Yes, we know that this is taking a while!

As many of you know, we at Notinhalloffame.com are slowly generating the top 50 of each major North American sports team. That being said, we maintain and update our existing Top 50 lists annually.  As such, we are delighted to present our pre-2026 revision of our top 50 Atlanta Braves.

As for all of our top 50 players in baseball, we look at the following: 

1.  Duration and Impact.

2.  Traditional statistics and how they finished in the Major League Baseball.

3.  Advanced Statistics.

4.  Playoff performance.

5. Their respective legacy on the team.

6. How successful the team was when he was there.

7. Respecting the era in which they played.

Criteria 1-4 will make up the lion’s share of the algorithm.  Please note that we have implemented this for the first time.  This has changed the rankings all throughout the board.

Last year, the Braves struggled out of the gate and never recovered, limping to a losing record.  There were no new entrants, and two active Braves were elevated.

As always, we present our top five, which remain unchanged. 

1. Hank Aaron
2. Warren Spahn
3. Kid Nichols
4. Eddie Mathews
5. Greg Maddux

You can find the entire list here.

Ronald Acuna Jr. went from #28 to #19. 

Ozzie Albies advanced to #37 from #42.

We thank you for your continued support of our lists on Notinhalloffame.com.

Three superstars, three sports; one question for all the fantasy managers who have ever had a beer in hand and argued about: Who has produced the most fantasy winning production in their careers?

Patrick Mahomes provided historically great quarterback performances at an elite level. Connor McDavid has provided a decade of league leading scoring numbers. Shohei Ohtani is, depending on how you fill out your roster with your fantasy platform, literally two fantasy players that are included in a single roster spot.

We were able to determine this by developing a cross-sport "Fantasy Hall of Fame Index" (FHFI) that allows us to normalize production from different time frames, different methods of scoring and different roster construction. The FHFI will evaluate each player based on four equally weighted factors: the level of dominance they have shown above baseline (40%), the amount of leverage they have in their best season (30%), the number of games they play (20%) and their ability to be placed in multiple rosters (10%). Here is what the actual numbers show.

How We Normalized Three Different Sports

The core challenge in cross-sport fantasy comparisons is that a "great" quarterback week looks nothing like a "great" center iceman week. To handle this, we mapped each player's per-game fantasy output onto a Normalized Fantasy Value (NFV) scale of 0 to 100, anchored between two poles: the "last comfortably startable" output for the position (baseline) and a practical upper bound observed across modern elite seasons (ceiling).

Formally: NFV = 100 x clamp((FPPG minus Baseline) / (Ceiling minus Baseline), 0, 1)

To account for availability across sports with very different schedule lengths, we then computed a Dominance-Adjusted Season Share (DASS) for each season:

DASS = NFV x (Games Played / Scheduled Season Length)

Summing DASS across a career produces something WAR-like in spirit: how many peak-equivalent seasons above the startable baseline did this player actually deliver, weighted for how often they were on the field or ice?

For scoring style, we used points-league formats for each sport, since those translate more cleanly across sports than multi-category roto does. Mahomes' season lines draw from FantasyPros' historical passing and rushing tables (2018 to 2025). McDavid's year-by-year scoring comes from ESPN's career stats table (2015 to 2026). Ohtani's hitting and pitching lines are anchored by MLB.com player records and confirmed by Reuters reporting on his 2024 pitching absence.

Patrick Mahomes: Two All-Time Peaks and a Position Economics Problem

Mahomes' fantasy Hall case is largely based upon only two seasons, 2018 and 2022. In 2018, Mahomes scored 5,097 passing yards and 50 touchdown passes in his first full year as a starter. Per game Mahomes averaged 26.1 points in standard QB scoring. Our model calculates that is a normal fantasy value (NFV) of approximately 95 out of 100, the highest single season NFV for any player in this evaluation. His 2022 season, with 5,250 passing yards and 41 touchdown passes plus additional running back production, generated a NFV of 76.0 and demonstrates that this was not a one-year anomaly.

