It is with great pleasure that we have brought back the Notinhalloffame MLB Regular Cup, and let us explain how this works:

For every regular-season game, we anointed the best five players with descending points, 5-4-3-2-1. 

We know the following:

• The top players for the MLB NIHOF Cup are not always the best in the league, as injuries keep players out of games, and a premium on staying healthy can help pile up points. It also does not hurt to be a top player on an average or mediocre team, as they can amass Cup points more easily than elite players on loaded squads.
• In Baseball, it is more common than in Basketball and Hockey for a player to accrue points with a single Home Run in a game, which favors position players. Starting Pitchers have a hard time with approximately 30-35 Starts and throwing fewer innings than previous generations. This is also true for closers not made for this process.
• Please remember that this is NOT necessarily who we think were the best players this year and does not reflect overall consistency. Treat this the way we did: as a fun process and more of a compilation of temporary statistical domination.

Here is the current top ten after games concluded on June 30.

1. Aaron Judge, New York Yankees: 128 Cup Points in 84 Games. (#1 Last Week).  5.9 bWAR, 73 Runs, 110 Hits, 30 Home Runs, 67 Runs Batted In, .354/.458/.717 Slash Line, 1.175 OPS & 224 OPS+.

2. Pete Alonso, New York Mets: 113 Cup Points in 85 Games. (#2 Last Week).   3.0 bWAR, 47 Runs, 93 Hits, 18 Home Runs, 65 Runs Batted In, .291/.380/.541 Slash Line, .921 OPS & 163 OPS+.

3. Shohei Ohtani, Los Angeles Dodgers:  106 Cup Points in 83 Games.  (#3 Last Week).  3.9 bWAR, 82 Runs, 94 Hits, 29 Home Runs, 54 Runs Batted In, .287/.388/.633 Slash Line, 1.021 OPS & 183 OPS+.

4. Cal Raleigh, Seattle Mariners: 103 Cup Points in 83 Games. (#4 Last Week).   4.6 bWAR, 60 Runs, 85 Hits, 33 Home Runs, 71 Runs Batted In, .275/.387/.649 Slash Line, 1.049 OPS & 202 OPS+.

5. Riley Greene, Detroit Tigers:  97 Cup Points in 83 Games.  (#5 Last Week).  2.7 bWAR, 47 Runs, 95 Hits, 19 Home Runs, 63 Runs Batted In, .296/.348/.539 Slash Line, .887 OPS & 148 OPS+.

6. (TIE) Byron Buxton, Minnesota Twins:  90 Cup Points in 61 Games.  (#10 Last Week).  3.3 bWAR, 53 Runs, 72 Hits, 19 Home Runs, 51 Runs Batted In, .281/.347/.566 Slash Line, .914 OPS & 149 OPS+.

6. (TIE) James Wood, Washington Nationals: 90 Cup Points in 84 Games. (#6 Last Week).   3.9 bWAR, 52 Runs, 89 Hits, 22 Home Runs, 64 Runs Batted In, .283/.386/.552 Slash Line, .938 OPS & 165 OPS+.

8. Rafael Devers, San Francisco Giants: 89 Cup Points in 79 Games.  (#8 Last Week).  2.3 bWAR, 51 Runs, 84 Hits, 17 Home Runs, 63 Runs Batted In, .261/.388/.481 Slash Line, .869 OPS & 143 OPS+.

9. Francisco Lindor, New York Mets: 88 Cup Points in 77 Games. (#6 Last Week).   2.6 bWAR, 51 Runs, 86 Hits, 16 Home Runs, 43 Runs Batted In, .258/.327/.447 Slash Line, .775 OPS & 121 OPS+.

10. Bobby Witt Jr., San Diego Padres: 85 Cup Points in 85 Games. (Not in the Top Ten Last Week).  3.9 bWAR, 46 Runs, 95 Hits, 11 Home Runs, 45 Runs Batted In, .284/.337/.488 Slash Line, .825 OPS & 129 OPS+.

San Diego’s Manny Machado fell out of the Top Ten.

Notably, 940 baseball players have earned at least 1 point, up from 927 last week.

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 post-2024 revision of our top 50 Baltimore Ravens.

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

1.  Advanced Statistics.

2.  Traditional statistics and how they finished in the National Football League.

3.  Playoff accomplishments.

4.  Their overall impact on the team and other intangibles that are not reflected in a stat sheet.

Last year, the Ravens went 12-5, made the playoffs, but were bounced in the second round.  Despite the season's success and the franchise's relative brevity, there were no new entrants, but multiple elevations in the top 50. 

As always, we present our top five, which has seen a change in that ranking.

1. Ray Lewis
2. Ed Reed
3. Jonathan Ogden
4. Terrell Suggs
5. Lamar Jackson

You can find the entire list here. 

Jackson moved up to #5 from #6 after another phenomenal season.

Of note, Kicker Justin Tucker, who was waived after the season, was unable to move from #9.

Cornerback Marlon Humphrey climbed to #14 from #21.

Tackle Ronnie Stanley also moved up seven spots.  He is now ranked #19.

Linebacker Roquan Smith, who was chosen for his third straight First Team All-American, rocketed from #41 to #27.

Tight End Mark Andrews went to #30 from #32.

Defensive Tackle Nnamdi Madubuike, who went to the Pro Bowl last season, shot to #31 from #43.

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

It is a sad day for baseball fans.

“The Cobra,” Dave Parker, passed away at the age of 74.  He was scheduled to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame next month on the 27th.  His induction will now be posthumous. 

Parker debuted for the Pittsburgh Pirates and quickly became one of the top players in the game.  A seven-time All-Star, Parker won the National League MVP in 1978 and finished in the top four five times.  Parker also won two Batting Titles and propelled the Pirates to win the 1979 World Series. 

His cocaine use hampered Parker’s career, as this likely delayed his Hall of Fame induction.  Parker was passed over on all fifteen of the Baseball Writers’ ballots, and on three Senior Ballots before he was chosen last December.

We here at Notinhalloffame would like to extend our condolences to the fans, friends, and family of Dave Parker.

1980 PRELIMINARY RESULTS:

Thank you to all who participated in the Pro Football Hall of Fame Revisited Project. If you are still determining what that is, we acted like the PFHOF had its first class in January 1946.

We have completed the first 34 years thus far.

For “1980,” a Preliminary Vote with close to 100 players whose playing career ended by 1974. We are also following the structure, where players have 20 years of eligibility, and if they do not make it into the Hall, they are relegated to the Senior Pool.

Each voter was asked to select 25 names from the preliminary list, and the top 25 vote-getters were named Semi-Finalists.

A week later, the voters will be asked to select 15 names from the 25 Semi-Finalists, and then choose five from the remaining 15. We will continue this process on a weekly basis until we catch up to the current year.

Please note that a significant change occurred “years ago,” allowing voters to submit less than the allotted spots. 

30 Votes took place.

This is for the “Modern Era”

Bold indicates they advanced to the Semi-Finals:

*Indicates they have been removed from future ballots

This is for the “Senior Era”

Bold indicates they advanced to the Semi-Finals:

*Indicates that they will be removed from the ballot permanently.

Please note that one voted for “None of the Above.”

This is for the “Coaches/Contributors”

Bold indicates they advanced to the Semi-Finals:

*Indicates that they will be removed from the ballot permanently.

Next week, we will announce the Semi-Finalists for the 1980 Pro Football Hall of Fame Revisited Project.