Complete breakdown of the 2026 BBWAA Hall of Fame voting
Ryan Braun got dumped off? Excellent
He was never going to make it in with his stats anyways.
Yes, and it’s great that he will be off the ballot instead of clogging it up. His peak was great, ripping 30-40 dingers and stealing almost as many bases, leading the league in slugging a couple of times. Obviously it’s hard to know when he started using PEDs. Could be an Arod situation where he was likely juicing since before he was even drafted. Add on top of all that the fact that he is an insufferable prick, and buh-bye
With him, not only was it him getting busted with PED’s and being a prick, but the dude took almost no accountability, throwing people under the bus for it.
I’d have to imagine without that stuff, he’d have been that guy who’d have hung around the ballot for 10 years before falling off. With it… it was easy for voters to go “fuck off”, and not vote him at all for the most part
I guess what you described is what I consider him being a prick
I don’t mind so much he was a roider though Matt Kemp truther. My beef is how hard he went that he didn’t and convinced his friends like Aaron Rodgers he was clean.
[removed]
a what collector
He framed the piss collector as an antisemite because he thought players and the public would believe he tainted the piss.
https://www.si.com/si-wire/2013/08/19/ryan-braun-discredit-urine-collector
Oh I see, for some reason I didn’t think of testing and my mind went to some guy with just jars of piss sitting on shelves like a baseball collection or something.
Granny’s peach tea
SAVE MARTHA
I would’ve tried to get Kemp more votes than him out of spite lmao
I’m shocked he got 15 votes honestly. Way more than I thought
Going to be a interesting ballot next year with things clearing up a bit.
Going to see a lot of new votes for the likes of Utley and Felix. Other might make some jumps too.
Vizquel is in his 10th attempt to in his final year so don’t have to see his name again after next year.
Posey will be inducted next year, but outside him, there are a lot of maybe’s.
Utley and Felix will be the two to watch.
It ought to be Abreu
Abreu is criminally underrated. 2488hits, 574 doubles (top 25 all time), 400 stolen bases. Great combination of power and speed.
Like I’ve said before, if prime Abreu is shifted up a few years when the Phillies were at their peak, I’d have to imagine he’d be getting much more love from HOF voters. His prime was when the Phillies were still just kinda meh at worst, just not quite making the playoffs at best.
If he’s getting in it’ll be year 10
I hope so because his career was short. Obviously I believe he’s a no brainer but I’m not sure how voters will feel.
His stats/awards aren’t far off from Mauer and Mauer got in first-ballot, albeit by a very small margin. I think the three rings and the fact he did all he did despite walking away young will help his case.
Caught 3 no hitters, dude was the man
I think he gets in first ballot. Three rings are definitely gonna help him out, despite the short career
I think Lester will get a decent amount of votes. He’s got 200 wins and 3 World Series championships including snapping the Cubs drought. I’m not saying he’ll get in, but he’ll get some votes and stick around on the ballot
Not to mention there’s no real controversy or anything surrounding him
Also has the same ERA+ as Felix, three top 5 CY Young finishes, and an amazing post season pitcher.
Also has the same ERA+ as Felix
This is more of an anti-Felix point than a pro-Lester point TBH
Wainwright joins them in 2029. It will be interesting how voters group him, Lester, Hamels, and Felix (Felix might already be in by 2029). Lester has the lowest WAR but a lot of resume lines that traditionalists look for.
Fwiw, that 2016 Cubs team, perhaps one of the most culturally impactful team of the last 50 years, is relatively devoid of Hall of fame talent. Jon Lester, Aroldis Chapman and Kyle Schwarber are the only players with a chance it seems, though none are locks. Would be a shame if no one from that team ended up in Cooperstown
Rizzo will get some votes, but I don’t think he’ll get in
What he has going for him is he’ll be the best new player on the ballot in 4 years, but that’s just because absolutely nobody with even half a prayer of a hall of fame case retired in 2024.
