14-time All-Star, 2-time Gold Glove, 3-time MVP (2003, 2005, 2007), 1 World Series

If you didn't know any better, you'd swear that Alex Rodriguez's Baseball Reference and Wikipedia pages were fake ones meant to illustrate a theoretically perfect baseball career.

No. 1 pick in the draft? Check. Batting title at age 20? Check. Member of the 40-40 club? Check. Multiple home run titles? Check. Multiple MVPs? Check. World Series ring? Check. Fifth on the all-time home run list? Check.

A-Rod also occupies more niche, yet still notable places in baseball history. He's the only infielder to ever hit 30 home runs in 14 different seasons. He's one of only four hitters to reach 200 hits and 50 homers in a season. And while he went 40-40 only once, he's the only player to go 40-20 on four occasions.

For the longest time, the knock on Rodriguez was that he couldn't get it done in October. That script went out the window in 2009, when he boosted the Yankees to their 27th title with a 1.308 OPS and six (mostly huge) homers.

Fame and fortune? A-Rod had those, too. His private life was as headline-worthy as any Hollywood celebrity, and he signed not one, but two record-breaking contracts.

But you know where this has to go now, right?

The tarnish on Rodriguez's legacy isn't even all about performance-enhancing drugs, though that part certainly doesn't help. Between his admitted juicing in the early 2000s and his suspension in 2014, a good chunk of his career is suspect.

There are also all the times Rodriguez made a fool of himself. It was him who sabotaged a friendship with Derek Jeter. It was him who got too mouthy and slappy with the Red Sox in 2004. It was his antics that occasionally wandered into bush league territory. It was him who once prompted Yankees GM Brian Cashman to openly wish he would "shut the f--k up."

None of this helped Rodriguez's likability, which is to say nothing of his Hall of Fame case. After three years on the ballot, he's still only polling in the 30 percent range.

Despite all this, the thing to remember is that neither Rodriguez's Baseball Reference page nor his Wikipedia page are fakes. They're real. He did all that. And even if you can't ignore all the other stuff, that's incredible.

—Zach Rymer

4. Ken Griffey Jr., OF

Career Stats: .284 BA, 1,662 runs, 1,836 RBI, 630 home runs, 77.7 WAR, 136 OPS+

Accolades: 13-time All-Star, 10-time Gold Glove, 7-time Silver Slugger, 1-time MVP (1997), Hall of Fame

Ken Griffey Jr. in the 1990s was everything that baseball today is missing—an uber-marketable superstar who made baseball cool. He crushed home runs with the sweetest left-handed swing anyone had ever seen, and donned his signature backward hat and million-dollar smile while crossing the line into legitimate pop culture relevance.

The son of Ken Griffey Sr., who was a key cog in the Big Red Machine throughout the 1970s, Griffey grew up around the game, and he was viewed as nothing short of a prodigy when he was taken No. 1 overall in the 1987 draft.

He made his MLB debut as a 19-year-old in 1989 and briefly got a chance to play alongside his dad in Seattle before quickly developing into the face of the franchise and a rising superstar in the sport.

A 45-homer season in 1993 signaled the beginning of his run as an offensive juggernaut, and over the next eight seasons he hit .294/.387/.606 for a 152 OPS+ while averaging 52 home runs and 136 RBI per 162 games.

He won 1997 AL MVP when he batted .304/.382/.646 while leading the AL in home runs (56), RBI (147), runs scored (125) and total bases (393), and he finished in the top 10 in voting six other times in his career.

The Mariners traded him to the Cincinnati Reds prior to the 2000 season, and after one final peak-level season, injuries started to take a toll.

He had 438 career home runs heading into his age-31 campaign, but he hit just 192 more long balls over the final 10 seasons of his career while averaging 99 games and dealing with a multitude of injury issues.

His high-flying defense in center field won him 10 Gold Gloves and his diving catches were a staple on the SportsCenter Top 10—a total surpassed by only Willie Mays (12) and Roberto Clemente (12) among all outfielders. However, the reckless abandon that made him such a great defender was also the cause of multiple injuries and a big reason why his body broke down.

There's a chance we're talking about him as baseball's GOAT with better health in the second half of his career, but even with all the games he missed, he still ranks among the all-time leaders in home runs (630, seventh) and RBI (1,836, 17th).

The fact that he did it without a hint of PED allegations helped push him ahead of Alex Rodriguez, who had the superior career numbers.

If you were a '90s kid, there will always be a special place in your heart for Ken Griffey Jr. and those Seattle Mariners teams of the era.

Now if you'll excuse me, I think I'll dust off my Super Nintendo and play some Ken Griffey Jr. Presents Major League Baseball while staring at my 1989 Upper Deck Ken Griffey Jr. rookie card. Nostalgia!

—Joel Reuter

3. Randy Johnson, SP

Career Stats: 303-166 record, 3.29 ERA, 4,135.1 innings, 4,875 strikeouts, 101.1 WAR, 135 ERA+

Accolades: 10-time All-Star, 5-time Cy Young (1995, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002), 1 World Series, Hall of Fame

At 6'10", 225 pounds with long hair and a sidearm delivery, Randy Johnson was arguably the most physically intimidating pitcher in MLB history. And then he threw a fastball that could reach triple digits.

Johnson's career peak came at the height of the steroid era, and he was never himself connected to performance-enhancing drugs. Johnson offers a clear contrast to Clemens, and that's why he's the highest-ranked pitcher on this list.

