Stop what you’re doing; players have been ranked (according to 2021 performance)
5 min read
In advance of the 2021 MLB postseason, let us now rank human beings. Specifically, let us now rank the top 20 players who will be a part of these playoffs. That means that in order for them to be eligible for inclusion on this list — spoiler forthcoming — they must currently play for one of the 10 teams in the postseason. For purposes of advancing the word count, we shall now list those 10 postseason teams in descending order of uniform aesthetics: the Brewers, Cardinals, Giants, Yankees, Astros, Dodgers, Red Sox, White Sox, Rays, and Braves.
The players to come will be ranked primarily according to their value provided during the 2021 season. How they fared in seasons prior to the current one and how they figure to fare in 2022 and beyond has no bearing whatsoever. Also, players who were acquired via trades during the season — e.g., Max Scherzer and Trea Turner of the Dodgers — are considered based on their entire 2021 bodies of work, not just what they did after being acquired by their current teams. In rare cases, we’ll include players whose playing time was limited thanks to starting the season in the minors (e.g., Wander Franco of the Rays) or injury (Corey Seager of the Dodgers) but figure to be difference-makers in the postseason.
As for what matters in these rankings, with position players it’s a mix of batting, defense, and baserunning. On offense, we’re not concerned with things like RBI. Getting on base and hitting for power matter above all, as do playing time, context of the player’s home ballpark, and production relative to positional peers (e.g., the offensive bar is lower for shortstops and catchers than it is for first basemen and DHs). For pitchers, run prevention and workload will be the drivers, but we’ll also give some consideration to underlying fundamental indicators like strikeouts and walks.
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Finally, consider that we’re picking just 20 players from the 10 of the very best rosters in baseball, which means some quite excellent players are going to be left off. Not cracking this list is not tantamount to a grave insult.
Disagree with these? Feel free to reach out to the author at his personal email address — hotmail@hotmail.jpg — with all your complaints …
A non-exhaustive list of notable and difficult omissions in no particular order? Sure: Mookie Betts, Nolan Arenado, Max Fried, Max Muncy, Rafael Devers, Julio Urias, Freddie Freeman, Adam Wainwright, Tim Anderson, Randy Arozarena, Tim Anderson, Charlie Morton, Mike Zunino, Yuli Gurriel, Buster Posey, Willy Adames, Lance McCullers Jr., and others.
What about the guy you’re upset about right now? The author assures you he was heavily considered but ultimately left off out of caprice and unexampled ignorance.
