We had partied like it was 1999. We had survived the Y2K bug. We were using Napster to pirate music, including the #1 song on the Billboard Top 100 (‘Smooth’) from the artist Carlos Santana.

It was January 1, 2000.

We were not yet addicted to our phones. Donald Trump was seeking the Presidential nomination of the Reform Party and had named Oprah Winfrey as his ideal running mate. Thankfully, we had never heard of COVID.

The Yankees were amid a three-peat. Paul Skenes and Bobby Witt Jr. were not yet born.  The smooth-fielding, one-time Pittsburgh Pirate first baseman Carlos Santana had not hit any of his 335 and counting career home runs.

Nearly ten thousand days later, the Red Sox and Cubs have broken storied curses. Much to the delight of Pope Leo XIV, the White Sox ended an even longer, if less ballyhooed, World Series drought than the Red Sox (RIP Bobby Jenks). Steroid-fueled hitters feasted on early 2000s pitching like mosquitoes at a nudist colony. Pitchers responded by increasing their velocity, leading to baseball fans knowing the names of orthopedic surgeons like Dr. James Andrews and Dr. Neal ElAttrache (some calling the latter Dr. ReAttache due to the volume of Tommy John surgeries he performs).

We are on the precipice of the All-Star game returning to Atlanta for the first time since the 2000 Mid-Summer Classic at Turner Field. Yes, folks, it really has been twenty-five years. And so it is time to name the full AL and NL Quarter Century All-Star Teams. Today, we will present the AL team, with the NL team to follow. We will include fun facts for every player (a few of them dubious to keep you on your toes), sprinkle in some helpful Immaculate Grid tips for those who play, and finish with some predictions for the next quarter-century team.

A few notes on methodology:

• We will only consider performance and statistics from the year 2000 onwards.
• We will largely mirror the composition of recent All-Star game rosters, complete with a super utility player and a setup man.
• We will place players who played in both leagues in the league where they experienced greater success, requiring a judgment call in some instances.
• Except for the super utility spot, players will be put at the positions where they played the most games (e.g., Jim Thome as DH instead of 1B).
• We are ignoring PED use, since we do not truly know who was and was not using before testing, and maybe even since.
• We will, at times, choose peak performance over long-term accumulation of stats (e.g., Johan Santana over Mark Buehrle, even though the latter has a higher career WAR and 75 more career wins).
  • Please do not fret—Jacob Misiorowski will not be on the NL pitching staff even though ‘Nobody Beats the Mis’ in fewest career starts ever needed to make an All-Star team.

Hitters

Starting Lineup 

1) Mike Trout – CF

2) Aaron Judge – RF

3) Manny Ramirez– LF

4) David Ortiz – DH

5) Alex Rodriguez – 3B

6) Miguel Cabrera – 1B

7) Jose Altuve – 2B

8) Joe Mauer – C

9) Derek Jeter – SS

Reserves

Salvador Perez, Jorge Posada, Jason Giambi, Robinson Canó, Dustin Pedroia, Francisco Lindor, Adrián Béltre, José Ramírez, Carl Crawford, Torii Hunter, Ichiro Suzuki, Mookie Betts, Jim Thome, Ben Zobrist

Last Cuts

Pudge Rodriguez, Miguel Tejada, Vladimir Guerrero (OG Vlad), Mark Buehrle

 

Catcher

Starter

Joe Mauer – First ballot Hall of Famer, led AL Catchers with 44.6 WAR during the ten seasons he spent behind the plate between 2004-2013 (55.6 Career WAR), 5x Silver Sluggers, 3x Gold Glove, 2009 MVP, three other top 10 MVP finishes, 3x batting champion.

Fun Facts – Still has the richest contract for a catcher, ever (8 years, $184M). USA Today National High School Player of the Year in both Baseball and Football (Minnesota State Champion QB). In a parallel universe, Joe Mauer has seven Super Bowl rings, and Tom Brady is a first-ballot Hall of Fame Catcher.