He also falls under the likable with no controversy banner. Beloved on and off the field, and was the leader of the team who broke the most historic and infamous championship drought in America
This is curse of the bambino erasure and I won’t allow it
Kinda reminds me of the 2013 Seahawks in that regard. Historically dominant team with stars all over both sides of the ball and an enduring legacy despite being a very young team.
Yet the only runaway HOFer is Bobby Wagner. Sherman and Thomas likely get in a a few more years but that’s basically it in regards to their 53-man roster
Rizzo and Bryant would have both gotten in if their careers weren’t derailed by injuries. Bryant won College player of the year, Minor League Player of the Year, Rookie of the Year and MVP/World Series Champion in 4 successive years. That’s a hell of a start to a career. Kyle Hendricks will get some votes but will fall short too.
Likely has a first year similar to Hamels and gets in eventually IMO
The standards on starting pitchers are gonna have to get lower at some point. I think we’re starting to see that with Felix.
Johan Santana probably sees this and seethes.
People always say that but why? Kershaw, Verlander, and Scherzer would all make the hall of fame if their careers started 30 years earlier.
Lester is one of the best Playoff pitchers ever. Plus he helped end the Cubs curse, and was a significant member of another historic franchise. Lester, Posey, Utley, and Rollins are “Yes” votes IMO next year.
This was a really weak first year class
Also fuck Omar Vizquel
What’s wrong with Vizquel? Andruw jones is also a known batterer of his wife
Vizquel also sexually harassed an autistic bat boy.
And was also accused of domestic violence
Well yeah, but the other guy already knew that, so it didn’t need repeating.
Fuck vizquel
Real question though: Are we expecting jumps because some writers have some weird notion that a player can be a HOFer but they don’t “deserve” to get in on theor first ballot? Otherwise, it sure looks like a lot of writers didn’t even vote for the maximum amount of players so if they weren’t good enough last year, why should we believe they’ll change their mind next year?
Nick Markakis???
Takes strike one
This used to be a family show.
Whoops
/30 seconds of silence
Formerly hypothetically on pace for 3000 hits Nick Markakis
Only one vote makes me kinda sad. Obviously he doesn’t make the cut but he was still a really good player and well known good guy
Kinda hoping he would hang around for a few years on the ballot. Didn’t deserve to get in, but didn’t deserve to drop off first ballot as well.
Was a professional hitter.
I wanna say that vote was from Dan Connolly, former Orioles beat writer
It was. Dan wrote an article about it
I liked that dude a lot. Always wanted him to be a Mariners
He got a courtesy vote from a Baltimore writer. We all know he’s not a Hall of Famer, but we love him in Birdland. He and Adam Jones were the faces of our first good team in decades.
Posey + Utley class next year?
That would be my bet. Posey in, Utley most likely
Felix making a big gain again that gets him mid 60s and sets him up for induction in 2 years
I feel like a lot of voters in two years will try to make it just Molina and Pujols getting in together and hold off on giving Felix their vote. Then Felix makes it handedly on his 5th year on the ballot.
2029 is going to be a tough year to get in. Miggy, Votto, and Greinke all join that year.
That’s why you can always vote for 10 people
Yeah I like Utley’s chances.
I think a lot of voters choose only the “most likely to be inducted,” and I think that’s Posey + Utley on this next ballot. I think most if not all of the ‘Beltran + Andruw only’ votes this year become ‘Posey + Utley only’ votes next year.
Utley will also have the best statistical case next year. That’s a nice boost.
I don’t see anyway Chase doesn’t make it next year with these numbers
I expected him to get in at some point, but third year is earlier than i would’ve guessed. Very happy for him
Posey + Bochy
I’ll be very surprised if Utley gets in next year. Going from 59% to 75% is a massive leap. A player making the HOF after getting less than 60% of the votes the previous year has happened once in the last 50 years when Larry Walker’s voting percentage jumped up from 54% in 2019 to 76% in 2020. But one big difference is that it was Walker’s last eligible year on the ballot while Utley has six more years on the ballot.
