gold star for USAHOF

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 9.

1. Aaron Judge, New York Yankees: 109 Cup Points in 54 Games. (#1 Last Week).  5.2 bWAR, 62 Runs, 95 Hits, 23 Home Runs, 55 Runs Batted In, .396/.493/.771 Slash Line, 1.264 OPS & 250 OPS+.

2. Pete Alonso, New York Mets: 105 Cup Points in 60 Games. (#2 Last Week).   2.9 bWAR, 41 Runs, 75 Hits, 17 Home Runs, 61 Runs Batted In, .301/.396/.594 Slash Line, .990 OPS & 182 OPS+.

3. Francisco Lindor, New York Mets: 83 Cup Points in 64 Games. (#3 Last Week).   2.4 bWAR, 42 Runs, 73 Hits, 14 Home Runs, 38 Runs Batted In, .283/.354/.488 Slash Line, .842 OPS & 141 OPS+

4. (TIE) Rafael Devers, Boston Red Sox: 79 Cup Points in 68 Games.  (#5 Last Week).  2.4 bWAR, 45 Runs, 71 Hits, 14 Home Runs, 57 Runs Batted In, .280/.409/.516 Slash Line, .925 OPS & 157 OPS+.

4. (TIE) Shohei Ohtani, Los Angeles Dodgers:  79 Cup Points in 65 Games.  (#4 Last Week).  3.1 bWAR, 67 Runs, 76 Hits, 23 Home Runs, 39 Runs Batted In, .291/.387/.628 Slash Line, 1.015 OPS & 184 OPS+.

6. Cal Raleigh, Seattle Mariners: 77 Cup Points in 64 Games. (#6 Last Week).   3.4 bWAR, 44 Runs, 63 Hits, 26 Home Runs, 53 Runs Batted In, .266/.373/.641 Slash Line, 1.014 OPS & 192 OPS+.

7. (TIE) Jacob Wilson, The Athletics: 73 Cup Points in 64 Games. (Not in the Top Ten Last Week).   2.7 bWAR, 36 Runs, 93 Hits, 8 Home Runs, 38 Runs Batted In, .366/.402/.520 Slash Line, .922 OPS & 159 OPS+.

7. (TIE) Bobby Witt Jr., Kansas City Royals:  73 Cup Points in 66 Games.  (#6 Last Week).  3.4 bWAR, 35 Runs, 75 Hits, 8 Home Runs, 37 Runs Batted In, .291/.349/.492 Slash Line, .842 OPS & 135 OPS+.

7. (TIE) Manny Machado, San Diego Padres: 73 Cup Points in 65 Games. (Not in the Top Ten Last Week).  2.6 bWAR, 45 Runs, 78 Hits, 10 Home Runs, 34 Runs Batted In, .320/.382/.516 Slash Line, .899 OPS & 150 OPS+.

10. Freddie Freeman, Los Angeles Dodgers: 72 Cup Points in 56 Games.  (#9 Last Week).  2.3 bWAR, 36 Runs, 73 Hits, 9 Home Runs, 41 Runs Batted In, .351/.418/.591 Slash Line, 1.009 OPS & 185 OPS+.

Detroit’s Spencer Torkelson and Washington’s James Wood fell out of the Top Ten.

Notably, 888 baseball players have earned at least 1 point, up from 857 last week.

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 2.

1. Aaron Judge, New York Yankees: 100 Cup Points in 58 Games. (#1 Last Week).  4.7 bWAR, 55 Runs, 86 Hits, 21 Home Runs, 50 Runs Batted In, .391/.485/.764 Slash Line, 1.248 OPS & 248 OPS+.

2. Pete Alonso, New York Mets: 82 Cup Points in 60 Games. (#2 Last Week).   1.9 bWAR, 32 Runs, 63 Hits, 12 Home Runs, 46 Runs Batted In, .284/.384/.536 Slash Line, .920 OPS & 162 OPS+.