Reserves

Salvador Perez – World Series (WS) champion and WS MVP, led AL Catchers in home runs with 282, Single Season HR record for C with 48 (record might get dumped this year), 5x Gold Glove winner, 9x All-Star.

Fun Fact – The Roberto Clemente Award Winner (2024) played with and against Jose Altuve as boys in Venezuela.

 

 

Jorge Posada – 2x  WS winner, 5x Silver Slugger, 38.4 WAR, 2x top six MVP finishes, led league 3x in games caught.

Fun Facts – Umpired girls’ softball games while in high school, drafted as an infielder before converting to catcher. Rumored to have received a gift basket from Derek Jeter for serving as the best man in Jeter’s wedding to Sports Illustrated swimsuit model Hannah Davis.

First Base

Starter

Miguel Cabrera – Triple Crown winner (2012), 2x MVP, seven top-five MVP finishes, ten seasons with an OPS+ of 150 or higher, 12x All-Star, one of three players with a .300 career average, 3K hits and 500 HR (Willie Mays and Hank Aaron are the others).

Fun Fact – Will be a hitting coach for Venezuela in the 2026 World Baseball Classic.

 

Reserve

Jason Giambi – .399 career OBP, 50.5 WAR, MVP plus two other top-five MVP finishes, .916 career OPS, the embodiment of Moneyball by leading the league in walks 4x (the Italian godfather of walks), 440 career HR, highest WAR season by AL first baseman (9.2 in 2001), 2005 AL Comeback Player of the Year.

Fun fact– Said he would have been a bouncer at a strip club if he had not been a ballplayer.

Immaculate Tip – played for the Rockies (2009-12) and Indians (2013-14)

 

Second Base

Starter

Jose Altuve – 8x All-Star, 128 career OPS+, 2x WS winner, led league in hits 4x, has 4 of the 16 MLB seasons with 200 hits since 2014 (Luis Arraez and Dee Strange-Gordon are the only other players with multiple 200 hit seasons), MVP (2017), 7x Silver Slugger, Gold Glove, 2nd most postseason home runs all-time (27, Manny Ramirez leads with 29).

Fun Facts – Cut from an Astros tryout at age 16 because he was too short, before eventually signing with the team for $15,000. The shortest active MLB player and just passed Hack Wilson to become the home run king among players 5’6″ and under, which is a bit like being the smartest kid in summer school. An avid collector of buzzers and trash cans.

 

Reserves

Robinson Canó – 68.7 career WAR (more than any player listed thus far), 10 straight seasons of 156 games, six top ten MVP finishes, 5 Silver Sluggers, 2 Gold Gloves, 8x All-Star, WS, and WBC winner

Fun Facts – After retiring from MLB, played in 2023 for the Dubai Wolves in Baseball United’s professional baseball league. Cano is currently playing with the Diablos Rojos in the Mexican League. In 2024, at 41 years old, he led the league with a .431 batting average and finished second with a 1.114 OPS, trailing only current San Francisco Giant and then 26-year-old Jerar Encarnacion.

Immaculate Tip – Played for the Padres (2022) and Braves (2022).

 

Dustin Pedroia – 46.8 WAR between 2008-2016 ranked 7th in baseball, Rookie of the Year 2007, MVP 2008, 4x Gold Glove, 2x WS winner, renowned dirt dog whose career was cut short by injuries, but he makes this team because his peak seasons were so good, and every team needs some attitude and edge.

Fun Fact – Due to his small stature, a Rockies security guard questioned Pedroia’s player ID before a game at the 2007 World Series. He responded by saying, ‘Ask Jeff (expletive) Francis (Rockies Game 1 starter) who the (expletive) I am. I’m the guy who hit a bomb and just ended their (expletive) season.’

 

Shortstop

Starter

Derek Jeter – First ballot Hall of Famer with 99.7% of votes, 2x WS winner, WS MVP, 12x All-Star, 47.9 WAR, averaged 194 hits per season in the 2000s, six top 10 MVP finishes, 28th player to reach 3K hits.

