The case for 5 leading 2025 Hall of Fame candidates
On the eve of the highly anticipated announcement of the Baseball Writers' Association of America's 2025 Baseball Hall of Fame election results, it's a good time to revisit the case for each of the top candidates on the ballot.
2025 HALL OF FAME ELECTION
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Here's a look at the case for each candidate polling at greater than 50% in Ryan Thibodaux's Baseball Hall of Fame ballot tracker, excluding Ichiro Suzuki, who is tracking at 100% and appears to be a lock for induction at Cooperstown this summer:
Sabathia became the 17th pitcher in the 3,000-strikeout club when he whiffed D-backs catcher and former Yankees teammate John Ryan Murphy on April 30, 2019. About two months later, Sabathia beat the Rays at Yankee Stadium for his 250th win.
Only 15 pitchers have racked up as many wins and K's as Sabathia. The lone non-Hall of Famer among them is Roger Clemens. And when you account for only left-handed pitchers, Sabathia falls into a very exclusive group. He, Steve Carlton and Randy Johnson are the only three southpaws with 3,000 and 250 on their ledger. More >
Wagner's career ERA was 2.31. His career ERA+ was 187 ... that means he was 87% better than a league-average pitcher.
Of all pitchers in the Live Ball Era who threw as many innings as Wagner -- not just relievers -- only Mariano Rivera, the greatest closer in history, was better than Wagner in those categories. Mo had a 2.21 ERA and 205 ERA+.
By ERA+, Wagner especially dwarfs every Hall of Fame reliever but Rivera. Of the other six in the Hall, Hoyt Wilhelm at 147 is next after Wagner, and the list goes all the way down to Dennis Eckersley at 116. More >
Only five players in AL/NL history have achieved 500 doubles, 400 homers and 300 steals in their careers. Here's the list in full: Alex Rodr¨ªguez, Barry Bonds, Andre Dawson, Willie Mays ... and Beltr¨¢n, who has 565 two-baggers, 435 dingers and 312 thefts. That is a collection of the most dynamic power-speed threats baseball has ever seen.
What's wild is that even if you remove the qualifier for 500 doubles, the list remains unchanged: It's the same five players -- and only them. If you want to boil down Beltr¨¢n's case to a single stat, this is as persuasive as any. More >
Jones is one of four outfielders to win exactly 10 Gold Gloves, with Ken Griffey Jr., Al Kaline and Ichiro Suzuki. That¡¯s two more first-ballot Hall of Famers and another who seems destined to be the same, in Suzuki. Sure, a handful of trophies alone do not book a ticket to Cooperstown, but accumulating more of them than all but a select group of center fielders provides evidence as to how dominant Jones¡¯ defense was.
Let¡¯s go a step further. Overall, there have been 15 non-pitchers to win at least 10 Gold Gloves. Only four of them also hit at least 400 home runs: Willie Mays, Griffey, Mike Schmidt and Jones. That¡¯s right, another list comprised entirely of first-ballot Hall of Famers, plus Jones. More >
From 2005-10, Utley earned five All-Star selections and hit .298 with 162 homers, 216 doubles, 572 RBIs, 90 steals, a .911 OPS and a 133 OPS+ over 869 games.
In that span, Utley produced 45.5 bWAR, second only to Albert Pujols (52.1) among MLB position players. He was more than 7 WAR ahead of Alex Rodriguez, who placed third with 38.3 WAR, and more than 21 WAR better than the next-best second baseman, Brian Roberts (24.2).
With Utley playing a pivotal role, the Phillies went from a perennial also-ran to a National League powerhouse, winning five NL East titles, two NL pennants and a World Series championship from 2007-11. Prior to that stretch, the Phils made the postseason only once (in 1993) from 1984-2006. More >