The future Hall of Famers we will see play in 2026

Ahead of the 2016 season, we took our first attempt to identify the future Hall of Famers we would see playing in the Majors that year. It's now become an annual tradition at around this time.

It’s been enough years now that some of those names are, indeed, in the Hall – namely Ichiro Suzuki, David Ortiz, CC Sabathia and Adrián Beltré. There’s approximately 15 more names on that list who seem extremely likely to join them when eligible. The system works!

We’re going to do it again, as we do every January, because we know with certainty that many of the stars you’ll see on the field this season will have a plaque in Cooperstown someday. But first, it’s time to update that old methodology. We can’t just make a list with no goal, lest we have 100 names. How many Hall of Famers should you even expect to see in a given season? Probably more than you think.

Despite the myth that it’s easier than ever to get into the Hall, the opposite has long been true. It’s actually more difficult than ever to get in, particularly via the annual Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA) ballot.

Yes, that’s saying that in the late 1920s, there were multiple seasons with nearly 70 future Hall of Famers on the field, despite the fact that there were barely half as many AL/NL teams (16) as there are now (30). Traditionally, the top 1.5% or so of players should get into the Hall, and we’re below that today. (Much of that ‘shark fin’ of late ‘20s players came decades later via some 1970s Veterans Committee shenanigans; hat tip to Frankie Frisch.)

From the 1960s through 1990s, we were consistently at an average of 40 per season, and the 2000s may get close to that, if you consider both the players not yet eligible who will so clearly be in – Albert Pujols, Miguel Cabrera, Justin Verlander and so on – as well as those excluded due to associations with the PED Era.

Forty per year it’s been, and so for us, 40 it will stay. Here’s who they’ll be, graduating only one from last year’s list, as the no-doubt-first-balloter Clayton Kershaw announced his retirement after 18 seasons with the Dodgers. Broken down into tiers, each of our 40 future maybe-legends will be listed with their career WAR totals, per FanGraphs – the ‘average’ Hall of Famer is about 60 WAR – though as you’ll see, not every case is going to be about that number, and most of these guys have many years of value yet to accumulate.

Tier 1: Obviously yes – if they play.

• 1) Justin Verlander (84.3 WAR)
• 2) Max Scherzer (73.5 WAR)

Six Cy Young Awards, 17 All-Star selections, an MVP Award and four World Series rings. Like Kershaw, there’s absolutely no doubt that we’re talking about first-ballot Hall of Famers here. The only question is playing status, as each remains unsigned. Neither one seems completely ready to hang it up yet, though, and assuming they both land a roster spot in 2026, there’s almost nothing they can do to affect their future Cooperstown plaques.

Tier 2: There’s simply no one like them.

• 3) Shohei Ohtani (49.7 WAR)
• 4) Juan Soto (42.3 WAR)

It’s true that neither one is eligible yet – having each debuted in 2018, this year will put them one short of the 10-year minimum for consideration – and it also absolutely does not matter.

Do you think that Ohtani’s three consecutive MVPs – four total – and general status as “player doing things absolutely no one has ever done before or is likely to do again” isn’t enough yet? Soto may not be Ohtani, because no one is, but we’ve also been saying it’s clear he would be legendary since he was a teenager, and would you look at that: Through age 26, Soto is one of the 20 most valuable players ever, even with relatively unimpressive defense.

Tier 3: They’re clearly getting in.

• 5) Mike Trout (87.2 WAR)
• 6) Freddie Freeman (64.8 WAR)
• 7) Mookie Betts (62.6 WAR)
• 8) Aaron Judge (61.6 WAR)
• 9) Francisco Lindor (60.5 WAR)
• 10) Jose Altuve (60 WAR)
• 11) José Ramírez (57.7 WAR)
• 12) Manny Machado (57.3 WAR)
• 13) Bryce Harper (55.6 WAR)
• 14) Nolan Arenado (51.6 WAR)

You know how long some of these guys have been great? Trout, Harper, Betts, Machado and Lindor were all mentioned in that first look an entire decade ago.

The key to remember here is that at the end of the day, the Hall is about reviewing a player’s full accomplishments, so even though the versions of Trout, Altuve, Betts and Arenado you’ll see in 2026 are hardly at their peak, the question is “will you see a Hall of Famer play this year,” not “will you see the best version of that Hall of Famer.” What they’ve done to this point is more than enough. Every single player on this list was on the same list last year; the only change is that in the past, we’ve included Paul Goldschmidt here, too. After a relatively unimpressive 2025, it’s unclear if his career will continue going forward, as he’s yet to sign for 2026.