Fun Fact – The five players taken ahead of Jeter in the 1992 MLB Draft (the Jeter five) were Phil Nevin, Paul Shuey, Billy (‘B.J.’) Wallace, Jeffrey Hammonds, and Chad Mottola. Wallace was out of baseball by 1997 and was later arrested along with his wife for cooking meth in their house, with their children home, no less.

Reserve

Francisco Lindor – 5x Top 10 MVP finishes, 4x Silver Slugger, 2x Gold Glove, 3rd most HR for a SS within first 10 seasons (trailing ARod and Ernie Banks), 120 OPS+, member of 30/30 club

Lindor is a close call between leagues, but slightly more than half his WAR to date was from his time in Cleveland.

Fun Fact – Likely this season to become the third active player with 25+ WAR in both leagues, joining Mookie Betts and Manny Machado.

 

Third Base

Starter

Alex Rodriguez – 89.8 WAR, 5x led league in WAR (2 at 3B), 5x league leader in HR, including three 50 HR seasons, OPS+ of at least 130 every year from 2000-09, 11x All-Star, 3x MVP (2x at 3B)

Fun fact – Made a layup, a free-throw, a three-pointer, and a half-court shot all within 30 seconds to win a Bucknell student $10K in February 2025; however, he perhaps fortuitously missed his shot earlier this decade to marry JLo.

Reserve

Adrián Béltre – First Ballot Hall of Famer with 95% of the vote, 89.6 WAR, 455 HR, 5 Gold Gloves, six top 10 MVP finishes, 4 Silver Sluggers, 5 Gold Gloves, one of three 3rd baseman with 3K hits (Boggs/Brett), 2nd most games played at 3B behind only Brooks Robinson.

Fun Fact – So confident in his hands and fielding abilities that he refused to wear a protective cup while playing the hot corner. A ground ball hit him in the testicles in 2009 and caused bleeding. When Beltre returned to action, Ken Griffey Jr. conspired with the Mariners’ PA staff to change Beltre’s walkup song to Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker Suite.

 

José Ramírez – Josie, as the awesome Guardians’ 2025 Hall of Fame inductee, broadcaster Tom Hamilton always calls him, has a career OPS+ of 131, 55.5 career WAR, five top-5 MVP finishes, is a 7X All-Star,  5 Silver Sluggers, was one HR away from a 40/40 season in 2024, and has been the heart and soul and leader of the IndiGuardians for the past decade plus.

Fun Fact – Ramirez’s hometown of Bani in the Dominican Republic has a population of around 160K (roughly on par with US cities like Fort Collins, CO or Charleston, SC for reference) yet has produced dozens of major leaguers in addition to Josie, including Miguel Tejada, Luis Castillo (the Mariners pitcher), and yes, Wander Franco.

The video below was recorded by Seferino Soto, a native of Bani, at Luis Maria Herrera Stadium, where players like Ramírez, Tejada, and Erick Aybar once played. Due to the limited number of fields, they split the stadium into left field, center field, right field, and the home plate area. The kids in the video below in left field are 9-10-year-olds.

 

 

Left Field

Starter

Manny Ramirez – Seven top 10 MVP finishes, 9x All-Star, 9 seasons of OBP over .400, led the league in OBP 3x, 7 straight seasons of OPS+ over 150 from 2000-06, 2 WS winner, 8 seasons with 100+ RBI, 5 consecutive seasons over .300 AVG (2000-04), most postseason HR all-time (29).

Fun Facts – Ramirez’s first major league hit was a ground-rule double that clearly bounced over the fence at Yankee Stadium, yet Manny thought it was a home run and went into a home run trot.

Mike Hargrove (‘The Human Rain Delay’) is credited with originating the phrase Manny Being Manny after Ramirez left his paycheck in a pair of boots in the visiting clubhouse. The phrase became even more popular after Manny visited the Green Monster one evening at Fenway.

