Starting lineup

Batting 1st:

Lou Gehrig, 1B Gehrig, a two- time MVP, is most known for playing in 2,130 consecutive games for the New York Yankees, a remarkable streak thought to have been unbreakable until Cal Ripken, Jr. broke the record 56 years later. He was largely overshadowed by Babe Ruth, but Gehrig set the American League single- season RBI mark in 1931 ( 185) and then hit for the Triple Crown in 1934 (. 363 with 49 home runs and 166 RBI). He also led the league in RBI and on- base percentage five times, runs four times, home runs three times and he scored over 100 runs and drove in over 100 runs for 13 straight seasons.

Batting 2nd:

Barry Bonds, LF This pick will almost certainly stir asterisk talk due to Bonds’s ties to the Steroid Era, but his talent is also indisputable. Baseball’s record holder for most home runs in a season

( 73 in 2001) was a seven- time MVP award-winner with eight Gold Gloves to his credit. From 1989- 98 he was worth an average of 8.4 wins above replacement per 650 plate appearances and if you fielded a lineup of Bonds through all nine slots of the batting order you could expect to win over 81 per cent of your games, equivalent to a 132-30 record over a 162- game season.

Bonds never won a World Series ring, but don’t fault him. He has the most context neutral championship win probability added ( 0.75) of any major league player in baseball history.

Batting 3rd:

Willie Mays, CF Mays, a two- time MVP winner with 12 Gold Gloves, is third all- time among position players in wins above replacement ( 156.2). From 1954 ( a year after he served in the military) to 1965 he hit .318 with a .997 OPS ( 67% higher than the league average over that span) while averaging 43 home runs and 24 steals per 162 games.

Batting 4th:

Babe Ruth, RF

The Sultan of Swat shouldn’t need justification on this list but he ranks second to Bonds in wins above replacement ( 162.1) plus leads all position players in slugging percentage (. 690) and on- base plus slugging ( 1.164). He also hit the third- most home runs ( 714) in baseball history. Not enough? Ruth led the league in slugging percentage 13 times, home runs 12 times, walks 11 times, on- base percentage 10 times, runs scored eight times and RBI five times. Still not convinced?

He won seven AL pennants and four World Series titles with the New York Yankees with the third- highest context neutral championship win probability added of all time ( 0.58).

Batting 5th:

Rogers Hornsby, 2B Hornsby is one of the greatest right- handed batters in baseball history. He won seven batting titles and produced two Triple Crown seasons ( 1922 and 1925, the latter earning him one of his two MVP awards). He led the National League in batting seven times, including an unbelievable five-year stretch from 1921 through 1925 in which he averaged .402.

Hornsby also led the league in onbase percentage and slugging in each of those five years.

Batting 6th:

Alex Rodriguez, SS Another player with the Steroid Era caveat, but Rodriguez is one of three players to finish his career with at least 600 home runs and 300 steals — Bonds and Mays are the others — and one of four players to hit at least 40 home runs and steal at least 40 bases in a single season. According to Bill James’s powerspeed metric, which combines a player’s home run and stolen base numbers into one number, Rodriguez has the highest single season powerspeed mark of all time (43.9 in 1998) and he ranks fourth all- time for his career (446.8) behind Bonds, Rickey Henderson and Mays.

Batting 7th:

Mike Schmidt, 3B Schmidt led the majors in home runs six times and earned 10 Gold Gloves and three MVP awards ( 1980, 1981 and 1986). On April 18, 1987, Schmidt became the 14th member of the 500 home run club and finished his career with 548. He also produced the most wins above replacement among third baseman.

Batting 8th:

Johnny Bench, C Bench, a 17-year veteran, helped Cincinnati’s Big Red Machine win four NL pennants and two World Series titles from 1970 to 1979 by batting .267 with 33 home runs and 115 RBI per 162 games over that stretch. The 10- time Gold Glove winner also threw out 43% of would- be base stealers over his career compared to the league average of 35%.

Bench SS/ RF/ 1B Honus Wagner

“The Flying Dutchman” played 21 seasons and ranks in the top 10 for wins above replacement ( 130.9, 7th), hits ( 3,420, 8th), singles ( 2,424, 8th), doubles ( 643, 10th), triples ( 252, 3rd) and stolen bases ( 723, 10th).

C Gary Carter

The five- time Silver Slugger finished his career batting .262 with 324 home runs and an above- average rate of catching would- be base stealers ( 35 vs. 32%).

RF/ 1B Stan Musial

Musial won seven batting titles, three MVP awards and just missed the Triple Crown in 1948 by a lone home run (career- high .376 with 39 home runs and 131 RBI).