2027 is a really weak ballot. Honestly worse than this year’s and this one was the worst in decades.
Buehrle creeping up!
Still trailing 3 other SP though. I hope he doesn’t finish behind Lester next year.
Yeah at this point I’m sanguine that he’s probably not making it but I like seeing him getting some more recognition.
Only player on that list with a drunk World Series appearance let alone a save in a big moment.
Buehrle > Lester
Buehrle’s benefitting a lot from Felix and Hamels, I think. Those guys both “feel” more like Hall of Famers than Buehrle, but the stats show they’re all basically equal.
So if I’m gonna sit there and check the box next to Felix and Hamels, I have to come up with a reason not to check the box next to Buehrle, and that’s kinda hard to intellectually justify.
Shin Soo Choo got three whole votes, weirdly enough I’m happy
one of his voters who did a write up gave a pretty compelling case for voting for him as a “trailblazer” which has precedent. im not surprised he falls off immediately but I’m glad he got the recognition of being included.
Choo gets in if the baseball HOF was more like the basketball HOF, where international stats and contributions are taken into account. That’s specifically not supposed to be factored in for the BBHOF.
He’s the greatest Korean player of all time, and I think he’ll hold that title for a long time
I agree! But that doesn’t get you in the BBHOF since it’s just an American HOF.
Howie didn’t get a single vote :(
2019 alone deserves a vote lol
That grand slam against LA is one of my favorite non-Yankee related baseball moments
I second that
No it doesn’t wtf is wrong with you, masochist
But like… we agree he shouldn’t be a hall of famer, right?
Oh 100%, it just feels like he deserved at least one throwaway.
Like Edwin Encarnacion and Nick Markakis got ones, lmao.
My thoughts exactly. I went to game 5, didn’t get to see any fireworks but seeing Jose Andres (future Peace Prize nominee?) throw out the first pitch was pretty dope. Will always remember game 7, I lived next to Minute Maid at the time and was dancing in the rain after Howie hit his rope off the right foul pole. Walked over to the Four Seasons after the game to congratulate the team, and Howie was so cheesed, smile could light up a room. Love that dude.
Yeah out of all the guys to give a throwaway vote to, which I’m not huge on as a practice anyway, he’d been my choice
I give a lot of weight to big postseason performances personally, his 2019 run was all-time legendary and was like adding 10+ WAR to his career just from that in my eyes.
Yeah that bummed me out.
The pride of St. John’s River St. College, a (when I played) powerhouse JuCo in sunny Palatka, FL.
Also home of Nathaniel Lowe.
Not relevant, but fun!
Bob Costas going off about Rollins being below Utley. “Rollins was statistically better”. No he was not, Bob, not even close.
Jimmy Rollins’ MVP season would’ve been Chase Utley’s 6th best season. Pure lunacy.
Rollins has about 600 more hits and 100 more walks (in about 2,400 more plate appearances), and stole 300 more bases. Utley leads in every other traditional stat and advanced metric.
Getting on base 700 more times isn’t nothing, but the writers have this one right.
Old man Bob still analyzing things like its the 80s.
Thing is, if he puts up the same numbers as a shortstop in the 60’s and 70’s, I’d have a feeling he’d have a much easier time getting into the Hall. Guys like Cal Ripken and Alex Rodriguez absolutely changed how we viewed shortstops.
With Kent’s induction, Roger Maris is the highest vote getter (43.1%) to not be inducted in the HoF without character issues or steroid association.
Which is good news for Felix and Utley
Wait how tf is Roger Maris not in?
You can’t tell the story of baseball without Roger Maris.
Roger Maris.
He fell off a cliff and only had about 300 hits past the age of 30.
So Andruw Jones basically.
Andruw Jones if he was only pretty good defensively, and only in the corner, and if you took away almost 200 home runs.
So almost nothing like Andruw Jones, and obviously much, much worse.
You can’t tell it without Tommy John and Curt Flood, both more deserving, neither in
Not being a dick, Roger would be the first guy to tell you he wasn’t a HoFer
Owning 1 record, regardless of the significance of that record, does not make one a Hall of Famer.