Immaculate Tip – Played for the White Sox (2010) and Rays (2011).

 

Reserve

Carl Crawford – If this team needs a pinch-runner late in the game, Carl Crawford is the man for the job, having led the league four times in steals and triples, 39.1 WAR, 4x All-Star, Silver Slugger, Gold Glove, and a .290 career BA.

Fun Facts – Founder and CEO of 1501 Certified Entertainment, an independent record label that was the former home to Megan Thee Stallion. 1501’s Instagram says it has 29 platinum records and has sold over 35M records worldwide.

 

Center Field

Starter

Mike Trout – 86.5 career WAR, led AL in WAR five straight years from 2010-2014, including two 10 WAR seasons, career OPS+ of 171, sixth best career OPS of all-time (.994), 3x MVP, 3x runner-up, 11x All-Star, 9x Silver Slugger.

Fun Facts – Has won as many MLB playoff games as a Lake Trout (zero), said in 2017 that he eats pickles before every game, got hurt again while you were reading this article. Perhaps young players reading this should hold off on the pre-game pickles.

Reserve

Torii Hunter – 50.2 WAR, 9 straight Gold Gloves 2001-09, 2K hits, 4x All-Star, Silver Slugger, 11 seasons with 20 or more HRs

Fun Fact – Involved in two of the more iconic plays of the century. His 2002 All-Star game home-run robbery of Barry Bonds and his failed attempt to rob David Ortiz’s 2013 ALCS Game 2 game-tying grand slam.

 

Right Field

Starter

Aaron Judge – AL Home Run record (62) in 2022, 2x MVP, 2 of the top 6 seasons since 2000 by wRC+ (Barry Bonds has the other four), and is on track for his best mark yet this season, 1.026 career OPS is 3rd best of all-time behind Babe Ruth and Barry Bonds, 178 career wRC+ trails only Ruth, most HR (52) per 162 games all-time (min 300 games). This past weekend, Judge reached 350 career home runs, doing so nearly 200 games faster than the previous record holder, Mark McGwire.

Fun facts – Teachers Patty and Wayne Judge adopted Aaron when he was two days old. In 95 plate appearances after his 2016 call-up, Judge hit just .179. He put a note in his iPhone simply stating .179, which he looked at every day that offseason for motivation.

 

Reserves

Ichiro Suzuki – First Ballot Hall of Famer with 99.7% of the vote (2025 inductee), 2nd player to be named Rookie of the Year and MVP in the same season (2001), 10x Gold Glove winner (ten straight years) thanks in part to his 123 career assists, 3x Silver Slugger, 10x All-Star, 3K career hits. Most hits in a single season (262 in 2004), the only player ever with ten straight 200-hit seasons (Pete Rose is the only other player with ten in a career), one of seven members of the 3K hit and 500 SB club.

Fun Facts – Three plus years older (27) at the time of MLB debut than any other member of the 3,000 hit club (Wade Boggs is second at 23, 315 days), hit the only inside-the-park home run in ASG history in 2007, intentionally walked 181 times in his career (84 more than ARod).

Ichiro’s pre-game meal at 5:15 for every home night game was either Mexi-yaki wings or, on getaway days, two corn dogs (probably a good call not to eat Mexi-Yaki wings before flying).

Immaculate Tip – Played for the Yankees (2012-14) and Marlins (2015-17)

 

Mookie Betts – Betts’s career 72.8 WAR has been split roughly 60/40 between Boston and LA, so we will put him on the American League team. 2018 MVP, 3x MVP runner-up, 3x led league in WAR, 3x WS winner, 8x All-Star, 6x Gold Glove, 7 Silver Slugger, 136 career OPS+

Fun Facts – When Mookie was five, his mother tried to sign him up for Little League. All the coaches told her he was too small, so she formed and coached her team with other kids who were similarly doubted. Mookie’s real name is Markus Lynn Betts because his mother wanted his initials to be MLB. The nickname was inspired by NBA player Mookie Blalock, not the noted hitter of ground balls to first base, Mookie Wilson.