However, the challenge facing Mahomes is the band of mediocre to poor seasons bookending these two peaks. In 2020, Mahomes' NFV was 81.9, good but much lower than his 2018 peak. However, his numbers in 2023 and 2024 were also down, and the 2025 season was limited to 14 games. Therefore, the three best seasons by Mahomes averaged 25.2 fantasy points per game, which is elite, however the drop-off in Mahomes' production from his peak to his floor is greater than for either of the other two players.

Some of this drop off is likely a function of the positional environment and not necessarily the actual decline of Mahomes. The larger structural drag on Mahomes' FHFI score is what I will call "position economics". As stated earlier, in standard one-quarterback league formats, the replacement level at QB is significantly higher than at any other premium position. This means that even a mere "good" quarterback can generate startable weekly numbers. Therefore, while Mahomes' career DASS accumulation is important, it is systematically compressed by the baseline compression in the league at the QB position. Therefore, in superflex or two-QB formats, Mahomes' relative scarcity premium increases substantially and his FHFI case moves closer to 76 or 77 out of 100. In standard formats, the model assigns a FHFI score of 70.6.

It is worth noting that this structural cap on Mahomes shows up in real-world fantasy ranking ecosystems too. Independent draft-value systems, including FPTrack’s football player rankings, reflect how quarterbacks are typically slotted behind other positions despite elite raw production. Meanwhile, their most recent fantasy hockey board ranked McDavid at No. 2 for the 2025-26 season. The result: Mahomes ranks below McDavid in their respective sports' fantasy ranking hierarchies, a gap this index corroborates with actual career data.

Connor McDavid: The Cleanest Fantasy Resume of the Three

While Mahomes' case is based upon peaks, McDavid's is based upon something even more rare: consistent elite production over a decade without a bad season. As shown in ESPN's year-by-year table, McDavid's development into a top player began in his first season in the NHL in 2015-16, as he produced 48 points in 45 games as a rookie. Thus, he already possessed better per game production than many of the top forwards in the league. From that point onward, McDavid's trajectory continued upward. He surpassed 100 real points in several seasons, and in 2022-23, he posted the most impressive individual scoring season in the modern era with 153 points. The normalized value in this model for McDavid's 2022-23 season is 96.6, which would be the highest in the dataset, with the exception of Mahomes' 2018 season. To put that in perspective, the next-highest NFL season in this dataset produces a normalized value of approximately 82.

What sets McDavid apart from the others is not simply the 2022-23 peak, but the floors that exist around it. For example, McDavid's shortened 2020-21 season still graded as a normalized 82.6, while his 2019-20 pandemic season graded as a normalized 61.1. In years where McDavid's numbers were lower, he never fell below startable levels. His top-three seasons average 6.11 fantasy points per game in a skater-points model, and his 712 career games played is a strong durability measure in the NHL.

For the purposes of points-based fantasy hockey, goals and assists are the currencies. McDavid's high volume of assists creates a very high floor in fantasy points. Even if McDavid has a poor shooting week, he is unlikely to lose production due to the fact that his ability to make plays for teammates is so consistent. NHL.com ranked McDavid as the #2 player among fantasy forwards in February 2026, even though he was entering his 11th season in the league. This is consistent with what the DASS calculation shows: multiple high plateau seasons, rather than one peak followed by a decline. McDavid's FHFI composite score of 81.7 is far and away the best among the three players, and it is the most stable of the three scores across sensitivity testing.

Shohei Ohtani: The Two-Way Rules Engine

Unlike the other two players, Ohtani's fantasy case is structured differently, and examining it without referencing platform-specific roster construction is effectively impossible. Not only does Ohtani generate elite-level value in one fantasy market (hitting), but in his best seasons, he simultaneously generates elite value in a different fantasy market (pitching).

Ohtani's hitting resume is incredible. In addition to documenting a 2023 season of 44 home runs and a 1.066 OPS, Ohtani also went 10-5 as a pitcher with a 3.14 ERA and 167 strikeouts in 132 innings. Ohtani did not pitch in 2024, and according to Reuters, it was a result of recovering from elbow surgery. However, in 2024, he hit .310/.390/.646 with 54 home runs and 130 RBIs, along with 59 stolen bases. His 2025 return to two way action saw Ohtani produce 55 home runs as a hitter and a 2.87 ERA in 14 starts. That type of performance is the kind of thing that changes the lens through which we view the potential of a single roster slot.