Because he totally fell off a cliff after that year, so while he does have 4 years where he got an all-star selection (with a few where he got 2 because they had 2 all-star games every year for a bit), with 2 MVP wins and that home run record, his career stat line is just nowhere close. 1325 hits and 275 homers isn’t going to get you into the hall.
Because he wasn’t a HOF quality baseball player. He was a corner fielder with 275 home runs and a .260 batting average in his short career, which I think adequately encapsulates why he wasn’t deserving without having to even get into advanced metrics (which tell exactly the same story - 38.2 career WAR, exactly two seasons with a WAR above 4).
“The story of baseball” has never - NEVER - been the criteria for an individual earning a plaque. I don’t know who came up with that meme, but it’s a stupid, facile argument.
Matt Kemp got some votes 🙌
He’s off the ballot going forward though. I feel like winning the MVP in 2011 would’ve given him more time but I guess not
Still nice to see him get a couple votes
Yes. He had some fun years and I’m happy he got a bit of recognition.
People act like pulling Rihanna in her absolute prime isnt worth a point in his favor.
I would love to ask people how do you vote for Andy Pettitte but then scarf at the idea of voting for an Alex Rodriguez or Manny Ramirez. Significantly worse player that also cheated…lmao?
People care about when they get caught, ala post 2004 and pre 2004 roids as that’s when testing started
It helps that he responded basically “Yeah it was for injury and I shouldn’t have done that”
“Excuse me?” - Mark McGwire
I genuinely think if any player was ever so stupid they accidentally did PEDs it would be Manny. “Oh he took female hormonal medicine to mask-” no he wanted to be a beautiful, glowing, mother.
Manny being womanny.
Probably because he was remorseful about it
He also never failed a test and got a suspension. Both Manny and A-Rod served steroid-related suspensions.
And a-rod- as much as I love him- was a total asshole the last time he got caught. I love him to death and I think he belongs in the hall, but I’m just answering your question.
….sure let’s go with that
Are you insinuating racism? I don’t doubt it. Most of the sportswriters suck and are biased so
Pettitte did steroids before they were banned. That has been a pretty clear line for a lot of voters.
If that’s the case then why are McGwire, Sosa, Palmiero not in? Genuine question, I’m not being a devils advocate.
The makeup of the voters has changed over the years. There are more millennial voters who don’t care as much about steroids than there were when Palmeiro and McGwire were on the ballot.
Pettitte also gets credit for owning up to his steroid use in a way those other players didn’t. I personally wouldn’t give him extra credit for that, but many do.
Different voting blocks. I think some of them would have gotten in with all the online media voters from this year.
I get that Felix’s argument is based on peak, but still surprised the big gap between him and Buehrle/Hamels given the body of work.
Accolades as well, he has a Cy Young, two 2nd place finishes and a 4th place finish. The other two peaked out at one 5th place finish.
I’ll never understand that mentality though. If you view WAR7 as “peak”, Felix’s 38.5 is barely above Hamel’s 37.4 and Buehrle’s 35.8. Yeah, his peak was more “spikey” (bigger highs and lows) but in terms of overall production the gap isn’t crazy (while the gap is crazy in late career production). We see all the time that sometimes players just get hot and win awards (Robbie Ray and Blake Snell being a couple examples) yet still so much stock is put in them when evaluating careers.
Felix was at one point in time arguably the best pitcher in the world. Hamels isn’t able to say that. That makes a big difference, it’s not the Hall of WAR.
Was he? During his absolute peak (2009-2014) Kershaw was definitely a better pitcher. He just barely has Verlander beat (since it overlaps with his weird mid-career downturn around 2014-2015) but I’d probably take Verlander if asked to choose.
Like, I can also define a 6 year stretch where Hamels has an argument for podium. 2011-2016 he’s competing with Scherzer, Verlander, and Cueto for the #2 spot (also behind Kershaw).