What's amazing about Johnson is that he didn't win his first of five Cy Young Awards until he was 31 years old, with the Seattle Mariners, in 1995. But he won four consecutive NL Cy Young Awards from 1999 to 2002, which were his first four seasons with the Arizona Diamondbacks.

If doing that in his mid- to late 30s wasn't enough, Johnson tossed his second career no-hitter and first perfect game on May 18, 2004, at the age of 40.

Johnson was one of the greatest workhorses in baseball history, recording more than 200 innings pitched in 14 of his 22 MLB seasons.

The best example of his durability came in the 2001 World Series. Johnson pitched seven innings in Game 6 against the New York Yankees, a win that forced Game 7. A night after throwing 104 pitches, he pitched 1.1 scoreless innings in relief for the Snakes, who ultimately won on a walk-off single by Luis Gonzalez in the bottom of the ninth inning. Johnson split the World Series MVP with fellow Diamondbacks ace Curt Schilling.

Whether you believe Johnson should be first, second or third among pitchers on this list, it's inarguable that he's one of the best pitchers ever. Every kid wanted to pitch like the Big Unit. The problem is, none of them grew up to be nearly seven feet tall with the ability to throw in the high 90s.

—Tim Kelly

2. Albert Pujols, 1B/DH

Career Stats: .296 BA, 1,914 runs, 2,218 RBI, 703 home runs, 101.4 WAR, 145 OPS+

Accolades: 11-time All-Star, 3-time NL MVP (2005, 2008, 2009), NL ROY (2001), 2 World Series

Cameo appearances in SportsCenter commercials weren't part of our ranking process, but Albert "The Machine" Pujols talking to that copier was an all-timer of a footnote on a sensational career.

For his first decade in the majors, it is categorically unfair how consistently great Pujols was, batting at least .312 with at least 32 home runs and 103 RBI in each of his first 10 seasons. He won the MVP vote three times and easily could've had a few more, finishing first runner-up four times with a trio of other top-five finishes.

During that peak, opponents quickly realized that the best way to deal with Pujols was to not deal with him at all. He was intentionally walked 193 times from 2005 to '10 and a total of 316 times in his career—second only to Barry Bonds.

That doesn't include the 20 times Pujols was intentionally walked in the postseason, either, en route to his two World Series rings and what was perhaps the most memorable home run of the past quarter century.

Clearly, though, pitchers weren't issuing him enough free passes, as he still averaged better than 41 home runs and 120 RBI per season during that six-year stretch.

The second decade of Pujols' career was considerably less dominant. But still impressive, considering he was already 32 when he signed that 10-year, $240 million contract with the Angels. He did have a 40-homer campaign with the Halos, and at least mostly lived up to the salary for the first five years of the deal.

It was fitting, though, that he reached 700 career home runs back where he started, in St. Louis, in what was one of the greatest renaissance seasons of all time.

That .895 OPS at 42 years old was the eighth-best mark in the majors among players who recorded at least 300 plate appearances that season...and simultaneously the worst mark he ever had in a season with the Cardinals.

—Kerry Miller

1. Barry Bonds, LF

Career Stats: .298 BA, 2,227 runs, 1,996 RBI, 762 home runs, 162.8 WAR, 182 OPS+

Accolades: 14 All-Star appearances, 8-time Gold Glove, 7-time MVP (1990, 1992, 1993, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004)

Nostradamus, meet R.J. Reynolds.

It was in 1990, when Barry Bonds was on his way to winning his first MVP, that Reynolds insinuated his then-Pirates teammate was only getting started. More than three decades later, Reynolds' exact words hit hard indeed: "One day he will put up numbers no one can believe."

You. Don't. Say.

If you could put all the numbers Bonds ever produced into a room, it would be hard to move around without bumping into some sort of record. To name just a few:

• Single-Season Home Runs: 73 
• Career Home Runs: 762
• Career Walks: 2,558
• Career WAR: 162.8
• Career MVPs: 7
• Gold Gloves for a Left Fielder: 8
• 500-500 Club: Just him

Even without factoring in the 1.559 OPS and eight homers (one of which has yet to land after 22 years) he produced in the Giants' 2002 playoff push, the run that Bonds went on between 2001 and 2004 defies comparison. Perhaps the only cases of a person being as good at a job include, say, Arnold Schwarzenegger as an action star or Genghis Khan as a conqueror.

Those four years saw Bonds produce four of just nine all-time seasons in which a hitter topped a 230 OPS+. He hit 209 home runs and got on base at a .559 clip, culminating in a record .609 OBP in '04. He drew 120 intentional walks that year, or about twice as many as any other team.

Like with Rodriguez, though, there's no ignoring the uncomfortable stuff.

Bonds was never officially caught by MLB, but his lawyer admitted in court that his client (albeit supposedly unknowingly) used PEDs. And even before that came out, suspicions were there. Bonds seemed to double in size from 1999 to 2000, and he was so dang strong that he could even toss around a 6'2", 220-pound Torii Hunter like a sack of potatoes.

Bonds was also a walking contradiction in that he was a ton of fun to watch but hard to root for. Even he knew he wasn't a great teammate, just as he knew his poor public image was self-inflicted. He wasn't just not likable; it was as if he was actively trying to be unlikeable.

Nonetheless, looking back on what Bonds did as a player will invariably leave one slackjawed and dumbfounded. Illicitly or otherwise, he rewrote the rules for what a baseball player is capable of. It's because of him that we know that things that should be impossible are, in fact, possible.

And that is why he's the best player of the modern era.

—Zach Rymer

Stats courtesy of Baseball Reference, FanGraphs and Baseball Savant.