 

Designated Hitter

Starter

David Ortiz – First ballot Hall of Famer as only 2nd DH elected to HOF (Edgar Martinez), 541 career HR (record 485 as DH), 3x WS champion, (’04, ’07, ’13),  2013 WS MVP after hitting .688 with a .760 OBP, 2004 ALCS MVP after game-winning walk-off hits in Games 4 and 5, 7x Silver Slugger, 3x AL RBI leader, 2006 HR leader (54)

Fun Facts – Ortiz got the nickname “Big Papi” because he struggled to remember names and called everyone “Papi,” a term of endearment in the Dominican Republic. People started calling him “Papi” in return, and Jerry Remy added “Big” due to Ortiz’s size, creating a memorable nickname and persona.

During his 2016 farewell tour, the Orioles gave Ortiz the dugout phone he famously smashed after being upset by a strike call from umpire Tim Timmons.

Reserve

Jim Thome – Inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2018, five seasons of 40+ HRs/100+ RBI, 4 seasons of OPS over 1.000, 5 seasons of OBP over .400, 4x Top 10 MVP finishes, one of eight players to have at least 500 career home runs, a .400 on-base percentage, and a .550 slugging percentage.

Fun Facts – Hit his 599th and 600th HRs in back-to-back at-bats one inning apart, his 500th home run was a walk-off homer, one of his MLB record 13 walk-off home runs.

Immaculate Tip – Played for the Dodgers (2009) and Orioles (2012).

 

Super Utility

Ben Zobrist – The OG utility player amassed 44.7 career WAR and led the AL in WAR in 2009, a 3x All-Star, 3x Top 20 MVP finishes, started games at every position except pitcher and catcher, 2x WS champion (2015 KC, 2016 Cubs), and 2016 WS MVP.

Fun Facts – Pitched a scoreless inning in the final game of his career in 2019, striking out Yadier Molina. If the nearly 21,000 MLB players were announced alphabetically, Zobrist would precede only 14 others, including recent players Mike Zunino and Joel Zumaya.

Pitchers

 

Starters

Justin Verlander – 3x Cy Young Award Winner (CY) (2011, 2019, 2022), MVP (2011), 80.6 WAR, 262 W, 2x WS Champion, 128 career ERA+

Fun Facts – Met supermodel wife Kate Upton while filming a commercial for the MLB 2K12 video game; has earned over $400M from his MLB contracts. The previous two fun facts are certainly not related.

 

Pedro Martinez – First ballot Hall of Famer, 11.7 WAR in CY winning 2000 was the highest single-season WAR by a starting pitcher during this period and 2nd highest in the last 50 years (Clemens 1997 with 11.9 was higher), 3 additional Top 5 CY finishes, 3x ERA leader, 2x SO leader, 5 200 SO seasons, 4x WHIP leader (3 of them below 1.00), 2004 WS Champion.

Fun Facts –  His 2000 was so good that you could have doubled his 1.74 ERA, and he still would have led the league in ERA by a healthy margin over second-place Roger Clemens (3.70).

Pedro was a noted prankster who was tied to a dugout pole by teammates and wore a Yoda mask in the dugout.

 

Roy Halladay -8x All-Star, 4x league leader in WAR (among pitchers), 2x CYA, plus five more Top 5 finishes, 5x led the league in SO/BB, 3x 20-game winner, 5x 200-K season, pitched a perfect game and a playoff no-hitter.

Fun Fact – Halladay threw a perfect game on May 29, 2010, against the Marlins. The twenty days between Dallas Braden’s perfect game on Mother’s Day, May 9th, and Halladay’s are the shortest span between perfect games in MLB history. Just four days later, on June 2, 2010, Armando Galarraga would have thrown yet another perfect game but for a missed call on the 27th out by umpire Jim Joyce.