Single year samples aren’t enough to call someone the best pitcher on the planet, and it’s hard to define a multi-year sample where Felix is clearly the best (always being eclipsed by Halladay, Verlander, and Kershaw).
Yes he was.
Good to see Utley movement. Should be a Hall of Famer within two years.
I think he has a strong chance next year, Posey is the only new guy that should get in.
Alex Gordon got a vote! I can die happy
Shout out that likely KC based voter! You’re a real one
Yeah I was happy to see that. He’s no where near a HOFer but at least he didn’t bow out with 0%
Yeah. He was never going to make it or even stay on the ballot but it’s nice being able to say he at least got a single vote as a recognition for his career.
A-Rod creeping up 👀
He’s gonna be like Bonds, Clemens, Sheffield and Manny before him. Get enough to stay on the ballot, stall out in the low 40s, clog up the ballot and then spend years on a Veterans Committee ballot not getting elected there either.
Love to see Pedroia climb this ladder the next 8 years
Totally agree. He had a HOF trajectory before the injury. His 162 game average WAR is 5.6 which is very good for 2nd basemen. Hes also not that far behind Jeff Kent for bWAR (51.9 vs 55.4) and considering how many less games he played, that’s notable as well. He was very good defensively as well. I really think he deserves it even if I’m being a little bit of a homer.
I’m a Red Sox fan as well, and it’s nice to see him getting some love. I feel like he has become extremely underrated, he was MVP of the league and a 2-Time Champion! Great memories of watching him make those signature sliding play stops at 2nd.
I do feel like he needed 2-3 more years to really have a rock solid case, but certainly wouldn’t mind seeing him get in.
I hope Pedroia and Wright can ascend together. I know it’s an uphill battle and I’m resigned to Wright being a ten-year balloter and not getting in, but both of their peaks were HOF caliber if not for the injuries.
i kinda group utley wright and pedroia together as peak>longevity guys. none of them have the counting stats of a traditional hofer but were integral to the baseball scene for ten years. if utley gets in within the next two years which seems likely i could see that swaying people to vote for other peak sub-2k hit guys like david and dustin
Cole Hamels with a seriously impressive debut! Does he have a chance, maybe?
Helton, Rolen, Jones, Wagner, and Walker all debuted lower than Hamels, so he definitely has a chance.
I said it elsewhere in the thread, but I also really think he, Buehrle, and Felix are kind of a collective rising tide lifting each other’s boats. They have such similar statistical resumes that make it hard to vote for one without the other two, so if people take a second look and give a vote to Felix, they’re more likely to take a similar look at Hamels and give him a vote as well.
Just a shame that Johan Santana hit the ballot too early to benefit from this voting trend.
Santana is getting in one day I think through a committee. People have regrets about that one.
Buehrle is going to have the hardest route of the three because peak wise he wasn’t as good as Hamels. He was just very very steady year after year.
Definitely, that’s a high percentage for a first year on the ballot
Kemp got two votes and Braun fell off, seems like decent vindication for Dodgers fans for 2011 paired with how they curbstomped the Brewers in the NLCS this year
justice for rick porcello
Rick Porcello was awful in Detroit but 2 votes is an accomplishment for sure
we all have our random favorites
Dude made over 100 mil, got a cy young and a ring. I don’t think he’s sweating. He’s weird, completely justified one and done but a career 99% of players would kill for
Plus Kate Upton thinks off him every time she walks by JV’s trophy case. Rent free.
Wild that he was first up for the HOF while Verlander and Scherzer are still going
Chase Utley, don’t make any vacation plans for late July next couple years
Also maybe this is unfair but I feel like the threshold for staying on the ballot should rise to something like 20% after 5 years. Feels kinda weird to have guys Torii Hunter stick around at 8% for a decade.
Sometimes guys make a run. Larry Walker was at 15.5% after year 6.
Yeah and its not like the paper ends up being not able to fit them all on it.
I used to think 5% each year, but this is known so anyone who was waiting until there was room to vote would start voting to keep them up and if all else fails they can be in the vet committee.