In the model's main scenario, which considers Ohtani as a single two-way player who occupies one roster slot and produces both hitting and pitching points, Ohtani's greatest seasons create a compositional advantage that is very difficult to replicate. His 2023 season graded as a normalized 100 out of 100, which is the model's ceiling, since no other player has been able to generate the unique combination of elite hitter and front line starter in a single slot. Ohtani's top three seasons average 6.91 fantasy points per game in the combined model. Ohtani's composite FHFI score of 78.7 places him in second.

However, the key issue with Ohtani's FHFI score is the availability issues with respect to his pitching. Ohtani did not pitch in 2024. Ohtani also did not pitch for part of the 2019 season, and suffered from injuries that affected his pitching in other seasons. If you evaluate his pitching production as a separate roster entry instead of a bonus from a single slot, Ohtani's pitching DASS drops substantially, and in a "split player" interpretation of Ohtani, the model rates Ohtani as being below Mahomes, at approximately 68.0. The order of McDavid and Ohtani above Mahomes is stable in unified formats, while Ohtani falls to third in split player formats. That format sensitivity is the most critical factor in this analysis.

The Numbers: Index Scores, Trajectory, and Sensitivity

Here is the primary scenario output under unified Ohtani, points-league scoring, and standard weighting:

The normalized career trajectories illustrate each player's shape well. Mahomes is front loaded: his 2018 season, with an NFV of 94.9, is the highest single season NFV in the dataset, and Mahomes' numbers have trended downward to the low-mid 20s normalized value for every season since his 2018 peak. Ohtani spikes sharply in two-way seasons and then drops down to the 40s in years where he does not pitch at all, reflecting the zero normalized value of Ohtani's 2018-2020 seasons, where he had little-to-no MLB playing time. McDavid's line is the flattest of the three in terms of its variance: Once McDavid established himself in 2019-20, he never fell below the 50s normalized, and his 2022-23 season, with an NFV of 96.6, is only 3.4 points from Mahomes' all-time peak.

The sensitivity analysis shows a few things worth flagging. First, changing to a peak-heavy weighting (50% peak leverage, 20% career dominance) causes Mahomes to jump to second, and causes the difference between Mahomes and McDavid to narrow considerably, as Mahomes' 2018 season is the best single season in the dataset. If "Fantasy Hall of Fame" means "the best single season", Mahomes has a case. If "Fantasy Hall of Fame" means "the best career long asset", the current weighting is more suitable. Second, in hockey formats that emphasize hits, blocked shots, and penalty minutes, McDavid's lead over the competition shrinks, although major fantasy platforms continue to rank McDavid as one of the top values at forward. Finally, in Superflex formats, Mahomes' score moves to the high 70s, and may surpass Ohtani in split player formats.

Final Ranking and What Could Change It

The Fantasy Hall of Fame ordering from this analysis, in primary scenario form:

1. Connor McDavid (81.7) -- The cleanest combination of ceiling, repetition, and position dominance. A decade of elite fantasy hockey production that has never had a genuinely bad season is an extraordinarily rare profile.

2. Shohei Ohtani (78.7) -- The most format-dependent case of the three, but in unified two-way formats the ceiling is genuinely unmatched. His hitter-only resume, even stripped of pitching, is still an elite fantasy career.

3. Patrick Mahomes (70.6) -- Two of the best individual QB fantasy seasons ever recorded, surrounded by a position structure that compresses their relative value against the rest of the field. In Superflex leagues, revisit this ranking.

The clearest path to changing this ordering: move to a peak-first weighting in a Superflex league with split Ohtani, and Mahomes rises to first. Move to a unified Ohtani interpretation with heavy career-dominance weighting, and McDavid leads comfortably with Ohtani second. The Mahomes-to-first scenario requires a very specific set of format conditions. The McDavid-at-first outcome is the most robust finding in this analysis, holding across nearly every tested combination of weights and scoring assumptions.