 

C.C. Sabathia – First Ballot Hall of Famer in 2025 with 86% of vote, 251 W, 3,089 strikeouts, CYA plus four more Top 5 finishes, 2009 WS Champion, most innings pitched this century (3,577.1), 2x league leader in wins.

Fun Fact – One of four lefties with 3K strikeouts along with Steve Carlton, Randy Johnson, and most recently Clayton Kershaw.

Johan Santana – 51.1 career WAR, 3x led AL pitchers in WAR ERA, K’s and K/9, 5x 200-K season, 4x led league in WHIP, 2x CYA (2004, 2006), 3 more Top 5 CY finishes, 4x All-Star.

Fun Fact – Retired at age 33 due to injuries, the youngest retirement age on this team.

 

Chris Sale – 55.9 WAR, career 3.02 ERA, 7 straight 200-K seasons including a 308 K season in 2017, CY (2024) plus six consecutive Top 5 CY finishes from 2003-2018, WS Champion 2018 (pitched 9th inning of the clinching game), 8x All-Star.

Fun Fact – Sent home from work for cutting up and refusing to wear the White Sox 1976 throwback uniforms he found uncomfortable, causing an anonymous MLB executive to note, ‘Right now in the major leagues we’ve got dopers, domestic abusers, homophobes, misogynists, and even a guy who spent time in prison for a DUI hit and run. But uniform vandal? We have to draw the line somewhere.’

As seen in the photo below, Sale has gone on to embrace, or at least tolerate, alternative uniforms.

 

Félix Hernández – ‘King Felix’ amassed 49.9 WAR, one CYA plus 3 more Top 5 CYA finishes, 2x led league in ERA, 1x led league in wins, six consecutive 200-K seasons (2009-2014), started 30 or more games in ten straight seasons (2006-2014), threw the 23rd perfect game in baseball history in 2012,

Fun Fact – His relatives call him by his middle name, Abraham. ‘King Abraham’ just does not have the same ring as ‘King Felix’ for a dominant pitcher.

 

Gerrit Cole – Won the Cy Young in 2023, plus 5 more Top 5 Cy Young finishes, 6x All-Star, 2x led league in ERA, 2x led league in strikeouts, including 326 in 2019

Fun Fact – Cole’s 326 strikeouts in 2019 were the highest total by an AL pitcher since Nolan Ryan had 341 in 1977. Randy Johnson had more in 1998 but split the season between Seattle and Houston (which was then in the NL.

 

Relievers

 

Mariano Rivera – The Sandman rode his dominant cutter to become the only unanimously elected Hall of Famer in baseball history, all-time saves leader with 652, five-time World Series champion (2 of the 5 in the 2000s), 89.1% successful save percentage (highest among the eight relievers with 400+ saves), 10x All-Star in the 2000s (12 overall), all-time MLB record for best career ERA+ (205), widely considered the best reliever of all-time.

Fun Fact – Received a standing ovation from the Fenway Faithful at the Red Sox 2005 home opener against the Yankees after the Red Sox rallied against him to tie the game in the 9th inning of Game 4 of the 2004 ALCS to ignite their epic comeback from a 3-0 series deficit (Sorry Yankee fans, as a Red Sox fan I could not resist).

Francisco Rodríguez – K-Rod still holds the record for single-season saves with 62 in 2008, 3x league leader in saves, six 40-save seasons, 437 career saves ranks 6th all-time, and 2002 World Series champion.

Fun Fact – After making his MLB debut at the age of 20 on September 18, 2002, Rodriguez pitched 5.2 innings over the final eleven days of the regular season. He then became one of only four pitchers in MLB history—and the only reliever—to win five games in a single postseason. The others who achieved this feat are Nathan Eovaldi in 2023, Stephen Strasburg in 2019, and Randy Johnson in 2001.