I also thought first year as long as you get 1 vote you stay on.
This ofc is worse than a simple yes/no
this may get me downvoted, but it’s nice to see Edwin get a few atta-boy votes
I love those types of votes, one of the only things I like about the HOF process tbh
him, Donaldson, and Bautista was the scariest trio of right-handed hitters I’ve ever seen
Hunter Pence, Hall of Fame vote-getter!
Can’t believe a guy whose favorite movie is Godfather 3 got some votes
Nick Markakis ^takes ^vote ^one…
I’m really hoping Bobby Abreu has a Larry Walker-esque run in the next couple of years.
Really similar players too. Right-fielders who were legit 5-tool players and did almost everything well.
Walker was better, but Abreu is really underappreciated. In his prime you could just pencil in Abreu for .300/.400/.500 every year while he also stole 30 bases and rarely got caught. That is a superstar level.
The one voter who gave Nick Markakis a vote
We see you and we love you
He was a pre-announcement ballot and his name is Dan Connolly, you can find him
Fuck Chase Utley
Chuck Face Butley.
basically Felix and Utley* are future HoF
Felix made crazy gains this year it was very fun to track
If A-Rod gets in eventually over Bonds, I might riot in Cooperstown.
A-Rod getting in via the BBWAA would only help Bonds get in sooner, no?
I think the bigger risk is Pettitte in before Bonds. At least ARod has an inner-circle HOF argument. But both Bonds and Pettitte have the same “transgression” - they used PEDs when it was unregulated (unlike ARod); the difference is that Pettitte is a borderline case and Bonds has a GOAT argument.
Its not happening no worries
Holy shit Felix dropped off. Hell of a gain though!
A 9% drop honestly is a lot better than I thought it’d be. I think he makes it by year 5 on the ballot at the latest.
How did Torii finish with 8.7%? I swear, he’s maybe the most confusing player on the ballot
I loved watching him as a kid (shoutout New Britain Rock Cats) but he’s a bigot and he doesn’t quite have the stats to get in compared to a guy like Jones
I’d have him in. Also biased. Old school voters will take him for the Gold Gloves
Jimmy Rollins should be in
Jimmy Rollins was a PROBLEM
we won’t allow this Nick Markakis erasure!
8 years too late
Utley and Felix feel like sure things and I’m about 90% on Hamels now.
Voters should be ashamed of themselves for voting Beltran in.
A rod should already be in. Purist voters are annoying.
All 3 of the players who got no votes are Nationals legends. Especially Howie.
Beltran cheated. Jones beats his wife. Ortiz is in despite roids. Bagwell and Piazza also likely did roids.
Albert Belle didn’t beat his wife or do Steroids.
Bonds, ARod, and Clemens are inner ring all time greats statistically, yes they did roids. However Ortiz did roids.
Bonds and Clemens can literally have their stats after 2000 removed. Look they didn’t do roids. Look they are still hall of famers.
Harold Baines is in the Hall of Fame.
The Hall of Fame needs its license revoked. Logic is completely gone.
The Hall is for recognizing America’s greatest sporting past time. Set a precedent and stick with it. And since you already set it:
Bonds
Arod
Juan Gonzalez
Sosa
McGwire
Palmeiro
Rose
Clemens
Then you get to others:
Schilling, Pettite, Posada, Manny, Sheffield
There are less feared guys in the hall than what all these guys represented. I mean fucking Palmeiro has 3000 hits and 500 homers.
A cheater and a domestic abusers what a class
I like how the voters collectively agreed “fuck all those guys who were good on the Nationals”
I never got to see a lot of his games, but is Felix really HoF? I feel like I have seen better pitchers then him fall off but maybe I am just underestimating how good he was
He had an incredible peak but overall? Ehhhh probably not. He’s certainly borderline though
That’s ok. Hunter Pence will get in as a reporter later down the line.
Hunter Pence!
I still have hope for Abreu.
Embarrassing. Guy was the ring leader of the cheating in 2017. Joke.
