3 HOFer lineups today?
 

The top of the Dodger order with Mookie back from injury is Ohtani, Betts, and Freeman, lock HOFers IMO. Any other teams with three lock or likely HOFers in the lineup?

It's quite an impressive top 3 for the Dodgers. There just aren't that many "sure thing" Hall of Famers currently active. I can't think of any other team with three, and even 2 is going to be rare. When Arenado and Goldschmidt both play, the Cardinals have two (they didn't both play today).

throw in pitchers and the Dodgers have 4.

Right on time…the dodger entry showed out early this evening…

Well, at least he won't be giving up seven runs in one inning in any playoff games.

I think he meant the three Dodger HOFers led off the game with consecutive HRs, the first time that 3 MVPs have done that.

I don't think any of them are quite sure things yet, but the closest to the Dodgers might be the Yankees with Judge, Soto and Stanton.

Obviously Judge and Soto are more sure things, but need to do a bit more compiling before we crown them.

Stanton...it all depends on how you feel about him getting in or not getting in, after he gets to 500 HR's, which has always been a magic number for non-PED guys.

I predict he's the 1st guy NOT to get in without questions hanging over his head, unless he has a real career resurgence in the last few years of his contract.

As of now, I think he's playing just good enough to avoid getting DFA'd in the foreseeable future, and will eventually crawl his way to 500.

1st half of his career is more Harmon Killebrew and 2nd half has been closer to Dave Kingman. Killebrew is a big power, lower average guy who is most definitely a HOF'er in my opinion, while Kingman fits a similar profile but is most definitely NOT a HOF'er. Does the combination of those two guys, equal a HOF'er or does that just make you George Foster 2.0?

The 2022 Cardinals had Pujols, Yadi, Arenado, and Goldschmidt.

Yes, before Yadi and Pujols retired, the Cardinals lineup would certainly qualify. If you squint hard enough, you could even make an argument that Wainwright could be a hall of famer (I think he's borderline and probably NOT a Hall of Famer, but the argument could be made).

Technically, Soto, Judge, and Ohtani aren't yet eligible as they have not yet played 10 full seasons. All are off to a great start, though. Soto is only 25, so a long way to go but off to an epic start.

I'd have had Judge borderline due to a late start and health concerns, but when he has been healthy, he's had such epic years that I think he now gets in on peak.

I agree Stanton will be interesting to see. A lot depends on how he finishes up.

Stanton has an OPS+ of 136. That is the same as Ken Griffey Jr and 7% better than Eddie Murray. If Stanton makes it to 500 HR, he is in.

If he makes it to 500 HR, he might...but one stat does a HOF argument make.

Oh I was thinking Clayton lol.

WAR 44.6. Meh, IMO. I don't see him as a HOFer. His WAR for the last three years is 0.6 total. He's not going anywhere.

Stanton is a career .258 hitter currently with 1537 hits and 44.6 WAR. Griffey hit .284 with 2781 hits and 83.8 WAR. Murray hit .287 with 3255 hits and 68.7 WAR.

If Stanton gets to 500 HR, his hit total and WAR will go up (although WAR may not be by much), but his average and OPS+ will likely go down. 500 HR with no PED connection had always been an automatic ticket to the Hall of Fame. I think Stanton will be a test of that if he gets to 500 because of the emphasis these days on advanced stats such as WAR where he doesn't measure up as favorably.

It is a good thing most HOF voters don't care about WAR. Otherwise Buster Posey 44.8 WAR and Yadi Molina 42.1 WAR wouldn't be future Hall of Famers.

The standard is lower for catchers, as you know.

Posey and Molina rank 14th and 22nd by JAWS according to Baseball Reference. Stanton is currently the 38th ranked right fielder.

Though this season has put all possible in jeopardy, The Braves (and I'm NOT just going by last year's performances) have a chance to get several in...though not especially on the first ballot.

If...and it's a long shot after surgeries on BOTH knees...Acuna can stay healthy the rest of his career, he should get in...he's still young.

Michael Harris, Austin Riley, Matt Olson and Ozzie Albies could be All-Stars almost every year.

Some of their pitchers also have an outside chance...long term.

Again...this is just a hopeful projection...but it could happen...just not if there are more seasons like 2024.

Stanton still needs 75 homers and he's 35 in a few months. I don't know that he has it in him. even if he hit 25 homers a year for the next three seasons and retired at 38, he'll probably finish with less than 2,000 career hits and will have a lower career average than Killebrew.

Don't see a HOFer there. Would be surprised to see a 500 homer guy too.

I also think his days are seriously numbered if the Yankees do find a way to re-sign Soto. Assuming their outfield next season lines up as Soto in left, with Chisholm back in the outfield splitting time in center and right with Dominguez, or one of them moves to right permanently, I can't imagine there's much incentive not to DH Judge.

Only tangentially related, but I was looking at the list of active career HR leaders (Stanton is #1 at 427). There are only 3 active players with as many as 350 career home runs (Stanton, Trout, Goldschmidt).

Doesn't that feel...low? There's only 12 total with over 300 career home runs. Are we in a serious lull in terms of active career HR leaders, after the retirement of Pujols and Cabrera?

I think we lost a lot of names in recent years that hit that threshold, due to retirement but there are certainly many waiting in the wings.

Betts, Suarez, Ozuna and Schwarber will all get to the 300 mark. Olson, JRam and Lindor are right behind them as well, barring any sort of major career ending injury.

The more we go down the list, the harder it is to predict, but I would wager, Ohtani, Seager, Soto, Alvarez and Vlad Jr, barring major injury will eventually arrive at that mark as well.

Cruz also retired last season. He got all the way up to 464.

I think these things ebb and flow. Certainly no shortage of HR in baseball. Lots of guys with shots at 400 to 450.