 

Joe Nathan – Ranks 10th all-time with 377 saves (all but one since 2000), saved 35 or more games nine times, 6x All-Star, two Top 5 CY finishes, higher career save percentage (.8913) than Mariano Rivera (.8907) and all other relievers with 200 or more saves, most saves in the majors (246) between 2004-2009 and ranked top three among all Major League relievers between 2003-2013 in ERA, ERA+, WAR and WHIP.

Fun Facts – Nathan was primarily a shortstop in college at Stony Brook. The Giants drafted him in 1995 and the following year asked him to give up his dream of being a shortstop and pitch full-time. Instead of switching positions, Nathan retired and returned to school to complete his degree. After a year, he wrote a letter to the Giants to convince them he was now willing to give pitching a try. The rest, as they say, is history.

Nathan is primarily associated with the Twins, but he debuted with the Giants before being traded to the Twins along with Francisco Liriano for one season of A.J. Pierzynski. In addition to being one of the best trades in Twins history, the trade tree from that trade includes current Twins closer Jhoan Duran. In 2012, the Twins traded Liriano for Eduardo Escobar, and in July 2018, they traded Escobar to the Diamondbacks a few days before the trade deadline for a package that included Duran. There are rumors that the Twins will extend the trade tree one more generation by trading Duran at this year’s deadline.

Immaculate Tip – Nathan was a part of the Cubs team in 2016 that won the team’s first World Series in 108 years. He pitched two scoreless innings across three games in 2016 and even registered a win before being designated for assignment in August. He received a World Series ring from the Cubs even though he finished his 2016 season with the Giants to bring his career full circle before retiring.

 

Jonathan Papelbon – Pap shipped up to Boston to pitch 34 innings in 2005, but did not lose his rookie eligibility. He finished 2nd in the 2006 AL Rookie of the Year voting, notching 35 saves, a 0.92 ERA, and a .776 WHIP. Papelbon was named an All-Star six times, including four consecutive years from 2006-2009, and was the closer for the 2007 World Series Champion Red Sox.

Fun Fact – Papelbon’s streak of 26 scoreless postseason innings was the longest to start a career since Christy Mathewson’s 28-inning streak a century earlier. The streak included saves in three of the Red Sox’s wins in their 2007 World Series sweep of the Rockies.

 

Emmanuel Clase – As a 27-year-old, Clase does not yet have the longevity of some of the others on this team, but he has been historically dominant. Like Rivera, Clase primarily relies on his cutter. Clase’s version might be even nastier, regularly exceeding 100 mph, while Rivera’s maxed out in the mid-90s. Clase’s career ERA (1.83), ERA+ (228), and WHP (.938) are materially better than Rivera’s (2.21, 205, and 1.00, respectively). Clase finished 3rd in the Cy Young voting in 2024, a rare accomplishment for a reliever that has only happened a few other times this century (Rivera and K-Rod have done so as well).

Fun Fact – Clase is the first AL pitcher to lead the league in saves three consecutive years (2022-2024). Craig Kimbrel (2001-2014) and John Smoltz have achieved this feat in the NL.

 

 

Dellin Betances – Primarily a setup man (just 35 career saves), Betances notched five seasons with 100+ strikeouts (2014-2018) and four consecutive All-Star bids (2014-2017).

Betances is one of only two relievers this century to achieve three seasons with 125 or more strikeouts; the only other is Craig Kimbrel, and Betances has two seasons that exceed Kimbrel’s best one.

Fun Fact – Betances plays in competitive poker tournaments with career winnings of more than $25K.

 

We’ve Got Next

As noted earlier, we will close with a few predictions of current American League players who will be on the next AL Quarter Century All-Star Team in 2050. Why not make some predictions where nobody will know if they are right for 25 years?

 

C – Cal Raleigh

SS – Bobby Witt Jr.

3B – Junior Caminero

OF – Roman Anthony

SP – Tarik Skubal

RP – Emmanuel Clase

 

The first five names illustrate the ongoing evolution of baseball, while the last reminds us that some things never change. Who knows, maybe both Carlos Santanas will still be doing their thing in 2050.