We thought about Alex Bregman, Trea Turner, Kyle Tucker and Corey Seager here, too. But there’s only so much room, and their cases are less clear.

Tier 4: Not every case is about WAR.

• 15) Giancarlo Stanton (44.6 WAR)

We’ve been saying for years now that Stanton was going to get into the Hall if he came close to 500 homers, and while his recent inability to play the field or stay healthy hasn’t exactly helped that argument, realize that in 2025 he posted a .944 OPS and hit 24 homers in merely 77 games. He’s now just 47 homers away from the magical 500 mark, and that’s without counting the additional 18 he’s mashed in October, during which time he’s been literally one of the best playoff sluggers ever. He’s been an MVP, he’s got a reputation as the Hardest Hitting Man Who Ever Lived and he's in many ways the face of the Statcast Era. He’s getting in, low-ish WAR or not.

Tier 5: All systems go.

• 16) Ronald Acuña Jr. (31.9 WAR)
• 17) Bobby Witt Jr. (26.7 WAR)
• 18) Fernando Tatis, Jr. (26.5 WAR)
• 19) Yordan Alvarez (23.7 WAR)
• 20) Julio Rodríguez (21.2 WAR)
• 21) Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (20.7 WAR)
• 22) Gunnar Henderson (18.2 WAR)
• 23) Corbin Carroll (17.6 WAR)

So … many … juniors.

Here we have the cream of the young position player crop, all squarely in their prime – Alvarez is the oldest, and he’ll spend much of this upcoming season at 28 years old – and each one of them has put up years of high-level performance. That’s not to say that all of them will get in, because they won’t. Within this group, you’ve got some injury issues and defensive concerns, and some voters will never forgive Tatis’ 2022 suspension. But if the test for some people is “do you think you’re buying a ticket to see what a future Hall of Famer looks like,” this gang qualifies. We’ll say that of the eight names here, five actually get in. We’ll leave it to you to guess which five.

Tier 6: There’s always, always a catcher.

• 24) J.T. Realmuto (36.7 WAR)
• 25) Salvador Perez (19.0 WAR)

Setting aside the last decade, which is a work-in-progress as we wait for Buster Posey and Yadier Molina to gain entry, do you know how long it’s been since we’ve had a season without a single active future Hall of Fame catcher? It’s been a full 60 years, ever since the 1966 season that represented an ever-so-brief break between the end of Yogi Berra’s career and the start of Johnny Bench’s. (Joe Torre, who hit 36 homers that year, was inducted as a manager, not a player.) For decades, there’s been between two and four future Cooperstown backstops. That trend isn’t stopping here.

Now, Perez’s case is going to be divisive, perhaps set up better for a statue outside of the next Royals ballpark than it is a Cooperstown plaque. Maybe you think it’ll be a younger guy like Will Smith; maybe you think Cal Raleigh’s legendary 2025 60-homer season carries so much weight that it lowers the bar considerably for him for entry down the road. Maybe you’ll be right; we’re leaning towards the two veterans who have laid down so much more of a track record. But it’ll be someone, with certainty. Maybe two someones.

Tier 7: That 3rd Cy is still out there

• 26) Jacob deGrom, Blake Snell or Tarik Skubal.

We’ll get to the rest of the starting pitcher discussion in a minute, but first, a special dispensation for the guys on the precipice of history – the three active pitchers who already own multiple Cy Young Awards. It’s why we didn’t even list WAR here. It won’t be the point.

Every pitcher to ever win the Cy three times has made it into the Hall or soon will, with the only exception being Roger Clemens, who clearly missed out for reasons beyond just what happened on the field. You’re certainly welcome to argue that deGrom’s relatively limited innings total or the regular ups and downs of Snell’s career mean that they don’t belong, and you might not even be wrong, but it also won’t matter. This isn’t about years of continued greatness; it’s about one more great year, which both are still capable of, even with deGrom entering his age-38 season.

Of course, there’s a new name here, too, in Skubal, the back-to-back AL Cy winner who enters 2026 as the overwhelming favorite to do it again. If he actually does, he’d be just the third pitcher ever to win at least three Cys in a row, joining Randy Johnson and Greg Maddux, and it would be essentially impossible to argue against his case no matter what came after. The fact that it’s highly unlikely that more than one of these three actually does it – indeed, only two at most could – mean they share one slot, but it’s more possible than you think.