Have you ever asked yourself why some football teams play like they can read each other’s minds on the pitch? 

Professional football is not only about fast runs, powerful shots, or impressive saves. It is about players moving as one unit, guided by a clear strategy and strong teamwork.

Football at the professional level is a beautiful mix of talent and planning. Each player brings skill, but the real magic happens when those skills connect smoothly. Coaches, analysts, and players work together behind the scenes to shape every match. What we see on the field is the result of hours of preparation and shared effort.

When a team plays well together, it feels natural and smooth. Passes arrive at the right time, defenders cover open spaces, and attackers create chances through smart movement. This flow does not happen by accident. It grows from trust, communication, and a shared goal.

Professional football also shows how small details matter. A slight change in formation, a quick adjustment in pressing style, or a shift in tempo can shape the direction of a match. These changes are planned carefully, and players train to understand their roles clearly.

Team coordination reminds many fans of how structured systems operate online, such as KUY4D, where every part works in sync to create a smooth experience. In football, the same idea applies. When every position understands its task and timing, the team performs with confidence and clarity.

Understanding Teamwork In Professional Football

Teamwork in professional football starts with mutual respect and strong communication. Players come from different backgrounds, but they unite under one badge. They train together daily, building trust that allows them to react quickly during matches.

Communication On And Off The Field

Clear communication is the foundation of teamwork. On the field, players talk constantly. They call for the ball, warn teammates about pressure, and guide positioning. These small exchanges create order in fast-moving situations.

Off the field, communication continues in team meetings and training sessions. Coaches explain tactics, players share feedback, and analysts present match insights. This open exchange builds understanding and keeps everyone aligned with the team’s plan.

Strong communication also builds confidence. When a defender knows the midfielder will track back, or when a striker trusts a winger to deliver the cross, decisions become quicker and smoother. This trust reduces hesitation and supports fluid play.

Shared Goals And Team Spirit

Professional teams operate with clear goals. Winning matches is important, but so is playing with identity and pride. Players support each other during training and celebrate each other’s achievements during matches.

Team spirit shows in simple actions. A forward who tracks back to help defend, a midfielder who covers extra ground for a teammate, or a goalkeeper who organizes the defense with calm authority. These moments highlight how unity shapes performance.

The atmosphere in the locker room also plays a big role. Positive energy, mutual respect, and shared ambition strengthen bonds. When players feel connected, they give their best not only for themselves but for the entire squad.

The Importance Of Strategy In Professional Football

Strategy in football is the plan that guides every movement on the pitch. Coaches analyze opponents, study patterns, and create systems that maximize their team’s strengths. A clear strategy provides direction and structure.

Strategy covers formation, pressing style, build-up play, and defensive organization. Each detail has a purpose. The aim is to create balance between attack and defense while keeping the team flexible and confident.

Tactical Formations And Roles

Formations such as 4-3-3 or 3-5-2 are more than numbers. They define space, roles, and responsibilities. A full-back may be asked to join the attack, while a holding midfielder protects the defense. Every position connects to the overall plan.

Players train repeatedly within these systems. They learn when to move forward, when to hold position, and how to support teammates. This clarity allows them to act quickly during matches.

Football strategy also values spacing. When players maintain proper distance from each other, passing options increase. This makes it easier to control possession and create scoring chances. Structured systems online, like KUY4D LINK, also rely on clear structure to function smoothly, and football strategy works in a similar organized way.

Adapting During The Match

Professional football requires quick thinking. Coaches and players adjust tactics based on the flow of the match. A team may shift from defensive shape to attacking formation in seconds.

These adjustments come from preparation. Teams study different scenarios in training. They practice counterattacks, set pieces, and defensive transitions. This preparation helps them stay calm and focused, even in high-pressure moments.

Substitutions also play a strategic role. Fresh players bring energy and new options. A coach might introduce a fast winger to stretch the defense or a strong midfielder to control possession. Each change supports the overall plan.