3. Francisco Lindor, New York Mets: 81 Cup Points in 59 Games. (#4 Last Week).   2.1 bWAR, 39 Runs, 68 Hits, 14 Home Runs, 36 Runs Batted In, .285/.355/.502 Slash Line, .857 OPS & 147 OPS+

4. Shohei Ohtani, Los Angeles Dodgers:  79 Cup Points in 58 Games.  (#5 Last Week).  3.0 bWAR, 64 Runs, 68 Hits, 23 Home Runs, 39 Runs Batted In, .292/.386/.661 Slash Line, 1.047 OPS & 192 OPS+.

5.  Rafael Devers, Boston Red Sox: 77 Cup Points in 62 Games.  (#2 Last Week).  2.3 bWAR, 38 Runs, 66 Hits, 12 Home Runs, 53 Runs Batted In, .286/.408/.515 Slash Line, .923 OPS & 157 OPS+.

6. (TIE) Bobby Witt Jr., Kansas City Royals:  67 Cup Points in 60 Games.  (#6 Last Week).  2.7 bWAR, 30 Runs, 66 Hits, 6 Home Runs, 31 Runs Batted In, .283/.341/.481 Slash Line, .822 OPS & 129 OPS+.

6. (TIE) Cal Raleigh, Seattle Mariners: 67 Cup Points in 58 Games. (Not in the Top Ten Last Week).   3.4 bWAR, 39 Runs, 56 Hits, 23 Home Runs, 45 Runs Batted In, .264/.379/.637 Slash Line, 1.016 OPS & 194 OPS+.

8. James Wood, Washington Nationals: 66 Cup Points in 59 Games. (Not in the Top Ten Last Week).   2.8 bWAR, 38 Runs, 64 Hits, 16 Home Runs, 44 Runs Batted In, .286/.385/.567 Slash Line, .952 OPS & 168 OPS+.

9. (TIE) Spencer Torkelson, Detroit Tigers: 64 Cup Points in 58 Games. (#7 Last Week).  1.4 bWAR, 35 Runs, 48 Hits, 14 Home Runs, 42 Runs Batted In, .235/.346/.510 Slash Line, .855 OPS & 140 OPS+.

9. (TIE) Freddie Freeman, Los Angeles Dodgers: 64 Cup Points in 49 Games.  (#10 Last Week).  2.4 bWAR, 33 Runs, 67 Hits, 9 Home Runs, 38 Runs Batted In, .368/.435/.621 Slash Line, 1.056 OPS & 198 OPS+.

Arizona’s Corbin Carroll, Houston's Isaac Paredes, and Philadelphia’s Bryce Harper fell off the top ten.

Notably, 857 baseball players have earned at least 1 point, up from 829 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 have existing Top 50 lists and consistently look to update them when necessary and based on necessity. As such, we are delighted to present our post-2024 revision of our top 50 Seattle Mariners.

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

1.  Advanced Statistics.

2.  Traditional statistics and how they finished in the American League.

3.  Playoff accomplishments.

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

Please note that our algorithm has changed, which yielded minor changes throughout the baseball lists.

Last year, the Mariners rocketed to a hits tart, but faltered in the second half and did not make the playoffs.  The season would still see three new entrants and some elevations.

As always, we present our top five, which saw no changes

1. Ken Griffey Jr.

2. Edgar Martinez

3. Ichiro Suzuki

4. Felix Hernandez

5. Randy Johnson

You can find the entire list here.

Outfielder Julio Rodriguez rocketed up from #35 to #20.

Shortstop J.P. Crawford moved to #26 from #31.

Pitcher Logan Gilbert is the highest debut at #37.

Catcher Cal Raleigh enters at #39.

The third new entrant is Pitcher George Kirby, who comes in at #45.

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

 

39. Cal Raleigh

From Florida State, the Seattle Mariners grabbed Cal Raleigh with their 2018 Third Round Pick, and it did not take long for the slugging Catcher to make the club.   

Debuting in the Emerald City in 2021, Raleigh emerged as their starting Catcher, and since then he has been one of the top power-hitting backstops in the American League.  Blasting 27 Home Runs in 2022, Raleigh has belted 30 and 34 since, with 100 RBIs last season.  Raleigh has not yet made the All-Star Game, but he has received MVP votes in the last two seasons, and he won the Gold Glove and Platinum Glove last year.

If Raleigh continues to improve in 2025, he could vault more than spots in next year’s revision.