Tier 8: Where are your starting pitchers coming from?

• 27) Chris Sale (57.6 WAR)
• 28) Gerrit Cole (45.9 WAR)
• 29) Paul Skenes (10.8 WAR)
• 30) Yoshinobu Yamamoto (7.9 WAR)

As we’ve discussed a few times, it’s more difficult than ever to decide how to value starting pitchers, given that they simply will not pile up as many wins, innings, or WAR as previous generations will. It’s why Félix Hernández is gaining traction in his second year on the BBWAA ballot, as a pitcher who had a relatively short career, but with a very high peak. You simply can’t pretend today’s starters are asked to do the same things as starters of previous generations. (This has always been true, for what it’s worth; Tom Seaver won 106 fewer games than Walter Johnson, who himself won 94 fewer games than Cy Young.)

We’re not going to resolve that question today, other than to say: There’s not a version of this where there’s suddenly no starters who ever get in again, and we’re not talking about Verlander and/or Scherzer. Dating back to the end of World War II – and again setting aside the last few seasons, which will change as legends become eligible – there’s not been a single season with fewer than five future Hall of Fame starters. Some years, in the 1970s, had as many as 14. If anything, we’re underselling it here by picking two long-time stars and two of the brightest younger ones to go with them.

(A year ago, we included the very interesting case of Zack Wheeler here, but the thoracic outlet surgery that cost him much of the second half – and may affect his 2026 – is enough to knock him out of contention here for now.)

Tier 9: Some kind of closer

• 31) Aroldis Chapman (25.6 WAR)
• 32) Kenley Jansen (25.4 WAR)
• 33) Edwin Díaz (15.4 WAR)

You think it’s hard to evaluate starters? Welcome to relievers, where WAR may not always capture the stardom a ninth-inning fireman has, but raw save totals are increasingly less important to anyone other than the man collecting them, and it’s all just rather unclear. Here’s where we’ve landed on this: Voters have made it clear that they’re willing to evaluate relievers separately, and it’s quite hard to make the argument that Lee Smith, Goose Gossage and Billy Wagner should be in, but the best closers of this generation shouldn’t.

Craig Kimbrel could also be in that conversation, but unlike Chapman and Jansen, he's unsigned and far from guaranteed to be pitching in 2026. Or, if you’d rather swap out Díaz for Josh Hader, we’d hear it.

Tier 10: The young stars in the making.

• 34) Elly De La Cruz (12.8 WAR)
• 35) Jackson Merrill (8.4 WAR)
• 36) Jackson Chourio (6.9 WAR)
• 37) Junior Caminero (5.3 WAR)
• 38) Nick Kurtz (4.6 WAR)

Now it gets tricky, because this section is full of players off to very good starts, yet with so, so much more to prove. A decade ago, this is where we had Betts and Lindor (excellent!) as well as Seager, Carlos Correa, Kyle Schwarber and Byron Buxton (good enough!). It’s also where we had Joc Pederson, Kris Bryant and Michael Conforto, so, you know. A lot can happen.

That’ll happen here, too, but the point is to make room to remember that some Hall of Fame careers have already been set in motion, even if you can’t say it with great confidence yet. For example: Are we certain that Kurtz, who was playing for Wake Forest less than two years ago, is on a Hall of Fame path? Of course not. But we do know this: He just put up one of the best rookie seasons any hitter has ever had, just ahead of Judge and Trout. Junior Caminero, at 22 years old, just bashed 45 homers for Tampa Bay. Chourio has 42 homers to his name and still isn’t even 22 years old yet. Hall of Fame careers have to start somewhere.

Tier 11: The Hall of Fame careers that will get started in 2026.

• 39) Kevin McGonigle, etc.
• 40) Konnor Griffin, etc.

Are we already inducting players who’ve yet to take a single plate appearance in the Majors? Certainly not. We picked McGonigle and Griffin as two highly-regarded infielders who are on track to get some serious Major League playing time in 2026, but this is more about leaving the space open for the newest names, because even the greatest stars were rookies with a lot to prove, once.

After all, way back in January 2016, when we did this for the first time, we didn’t even consider mentioning a hulking Yankee prospect who’d make his debut later that summer. When he did, Judge posted a mere .608 OPS in 24 games for the 2016 Yankees, striking out nearly 45% of the time. You wouldn’t have considered him a future legend at the time. He might now be the best righty batter to ever play. You just never know how these things are going to go.