How Teamwork And Strategy Work Together

Teamwork and strategy are closely connected. A smart plan only succeeds when players execute it together. At the same time, teamwork becomes more effective when guided by a clear strategy.

Building Trust Through Structure

When players understand the tactical system, they feel secure in their roles. This security builds trust. A defender knows that if they step forward, a teammate will cover the space behind.

Training sessions often focus on coordination. Small-sided games, positional drills, and set-piece routines help players understand movement patterns. Over time, these patterns become natural.

Coordination is also about timing. A forward makes a run at the exact moment a midfielder lifts their head to pass. These moments show how strategy and teamwork blend into one smooth action.

Leadership And Collective Responsibility

Leadership in professional football does not come from one person alone. Captains guide the team on the pitch, while experienced players support younger teammates. Coaches provide direction from the sidelines.

Collective responsibility is key. Every player contributes to both attack and defense. When a team loses the ball, everyone works to regain control. This shared effort keeps the team balanced and focused.

Structured systems like KUY4D LINK ALTERNATIF operate efficiently when every part performs its function properly, and football teams follow a similar principle. Unity and organization create steady performance.

Training As The Foundation Of Success

Professional teams spend many hours preparing for each match. Training sessions combine physical work, technical drills, and tactical exercises. Players improve their passing accuracy, shooting precision, and defensive positioning.

Video analysis is also important. Coaches review past matches to highlight strengths and areas for improvement. Players see how their movements connect with teammates and how strategy unfolds during play.

Fitness plays a vital role as well. Strong endurance allows players to maintain focus and speed throughout the match. Conditioning programs are planned carefully to support peak performance.

Mental preparation is another key factor. Confidence, focus, and discipline support both teamwork and strategy. Players learn to stay calm and make smart decisions under pressure.

The Positive Impact On Fans And The Sport

When teamwork and strategy come together, fans enjoy exciting and organized football. Matches become more than just competition. They become displays of coordination, intelligence, and skill.

Young players also learn valuable lessons from professional teams. They see how cooperation and planning lead to success. These lessons apply beyond football, encouraging collaboration and thoughtful decision-making in daily life.

Professional football continues to grow because of this balance between teamwork and strategy. Clubs invest in youth development, coaching education, and performance analysis. This commitment supports continuous improvement and high-quality matches.

Football shows that individual talent shines brightest when supported by collective effort. A star player benefits from teammates who create space, deliver passes, and provide defensive cover. Success becomes a shared achievement.

Final Thoughts On Teamwork And Strategy In Professional Football

Professional football thrives on unity and careful planning, showing that when players trust each other and follow a clear strategy, the game flows with confidence, creativity, and shared purpose, inspiring fans and proving that true success comes from working together toward a common goal.

Here's what LA's president of baseball operations, Andrew Friedman, didn't need to say out loud when Kyle Tucker penned his four-year, $240 million deal in January: they already had Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts, and Freddie Freeman, and they went and got the best free agent on the market anyway. The Dodgers' luxury-tax payroll will exceed $400 million in 2026 — with the taxes alone projected to eclipse $149 million, more than the combined tax bills of every other team in baseball. They're not building a dynasty. They're fortifying one, brick by expensive brick, against a sport that theoretically has mechanisms to stop this.

So while every other front office spent this winter playing checkers at the kids' table, the Dodgers played a different game entirely. Already the reigning back-to-back champions, they have underlined their position with online betting sites as the overwhelming favorites to claim a famous three-peat in 2026. The latest odds from the popular Lucky-Rebel list LA as the clear +220 frontrunner for the World Series this year, with their nearest challenger way out at +1000. 

But just because the Dodgers stole the show this offseason, it doesn't make the rest uninteresting — far from it. What makes this winter genuinely fascinating is watching teams like the Mets, Blue Jays, and Tigers answer an impossible question: how do you compete with that?