LF Ted Williams

One of the best acquisitions in baseball history, Williams created runs at a rate that was 88 per cent higher than average after accounting for era, league and park effects. Only Ruth was better ( 97 per cent higher than average). Williams is also the last player to hit .400 or better, hitting .406 in 1941.

RF Hank Aaron

The one- time home run king ( 755 home runs) won the MVP award in 1957 and ranks fifth all- time for MVP shares ( 5.5).

2B Joe Morgan

Morgan won back- to- back MVP awards ( 1975 and 1976) and ended his career with the third- best walk rate among second baseman after taking into account era, league and park effects.

1B Albert Pujols

Pujols, already a member of the 3,000 hit and 600 home run clubs, enters the 2020 campaign with a 24 per cent chance at hitting home run No. 700 at some point in his career.

Starting rotation

RHP Roger Clemens

Clemens won seven Cy Young awards over a 24-year career, two of those while leading the league in pitching’s Triple Crown categories (wins, strikeouts and ERA) twice (1997 and 1998). He led his league in those categories 16 times. Clemens also helped his teams to six pennants and back-toback world championships with the New York Yankees (1999 and 2000). His average season was 17-9 with a 3.12 ERA (30% lower than the league average) and 224 strikeouts. Clemens also leads all pitchers in context neutral championship win probability added (0.46), but will also be criticized by some for his links to HGH use.

LHP Randy Johnson

From 1999 to 2002, Johnson was awarded four straight NL Cy Young Awards, earned three ERA titles and struck out at least 334 batters each season. Among pitchers with at least 4,000 career innings, only Nolan Ryan had a higher career strikeout rate than Johnson after accounting for era, league and park effects.

RHP Walter Johnson

“The Big Train” ended his career with a 2.17 ERA, the lowest among pitchers with at least 4,000 career innings after accounting for era, league and park effects. He also won the ERA title five times.

RHP Greg Maddux

Maddux is perhaps the most efficient starting pitcher to ever take the mound. He was so efficient that a start in which a pitcher tosses a complete- game shutout on fewer than 100 pitches is now called a “Maddux.” Since 1988, the first year accurate pitch- count data is available, Maddux ranks first in the majors with 14 such starts during the regular season. No other pitcher has thrown more than seven.

RHP Pedro Martinez

The three- time Cy Young Award winner is one of five pitchers with at least 3,000 strikeouts and fewer than 1,000 walks. In addition, batters scored 540 fewer runs against him than expected after taking into account the men on base and outs left in the inning of each at- bat. Only Clemens, Lefty Grove and Maddux were better. Martinez also provided a quality start ( three or fewer earned runs in six or more innings pitched) two- thirds of the time, with an average game score ( an all- in- one metric to measure pitching performance) that was well above the norm.

LHP Clayton Kershaw

Among left- handed starters, only seven have produced more wins above replacement than Kershaw ( 65.3). However, none of those seven had a better ERA ( 2.44, 57 per cent better than average) after adjusting for era, league and park effects.

Closer:

Bullpen

Mariano Rivera

The all- time saves king ( 652) and most clutch player in major league baseball history won five World Series rings with the New York Yankees. His bread- and- butter pitch, a cutter, was nearly unhittable. From 2007 to 2013, the only years of his career individual pitch data is available, opposing batters hit .194 against the him with 337 strikeouts in 1,227 at- bats ending on the pitch.

Dennis Eckersley

In 1992 ( 7-1, 51 saves and 1.91 ERA with 93 strikeouts over 80 innings) he won both the AL Cy Young and MVP awards, becoming the ninth pitcher to capture both awards in the same season. He is also the only pitcher with 100 saves and 100 complete games. No reliever in the Hall of Fame produced more wins above replacement ( 62.1 BWAR) over his career, either.

Dan Quisenberry

His submarine style and sinking fastball baffled hitters, allowing him to win American League Fireman of the Year honours ( awarded to the reliever with the most combined wins plus saves in a season) five times, including four years in a row from 1982 to 1985. Batters also scored 120 fewer runs against him than expected over his 12-year career after taking into account the men on base and outs left in the inning of each at- bat. Only 10 relievers were better at keeping runs from crossing the plate.

Rich Gossage

His 6- foot-3 frame was intimidating on the mound and so was his 100 m. p. h. fastball. He struck out 20% of batters faced ( league average was 14%) and amassed the fourth- most wins above replacement among relief pitchers (41.1) during his 22-year career.

Billy Wagner

No bullpen would be complete without a left- handed pitcher and Wagner has produced the second- most wins above replacement among left- handed relievers ( 27.8). In addition he struck out 33% of batters faced ( nearly twice the league average over his career) and only walked 8% of them, a huge advantage in any era.