Tucker To LA 

We may as well start with the blockbuster. Tucker's $240 million deal — $30 million deferred, $57.1 million AAV for luxury-tax purposes, a record eclipsing Juan Soto's — includes opt-outs after 2027 and 2028.  That's the organizational genius buried inside the obscenity: if Tucker explodes, he opts out, and LA re-signs him at market. If he regresses, the Dodgers shed him with premium years still on the roster. 

The Cubs, who surrendered a package from Houston to acquire Tucker before 2024, had him for one injury-shortened season and watched him walk to the team that needed him least. Chicago knows what it's like to lose a player to free agency. This stings differently — you traded for the guy, absorbed his arbitration, and he just joined the franchise with the GDP of a mid-sized nation. What do you even say to your fanbase after that? 

Kyle Tucker is already mentally in October.
pic.twitter.com/JkEjgwX2Nb

— Lucky Rebel (@LuckyRebel__) February 13, 2026

Schwarber Stays

Philadelphia President Dave Dombrowski knew what he was doing when he locked up Kyle Schwarber on December 9 for five years and $150 million. He also knows what the Phillies' roster looks like in 2030: Bryce Harper at 37, J.T. Realmuto at 35, Schwarber at a $30 million DH nearing retirement. The window is now. 

Schwarber averaged 47 home runs over his previous four seasons in red pinstripes — you don't let that walk out of Citizens Bank Park when you genuinely believe 2026 might be your best shot. Philadelphia's payroll approaches $270 million. There's no flexibility left. They're betting their entire roster construction on two or three seasons of urgency. 

Bichette's Pivot

David Stearns failed in his quest to tempt Tucker to Queens on January 15th. Barely 24 hours later, he had Bo Bichette at $42 million AAV for three years — prime years, smart structure, $126 million total. Bichette shifts to third, creates a left-side infield pairing with Francisco Lindor that is genuinely frightening, and gives the Mets the contact bat they'd been missing for years. 

For Toronto, this is devastating. Both Dylan Cease and Bichette are gone in one winter. Bichette spent seven seasons in blue and never won a playoff series. That's the quiet tragedy sitting underneath all of the Mets' ruthless opportunism. 

Peralta's Price 

Three days after Bichette, Stearns reached into his prospect cabinet and paid the full price: Jett Williams (MLB's No. 30 overall prospect), Brandon Sproat, Tobias Myers — all to Milwaukee for Freddy Peralta. The Mets ranked 27th in rotation ERA in the second half of 2025. Peralta went 17-6 with a 2.70 ERA in 33 starts last season. 

The math isn't complicated; the sacrifice is. Stearns decided 2026-27 is worth gutting the farm for. The Mets' CBT payroll now approaches $320 million. Steve Cohen said his goal was to reduce spending toward a more sustainable level. That goal apparently remains aspirational. 

Suarez to Boston 

Five years, $130 million for Ranger Suárez — paired with Sonny Gray, acquired from St. Louis — is Boston's loudest statement since the Chaim Bloom era ended. The Red Sox have been "almost there" since 2018. Suárez and Gray give them a genuine top of the rotation for the first time in years. Whether that's enough in the AL East — with Toronto's rotation, Baltimore's lineup, and the Big Apple’s perennial ambition — is the question that plays out between April and September. 

Arenado to Arizona

The Cardinals traded Nolan Arenado to Arizona on January 13, covering $31 million of his remaining $42 million, and signaled something undeniable: St. Louis is rebuilding.  For a franchise that was a perennial NL Central force, this is an organizational gut punch. For Arizona, Arenado is the championship-pedigree piece alongside Ketel Marte and Corbin Carroll. He's 34. He may have two productive seasons left, or five. The D-backs are betting on the former; the Cardinals are cutting their losses either way. 

Semien-Nimmo: The First Domino

Everything started back on November 23. Stearns traded Brandon Nimmo to Texas, shed $102.5 million through 2030, absorbed $72 million of Semien's deal, and called it a cultural upgrade. He wasn't wrong. Semien's defense is measurably better; his leadership profile is exactly what Stearns was building toward. But more than anything, this trade created the Mets' offseason — it unlocked the payroll space and philosophical clarity that made Bichette, Peralta, and everything else possible.